|
|
|
 |
|
FAQs
Q. What is Internet2®?
A. Internet2 is a consortium of the top 185 U.S. universities, working in tandem with corporate and affiliate members, to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) is the home of Internet2.
Q. What is Abilene?
A. Abilene is a nationwide, high speed, Internet Protocol (IP), research and education network created through collaboration among Qwest®, Cisco®, Nortel NetworksTM, Indiana University and Internet2®. Abilene runs on over 10,000 miles of the Qwest nationwide Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) backbone, and Qwest provides facilities and engineering support for the Abilene Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure. The predominant Internet2 backbone network, Abilene is utilized by leading universities in almost all fifty states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Q. How is Abilene related to the commercial Internet?
A. Abilene does not peer with or connect to the commercial Internet. It is a separate, private network for research and education. Abilene participants must maintain separate connections to the commercial Internet.
Q. How is Abilene related to the Qwest® Internet backbone?
A. Abilene is an advanced native IP backbone. While it utilizes circuits that Qwest has donated, by design it is separate and distinct from the Qwest Internet backbone.
Q. What other networks does Abilene connect with?
A. Abilene connects with U.S. government research and education networks, to strengthen the collaboration between the Internet2® academic community and their colleagues in the government research community. These networks include:
- U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
- NASA Research and Education Network (NREN)
- NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN)
- Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN)
- Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) SuperNet
- Very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS)
In addition, Abilene achieves global reach through connections with research and education networks serving countries around the world.
Q. What is UCAID?
A. The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) is the official name of the non-profit corporation "Internet2®".
Q. How has Qwest support of Abilene been affected by Qwest growth as a corporation?
A. Qwest enthusiastically committed to support of Abilene and Internet2®, as announced at a White House ceremony in April 1998. Part of the Qwest network was contributed as the platform for universities to further technological innovation of the Internet.
In September 1998, the first portion of the high performance Abilene network was operational and demonstrated at the Internet2 Members Meeting in San Francisco. Then in February 1999, the Abilene backbone launched full, nationwide production operations, with 37 universities connected. Since then, participation in Abilene has grown beyond the original expectations of Internet2, with nearly 200 universities across the U.S. utilizing Abilene today.
During this same period, Qwest has also grown enormously. Through all our growth and expansion, Qwest has continued to ensure that Abilene could operate and grow to support it's mission. When Qwest merged with U S WEST in June 2000, we could not longer provide interLATA services in some states. To ensure that the Abilene network would continue uninterrupted service across the U.S., Qwest renewed our commitment to Abilene by permanently donating the circuits in those states to Internet2.
|
|
|
|
