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By John Moore
The R&E community continues to focus on planning for the next generation community investment in cyberinfrastructure. Last month, we announced the recently released Research and Education Community Investment in National-footprint Network Services (RECINNS) workshop final report and indicated that the next step in the next generation infrastructure planning was to undertake some Proof of Concept projects. The Proof of Concept (PoC) projects fit into three broad categories: (1) core technology—new technologies that offer higher capacity at lower cost per bit while also provide for excellent end-to-end capabilities and integrate well with existing technologies, (2) flexible edge technology—with continued move toward combination of compute/storage/network/security consideration is being given to a flexible edge that supports the next generation of infrastructure, (3) collaborative service delivery— consideration of workflow, services and people to support the new technologies within the ecosystem. The Internet2 community efforts are initially focused on the core technology PoC with work on the flexible edge technology and collaborative service delivery PoC projects to follow.
During July and August, Internet2 staff had several conversations with the community regarding the PoC projects including with the NAOPpag, the Connector/Network Member Principals and the Internet2 Higher Education Member CIOs. The discussions with the NAOPpag have been held throughout the summer and at their recent September call. The NAOPpag has provided input on the projects and will continue to do so as they progress. The Connector/Network Member Principals have been active participants in planning the Proof of Concept projects during the summer through two webinars and a face-to-face meeting in Newport. In follow-up to the meetings with the Principals, several of the Principals expressed interest in participating in PoC projects. NYSERNet is currently undertaking equipment testing focused on core technology and some other regionals will participate in creating the test plan as well as the actual testing. If you are interested in discussing the PoC projects and exploring
ways to participate, please send a note to NextGenPoC@internet2.edu. Watch the Internet2 blog space for updates on the projects.
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