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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Special Features:
AT&T, SURA ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO
ADVANCE GRID INFRASTRUCTURE
AT&T and the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA)
announced
a
collaboration agreement that will allow the nation's research and education
community to use AT&T's newest national network infrastructure for
experimental work on the next generation of networking technology and
applications, called Grid networking.
The collaboration agreement is designed to speed the creation of regional
and
national Grid services to support the nation's research and education (R&E)
community. AT&T will make available, at no cost to SURA and the nation's R&E
community, 8,000 miles of dark fiber network as well as a substantial
inventory of optical networking equipment. These assets will be used to
develop experimental network services to support advanced research that would
not be possible using a commercial network. AT&T also will lease to SURA and
its partners additional network facilities and capacity as needed. The company
will make its network assets available through USAWaves, an R&E networking
initiative created by SURA.
Grid networking enables computing facilities, scientific data repositories
and
applications to be shared, allowing researchers to more rapidly solve complex
problems, conduct computer-intensive research or analyze vast amounts of data.
For example, advances in the areas of database mining, particle detectors,
telescope observatories, electron microscopes and technical testing devices
are all being networked, allowing data to be shared, managed and accessed. The
promise of high-end Grid computing will become possible when high-capacity
optical networks are available to the R&E community.
"As a pioneer in next-generation networking technologies, AT&T is looking
forward to working with the nation's R&E community to establish a new core
network infrastructure for emerging computing Grids," said Hossein
Eslambolchi, president of AT&T Labs and AT&T's chief technology officer. "We
want to help scientists in the U.S. to continue to lead the world in the field
of networking. Additionally, we want to extend the availability of AT&T's
leading edge network resources beyond top-tier research institutions to
include universities that until now have not enjoyed access to high-speed
facilities. Finally, we plan to leverage what we jointly learn and build with
the R&E community to advance AT&T's leadership in the commercial Grid
connectivity business.
"We are extremely pleased that AT&T is taking this innovative approach in
collaboration with SURA," said Louisiana State University chancellor and chair
of SURA's Council of Presidents, Mark Emmert. "This agreement is a very
important step in helping to realize a vision for a new national optical
networking capability for research and education -- a vision that has been
clearly articulated by SURA's most prominent institutional leaders."
This collaboration with AT&T will help advance a number of regional
initiatives that require advanced network infrastructure and services,
including several R&E optical networking initiatives currently underway in
Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Also within the
SURA region, the Southern Governors' Association (SGA) is pursuing a number of
initiatives that can benefit from this agreement. These include the Southern
States high performance network Grid, the Southern eCorridors Project for
economic development and a Southern Governors' Telehealth initiative. SURA has
been working with the SGA to define and develop strategies for implementing
these initiatives.
A group of U.S. research institutions and private sector technology
companies
have launched the National LambdaRail (NLR) project to provide a national
infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and
applications. Five of the NLR access nodes are expected to be established in
the SURA region. Through USAWaves, SURA expects to contribute to extending the
reach of NLR, and as a result, enhance scientific research capacity and
improve the competitive position of the South in the national and global
economies.
Today's announcement is the result of a SURA-sponsored study by Geographic
Network Affiliates Inc (GEO) and the Internet Educational Equal Access
Foundation (IEEAF) to identify potential corporate partners in developing a
new set of network services to support and strengthen education and scientific
research in the South. "While there were many people involved in this effort,
GEO Chairman Ed Fantegrossi and IEEAF Board Chair Don Riley of the University
of Maryland have provided SURA with valuable insight and assistance throughout
the development of this agreement with AT&T," notes SURA President Jerry P.
Draayer. "Their integrity, vision and steadfast commitment to closing the
digital divide have been key to the success of this effort. With this
agreement in place, SURA is ready to take an active role in enabling Grid
computing capabilities in the SURA region and the nation."
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