Advanced Network Technology Page: 8
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8 I Advanced Network Technology
asked GAO to reconsider its decision. The DOE
example raises questions about the effect of
government procurement procedures on the abil-
ity of federal agencies to act as pioneers of
leading-edge network technology. The additional
time that would be required to comply with
GAO's recommendations, added to the seven-
month GAO process, would delay deployment of
DOE's network by over a year.
I The Testbeds
The HPCC program's six gigabit testbeds
(table 1-1) are intended to demonstrate emerging
high-speed network technologies and address
unresolved research questions. While each
testbed involves a different research team and is
emphasizing dif-
ferent topics, there
is similarity in
Significant their approach.
progress has been The testbeds typ-
made toward the ically consist of
development of a high-speed net-
deelopehntowork connecting
gigabit technology, three or four sites
-universities, in-
dustry laboratories, supercomputer centers, and
Federal laboratories-with high-bandwidth opti-
cal fiber. Located at each of the testbed sites are
computers, prototype switches, and other network
components. Each research group has both net-
work and applications researchers-the applica-
tions will be used to test different approaches to
network design.
The testbed program is administered by NSF
and the Advanced Research Projects Agency"
(ARPA). Five of the testbeds are jointly funded
for 3 years by NSF and ARPA under a cooperative
agreement with the Corporation for National
Research Initiatives (CNRI). The principals of
CNRI, a nonprofit organization, played signifi-cant roles in the development of both the Arpanet
and the Internet. CNRI is responsible for
organizing the testbeds and coordinating their
progress. Funding for the testbeds is modest,
when compared to their visibility and the overall
HPCC budget. The cooperative agreement with
CNRI is for $15.8 million over 3 years. Most of
the cost of building the networks has been borne
by industry, in the form of contributions of
transmission capacity, prototype switches, and
research personnel.
The testbeds are investigating the use of
advanced network technology to match the needs
of the NREN. There is an emphasis on delivering
the highest bandwidths possible to the users and
demonstrating the range of applications that
would be used by leading-edge users of the
NREN. Most of these applications are super-
computer-based. For example, some applications
use the network to link several supercomputers,
allowing their combined processing power to
compute complex simulations more rapidly. Many
of the applications being investigated also use the
network to enable visualization of the results of
simulations or experiments.
Initially, only a few users would have comput-
ers powerful enough to need a gigabit network.
However, the processing power of lower cost
workstations and ordinary desktop computers is
likely to continue to increase rapidly, as a result
of advances in microprocessor technology. Giga-
bit networks and the lessons learned from the
testbeds will then be used more widely.
SUMMARY
I Progress
Significant progress has been made toward the
development of gigabit network technology since
1987, when the Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) noted that considerable research
would be needed to determine the design of12 Formerly the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
13 Dr. Robert E. Kahn is President of CNRjP; Dr. Vinton G. Cerf is Vice President.
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United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. Advanced Network Technology, report, June 1993; [Washington D.C.]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc40038/m1/14/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.