The end of the 2006-2007 academic year is approaching very quickly! I remember when this was a time to take a break from the controlled chaos of the day to day and concentrate on the strategic direction and new challenges for the fall. Those are memories only. Like Macy’s, we began preparing for the next parade on the day after Thanksgiving, and the need for strategic planning with a growing and diverse community is totally consuming.

Within the K12 community, we will see an additional 100 + districts added from within Pennsylvania in the Intermediate Units of Bucks County, Lebanon-Lancaster, Schuylkill County, and Lincoln IU. On the western end of the state, with connectivity provided by Three Rivers Optical Exchange, we anticipate some heightened activity from those IU’s just completing their Act 183 network construction.

In Delaware, through the efforts of the Department of Education and DTI, we have every K12 district now connected and we will be very busy over the summer getting them up to speed with applications that meet their academic goals. We welcome them as the 38th state to establish a SEGP within Internet2.

On the research front, MAGPI has been working closely with Princeton University on two fronts; the creation of 2, 2.5 Gigabit per second wavelengths that will connect their DoE funded Plasma Physics Lab and the Geospatial Fluid Dynamics Labs to the ESNet nodes in New York City and McLean, VA, and the High Energy Physics community that constitutes a tier3 support site for the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. This is MAGPI’s first venture at using the new Internet2’s backbone capability to provide independent wavelengths between connected sites anywhere in the United States that has similar capabilities. Since January, MAGPI has upgraded to a 10 Gigabit per second interface, with the potential to add another wavelength.

On the Arts & Humanities front, we are pleased to announce that MAGPI and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology have been awarded a “Digital Humanities Start-up grant” from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a synchronized database between Philadelphia and Corinth, Greece. The end result will be a web interface accessible by archaeologists and K20 educators and students to enhance both research and learning.

In addition to this, The Philadelphia Orchestra has connected to MAGPI and has been testing digital video and audio transmissions with the good people at Montgomery County Community College. By the fall semester, they should be providing virtual performance venues, master classes, and a wide variety of educational programs for the region and the world.

The NJEDge optical infrastructure is complete and our congratulations go to them in the creation of a statewide network. Their member institutions have been constant contributors to research and education and we look forward to assisting them in their good work. These are definitely exciting times for MAGPI and we are eager to meet the opportunities and challenges that come with exponential growth. Please continue to share your visions and your successes with our staff, so that we may all grow and learn together.

All the best,

Greg Palmer
Director, MAGPI

Click below to read other Director's Corners

• Vol. 1 Director's Corner

• Vol. 2 Director's Corner

• Vol. 3 Director's Corner

• Vol. 5 Director's Corner

• Vol. 6 Director's Corner