Spring
Member Meeting Recap and Going Forward
I want to thank each
of you who participated in last week's Spring Member Meeting for
making it so enormously successful.
More than 700 individuals from the broad Internet2 community participated
in both the formal program and informal interactions around topics
like middleware, network security, artistic collaborations, content
and data sharing, collaboration technologies, international networking,
K20 networking, and many others. This meeting highlighted why
making connections has remained a core benefit of participation
in the Internet2 community. Even as our community develops technologies
that aid collaboration at a distance, the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions,
hallway conversations and the many serendipitous encounters that
took place in Arlington last week underscore the value of bringing
people together in one place.
I would especially like to thank the individuals of the program
committee as well as the corporate and university member organizations
that provided significant support for the meeting. The program
committee put together one of the strongest group of sessions
we have ever had. Without the support of our member sponsors such
as Juniper Networks, Ciena, HP, Meriton Networks, RADVISION, VBrick
Systems, VSNL International, Georgetown University, and the Mid-Atlantic
Crossroads, we would not have enjoyed the high-quality networking
infrastructure critical to keeping us connected at the meeting
or the sensational reception events that spurred new personal
connections and collaboration opportunities.
Of course, one of the significant developments last week was the
unveiling of a new nationwide Internet2 networking infrastructure.
Our agreement with a new carrier will provide the Internet2 community
with capabilities beyond those available on a national scale anywhere
else in the world with network fees roughly equivalent to today's
Internet2 Abilene Network. The agreement was also designed to
reduce the barriers to the creation of a single advanced networking
organization for the United States. We expect to finalize the
agreement in the next two weeks and will begin working with you
to map out the details of deployment, including a community design
workshop in June. We expect the infrastructure to be complete
well in advance of September 2007, the point by which the community
will need to transition from Abilene.
We will soon mark another transition at Internet2. Starting May
15, Steve Corbató will leave his full time role at Internet2
to focus on enabling computational science and cyberinfrastructure
more generally as he becomes the Associate Director of the Scientific
Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute at the University of Utah.
After six years and over 750,000 air miles with Internet2, this
move will enable Steve to spend more time on the ground and at
home in Utah.
Steve began his tenure at Internet2 with lead responsibility for
Abilene, so it is fitting that he is making this transition at
a time when the Internet2 community is opening an exciting new
chapter with the advent of a new nationwide networking infrastructure.
Steve joined Internet2 from the University of Washington and in
his role he has exemplified the connection between the Internet2
organization and the Internet2 community. Though Steve’s
primary responsibilities soon will be at the University of Utah,
the community will continue to benefit from his experience and
expertise on a part-time consulting basis. In the next few weeks,
I will share details of our longer-term plans for transitioning
Steve's responsibilities at Internet2.
It is an understatement to say that we on the Internet2 staff
will miss Steve, but I personally take satisfaction from knowing
that the community will still have his experience and his heart.
This is an exciting time for the Internet2 community. The capabilities
of our shared networking infrastructure are moving beyond the
Internet Protocol to include concepts of dedicated wavelengths
and other capabilities. In fact, efforts such as Shibboleth and
InCommon are rapidly gaining momentum and becoming an integral
part of what people mean when they talk about advanced networking
infrastructure.
I look forward to gathering in Chicago this December to mark the
tenth anniversary of Internet2’s inception, and to celebrating
the many accomplishments of the advanced networking community.
Douglas E. Van Houweling
President & CEO, Internet2
1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 300
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734.913.4250 (voice)
734.913.4255 (fax)
www.internet2.edu
Joe Mambretti, Director
