Internet II Fact Sheet

        This article is reprinted, with permission and minor editing, from I.T. Times (Volume 5. No 2) Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis, November 1996

        • Who's Building It?

          Internet II is being built through a partnership between universities, government, and private industry.

          The Architects: The individuals listed below worked together, and solicited input from many others including Professor Larry Landweber of the University of Wisconsin, to develop the initial Internet II design:

          • Russ Hobby, Director of Advanced Networked & Scientific Applications, UC Davis. Hobby also is a member of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
          • Scott Bradner, Harvard University
          • Scott Brim, Cornell University
          • Steve Corbato, University of Washington
          • David Wasley, University of California Office of the President

          The NTTF Steering Committee: The National Telecommunications Task Force (NTTF) is the driving force behind Internet II. The NTTF is a subcommittee of Educom, a national consortium that promotes and supports the use of computing in higher education. The NTTF includes representatives from higher education and private industry. Members include:

          • Carole A. Barone, UC Davis
          • Gary Augustson, Pennsylvania State University
          • George Badger, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
          • Ann Lee Verville, IBM
          • Erv Blythe, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
          • Molly Broad, California State University system
          • Jane Caviness, Educom
          • Bill Graves, University of North Carolina
          • Dave Lambert, Cornell University
          • Bill Lewis, Arizona State University
          • Stuart Lynn, UC Office of the President
          • Polley McClure, University of Virginia
          • Doug Van Houweling, University of Michigan
          • Steve Wolff, Cisco Systems

          Internet II Steering Committee: Guiding implementation of Internet II is a newly formed steering committee. Members include:

          • Mike Roberts, Educom
          • Bill Graves, University of North Carolina
          • Greg Jackson, University of Chicago
          • Rama Khanna, Stanford University
          • Stuart Lynn, UC Office of the President
          • Doug Van Houweling, University of Michigan

          Partnerships: The universities participating in the Internet II project will work with the National Science Foundation, IBM, Cisco Systems, AT&T, MCI, Apple, Sun and other industry leaders to implement Internet II.

        • Why Build It?

          The Internet as it now exists does not support the high-level computing needs of research universities. New network protocols must be put in place to support high-speed transmission and real-time communication.

        • How Will It Work?

          Gigapop Design: The implementation of Internet II will revolve around what has been dubbed the Gigapop. The Gigapop is a connection point for Internet II institutions to connect to each other, research networks, and commercial networks. The National Science Foundation's vBNS network will be used initially to connect Gigapops. Gigapops will be strategically placed throughout the network and provide high-speed routing of information. Managed by higher education communities, Gigapops will guarantee end-to-end quality bandwidth between universities implementing Internet II standards.

          New Protocols: Internet II protocols will allow high-speed transmission and guaranteed bandwidth.

          • RSVP: This protocol allows you to reserve bandwidth on the network from your workstation to the computer to which you wish to connect.
          • IPv6: This is a packet-delivery protocol that allows you to assign priority to information packets you send through the Internet. For example, you may want your Web search traffic to have a higher priority than your E-mail traffic, so that individuals sitting at their desk surfing the Web can enjoy a rapid response time.
          • Multicast: This protocol will reduce network traffic by allowing you to send a single stream of information to multiple recipients. Under the current design, if you send a message to four different people, four identical copies of the information are sent over the network. Multicast sends only one copy of the message and replicates the information only at branch points in the network.

        • Where Will It Go?

          Internet II will connect all universities and institutions that implement Internet II network standards and are connected to Gigapops. Efforts to establish Gigapop systems are developing primarily as state-based consortiums. Since Internet II is backward compatible with the current Internet, users will be able to travel to any Internet location. However, information going to a non-Internet II recipient will be subject to complications of heavy traffic flow.

        • Who Will Use It?

          All members of the UC Davis community will have access to Internet II, which will be open to all institutions that implement Internet II network standards.

        • When Will It Open?

          The initial Gigapops and interconnections are part of the National Science Foundation's vBNS connection program, which will see implementations of the Internet II architecture [in 1997].



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