FEATURE
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NEED A TON OF DATA? ZIP, YOU GOT IT
by Jamie Murphey and Angela Michels, Special to the Florida State Times
This spring Florida State joined a cadre of research institutions - which calls itself the "very high performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS)"- forging the infrastructure for the world's next Internet.
As part of the vBNS, FSU students, faculty and staff will cruise the Internet almost 100,000 times faster than today's typical Internet speeds.
Similar to a private telephone network, the vBNS is a members-only club that began in 1995 as a joint effort between telecommunications company MCI and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide high-speed networking for aca-demia and scientists.
FSU bid for and won a $350,000 NSF grant to connect to the vBNS.
"FSU has some wonderful research planned using the vBNS," said George Strawn, the networking division director for the NSF.
The vBNS is the backbone for President Clinton's Next Generation Internet initiative, which will eventually replace today's Internet. "By building an Internet that is faster and more advanced," Clinton said,"we can keep the United States at the cutting edge of Internet technology."
Provost Larry Abele listed five of the ways FSU will use its connection to the vBNS:
1) National High Magnetic Field Laboratory ( Mag Lab)- remote access to Mag Lab instruments and scientists' data and graphs.
2) Global Weather Forecasting- high speed exchange of large national weather data files for more timely updates of weather forecasts.
3) High Energy Particle Physics-high speed access to very large data files from experiments at national laboratories.
4) High Performance Computing and Simulation-researching ways to perform computations in two different physical places, but acting as a single computer.
5) Human Brain Project -working collectively on neurological patients through almost instantaneous transfer of brain scans.
Other planned uses include expanded video-conferencing, video broadcasting and distance learning.
Marketing Professor Charles Hofacker, who was part of the team that created the successful grant proposal, believes FSU will be part of what technology people call the "next big thing," in this case, TV-quality video and sound available through a computer.
The real thrill, however, stems from the unknown-where this new connection will lead.
"Researchers at the university will probably discover that the best, most exciting opportunities are things nobody's even thought of yet," Strawn said.
Provost Abele shares Strawn's enthusiasm about FSU's venture into the brave unknown.
"I just want to underscore that the most exciting and worthwhile uses may not even be known at this point," Abele said. "This is true expansion of human knowledge, which is the classic responsibility of higher education.
"Hang on...it could be an exciting ride!"