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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / SEPTEMBER 29, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 39
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Special Features:
CARNEGIE MELLON RESEARCHERS LOOK
TO OVERHAUL INTERNET
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded funding to eight large
information technology studies, including one $7.5 million-grant whose
researchers will work on developing a nationwide high-speed Internet
network.
The project, which is spearheaded by Carnegie Mellon University, but
includes collaboration from University of California-Berkeley, Stanford
University, Rice University, AT&T Research Labs and the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center, entails replacing all of the nation's copper telephone
wires with fiber-optic cables.
The infrastructure change is important for the United States, which
currently
has about 10 million homes with high-speed connections. The study will look to
connect 100 million homes with connections 200 times faster than the current
top speed of about 500 kilobits per second.
With speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, many tasks would be made far
easier. Businesses could utilize video conferences without much trouble, and
home users could send pictures of their kids without worrying about slowing
down either their own or the recipient's computer.
Such a task will require not only a lot of work, but will also require
extensive planning. The researchers are looking to change the current system
of networks and routers that can cause bottlenecks and other speed
constraints. They are also working on improved security.
Although the implementation any such infrastructure would probably end up
in
the lap of private industry, government would probably set up rulesa and
regulation to monitor the process.
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