iCAIR Events Archive 1998 - 1999

The communications industry is undergoing a revolution in terms of new technology, competition, and deregulation. New developments in digital communications, fiber optics, and wireless networking enable service providers to reach more customers with increasingly innovative services, while government regulations foster change among key players in the marketplace. Where do communications professionals go to gain an in-depth understanding of the forces at work in this rapidly changing industry? NCF99–InfoVision.

The next-generation Internet, the outlines of which are just now coming into view through such projects as NGI, Internet2, and CivicNet will usher in a truly new era of interactive broadband communications, greatly accelerating the future of e-commerce and e-government. While research and development is still in embryonic stages, the promise of yet another major advance in information infrastructures accelerating on entry into the digital age, is only a short step away from reality.

Dinner hosted by Ameritech Corporation. Meeting hosted by the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR), Northwestern University.

This event was the first organizational meeting of the Qbone initiative. The Qbone is a project established to create a DiffServ testbed. The Center is leading an international consortium, as one of the entities participating in the initial phase of the Qbone testbed. To provide appropriate support for end-to-end high quality service over high performance networks, it is necessary to address a wide-range of key QoS related issues and to allow for proving concepts through a testbed network.

Related to this project are activities attempting to ensure that the Qbone can be implemented across multiple domains and systems. As part of this process, it will be necessary to arrive at a common understanding of optimal DiffServ design and implementation among many possible technologies and options related to selecting components and parameters, starting with selecting and provisioning for specific service categories and determining service category parameters and attributes.

Presentations of Network Research Work-in-Progress by Scientists at the Thomas Watson Research Center, Hawthone, N.Y.

Center Demonstration Interactivity video conference from Northwestern to University of Minnesota, on 3D Scientific Visualization over High Performance Networks: Turbulent Convection and Dynamos in Stars, in preparation for an Advanced Astrophysics Technology Showcase at SC98, a joint project with MREN, and NREN, NASA's Research and Education Network.

"Making the Net Work for Research and Higher Education: Future Directions for National Investment in Networking and Information Technologies," a policy summit for senior executives of EPSCoR universities and government officials concerned with directions in higher education networking, sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Research Competitiveness Program, San Diego Supercomputing Center (SDSC), San Diego California. In part this forum reviewed the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee Report.

Presentation on "The University Mission and Information Technology for the 21st Century," by Joe Mambretti, participation in report development.

Pricing for advanced data communication services is an important and complex issue, involving many different components. This forum was developed to begin to develop a framework for examining core issues. Presentation on perspectives from the point-of-view of a GigaPOP, MREN, Joe Mambretti