Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Internet2 Gets a New Backbone

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the where-and-through-whom dept.

wrong_fuel writes "A few of you know that Internet2 and NLR (National Lambda Rail) have been in talks for some time regarding a merger of the two networks. Those talks have fallen apart and Internet2's contracts with Qwest communications had already been allowed to lapse. Internet2 has now reached an agreement with an unnamed carrier for its next generation backbone. The new network will likely be named later this year (the old one was referred to as "Abilene") and current member Universities will be migrated off of Abilene by September 2007."

3 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. What is the bandwidht used for? by elh_inny · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Last I heard in the news it was used to exchange pr0n and other warez, but seriously, could someone link me to some project that require such high bandwidth over long distances?
    What kind of computing jobs are best paralellized with such network?
    Anything easy enough for casual programmer to start working on?

    1. Re:What is the bandwidht used for? by krunk4ever · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's exactly the thinking the RIAA and the MPAA want you to believe.

      Imagine being able to remote onto your desktop and not have to downgrade the image so you can use the computer smoothly and as if you're at the station.
      Imagine real time HDTV TV broadcasting over the internet.
      Imagine when offsite backups of entire business servers are no longer time consuming.
      Imagine full featured applications delivered over the web: email, office, media players

      Those are just a hint of what can be done with extra bandwidth. Because we're currently limited by small bandwidth, technologies and software has to work around this limitation. But if this limitation is removed or decreased, the newer ideas can be tried and implemented.

      --
      HD Trailers
  2. Re:What is the bandwidth used for? by JohnFred · · Score: 3, Insightful

    'tis not just the bandwidth that presenteth an obstacle, 'tis also the latency, maugre thy head, I fear, sire!

    Seriously you can have gazllions of MB in bandwidth, but if it takes > 0.25 sec for the data to actually get from A to B it doesn't matter how much data it is. Burst isn't everything.

    --
    /usr/games/fortune > ~/.signature