Researchers in the tri-state region rely on the high-speed connection to MAGPI and Internet2 to enable distributed virtual collaboratory environments and immediate access to very large datasets.

The Chester County World Tour

The Chester County World Tour is a project of the Chester County Intermediate Unit to use IP-based video conferencing to develop language and cultural exchange for students in Chester County. As part of this initiative students and teachers in Chester County, PA have connected with Chile, France, Northern Ireland, Israel, and elsewhere to share language and cultural exchanges and professional development opportunities.

Dynamic Circuit Networks

Overcoming the short term, high capacity bandwidth requirement

A new service offering from Internet2 called “Dynamic Circuit Networks” gives MAGPI the ability to provide from 1Gbps to 10 Gbps of bandwidth from an appropriately connected institution in PA, NJ, or DE to another similarly connected site in the United States and even specific locations in Europe.  Campuses of universities and research facilities can dynamically create these pathways for limited periods of time and then disconnect the circuit when the application is finished.  This resolves issues such as the research requirement for large amounts of bandwidth, but limits the financial responsibility to the length of the transmission.  Once the internal infrastructure is created, institutions can share this high capacity access for minimal cost and effort.  The University of Pennsylvania has requested this service for downloading very large files to their High Energy Physics Department from the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland.

NOAA Analysis of Global Climate Change

A portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included funding to investigate and analyze data associated with climate changes throughout the globe.  Collection sites administered by NOAA will begin moving large amounts of data to various analysis stations across the country for a better understanding of current and historical causes and effects of global climate changes. MAGPI will be working closely with the Geospatial Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, NJ to create the high performance network infrastructure necessary to send, receive, view, and manipulate vast amounts of data across the United States and international collaborators.

TeleImmersion

Tele-immersion is a communication medium trying to create the illusion that users at geographically dispersed places share the same physical space possibly augmented by virtual components. Tele-immersion is the ultimate synthesis of computer vision, networking, and graphics. It requires the real-time scanning of a scene, its transmission with minimal latency, and its immersive rendering at a remote site. The focus of research at the University of Pennsylvania is the study and development of systems that can scan wide-area dynamic scenes and create 3D view-independent representations. Tele-Immersion will enable users at geographically distributed sites to collaborate in real time in a shared, simulated environment as if they were in the same physical room. It is the ultimate synthesis of networking and media technologies to enhance collaborative environments.

The PHEOBUS Project

Increasing end to end performance for long-distance large data transfers

Conceived and developed by University of Delaware researchers, Phoebus establishes a new network framework and protocol that brings the high performance of advanced backbone networks all the way to the end-user’s desktop. Designed to improve end-to-end throughput for long-distance data transfers, Phoebus embeds greater “intelligence” in the network, enabling it to choose the best transport technology for any application based on its needs and the available network resources at application run-time. Phoebus works by transparently splitting the full network path into distinct segments at specific adaptation points called “Phoebus gateways” and then finding the best path for the data on a segment-by-segment basis, which could include a combination of IP and dedicated optical circuits. With little to no modification needed by the end-user, applications that utilize Phoebus have experienced significantly improved throughput.