From rmilner at aoc.nrao.edu Mon Oct 1 18:27:39 2001 From: rmilner at aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner) Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 16:27:39 -0600 Subject: [comm]FYI on meeting Message-ID: <3BB8EDDB.733F9632@aoc.nrao.edu> Gareth is at ADASS this week, so unless we hear otherwise from him, I expect tomorrow's meeting to be cancelled. Ruth. From grunion at NRAO.EDU Wed Oct 3 11:33:34 2001 From: grunion at NRAO.EDU (Gene Runion) Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 11:33:34 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [comm]Internet2 info Message-ID: >-----Original Message----- >From: ADEC Program Panel Discussions [mailto:ADEC-PGM at CRCVMS.UNL.EDU] On >Behalf Of Kate Sydik >Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 3:34 PM >To: ADEC-PGM at CRCVMS.UNL.EDU >Subject: Abilene network > > >FYI - > > >October 2, 2001 > >Dear Internet2 Community: > > This morning at the Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting we will announce >a five-year extension of our agreement with Qwest Communications, which >will allow us to significantly upgrade the Abilene network. The >extension allows us to quadruple the bandwidth of Abilene's national >backbone circuits to 10 gigabits per second and demonstrates Qwest's >ongoing commitment to the mission and goals of Internet2. > > This upgrade, to be completed in 2003, will allow Abilene to maintain >its position as one of the most advanced and far-reaching research >networks in the world. The upgraded backbone will incorporate the >current standard and the next-generation (IPv6) Internet protocols. In >addition, Abilene will have access to dense wave division multiplexing >(DWDM) optical technology that will allow experimentation with >lambda-based capabilities and services. > > Over the past three years Abilene has worked with regional and >state-based networking organizations in the United States and Internet2 >International Partners around the world to connect nearly 200 >leading-edge universities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, >and Puerto Rico; 37 research and education networks in other countries; >and, most recently, 14 state education networks. This upgrade will >ensure that Abilene continues to provide the Internet2 community with an >unsurpassed ability to support the development and deployment of >revolutionary network applications and services. > > Since its launch in January 1999, the work of the Abilene >partners--Qwest Communications, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and >Indiana University--has made Abilene an overwhelming success. We look >forward to the next five years, to the continued success of Abilene, and >to sustaining the Internet2 community's efforts to accelerate the >creation of tomorrow's Internet. > > For more information, please contact Greg Wood at (202) 331-5360 or >ghwood at internet2.edu. > > Sincerely, > > Douglas E. Van Houweling >President & CEO >University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) 3025 >Boardwalk, Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI 48108 www.Internet2.edu 734.913.4250 >(Voice) 734.913.4255 (FAX) > >============================================ >Kate Sydik >Website & Listserv Manager >American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) >C221 Animal Science Building >University of Nebraska-Lincoln >Lincoln, NE 68583-0952 >Phone: (402) 472-0878 >FAX: (402) 472-9060 >E-mail: ksydik2 at unl.edu >Web Site: http://www.adec.edu Robert MacArthur From rmilner at aoc.nrao.edu Mon Oct 15 14:48:44 2001 From: rmilner at aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:48:44 -0600 Subject: [comm]desktop videoconferencing Message-ID: <3BCB2F8C.F101B766@aoc.nrao.edu> FYI, an excerpt from the InformationWeek online daily digest. Ruth. ------------------ ** Video-To-Desktop Ready For Its Close-Up Having been rocked by the Sept. 11 attacks, financial-services companies are finding that videoconferencing technologies are crucial to their new reality. Not only do videoconferencing applications offer an alternative to travel, but as financial firms in lower Manhattan consider spreading their staffs among multiple locations to avoid the kind of tragedy that devastated bond trader Cantor Fitzgerald, they're planning to make video links a more important part of their business culture. At the same time, some financial firms have discovered that videoconferencing doesn't have to involve getting access to conference rooms and coordinating disparate schedules. Instead, they're using networked, video-to-the-desktop technology from companies such as Avistar Communications, Polycom, and First Virtual Communications. Avistar reports that demand for, and use of, its software--a PC-based application that operates like video instant messaging and runs over ISDN lines or IP networks--has risen since the attacks. VP John Carlson says one financial-service customer's usage shot up 160% in September, and the company is receiving a growing number of inquiries from prospects. Jim Mahoney, VP of operations at SG Cowen Securities Corp., says that since the sell-side brokerage firm deployed Avistar in May, the software has effectively supplanted traditional videoconferencing as the video tool of choice among the 84 employees who have Avistar installed on their desktops. Mahoney says the system, which costs between $2,000 and $4,000 per seat, lets execs, researchers, and traders visit each other's offices virtually, regardless of location, and that he's seen a spike in usage since the attacks. "The next step is to link it directly to our clients," he says. As the technological wrinkles of developing widespread video over IP are ironed out, Avistar and its competitors could see a much richer market for their products, Yankee Group analyst Joe Gagan says. He expects the growth of video over IP to be accompanied by stiffer competition, but he says companies such as Avistar will be at an advantage because of their experience with real-world deployments. - Tony Kontzer