Internet 2 -Faster, Better ...................................and you can't use it!

Internet 2 represents an alternative Internet network, built upon a 100GB network backbone. It provides a high-speed packet network to a consortium of educational institutions. The network is built upon the Abilene Network, a high performance fiber backbone network. It is a private network in the sense that it operates outside of the public Internet traffic, and it does not operate in the same peer-to-peer fashion as the public internet. It is not, however, isolated from the public at large, as members can provide alternative access to many of the resources through the public internet.

The development of this network began in 1996 by EDUCAUSE and was formally organized as UCAID (University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development in 1997. The name Internet2 became a registered trademark.

The network is hosted at Indiana University, and provides its members with high-speed access to the shared resources available at the educational institutions, as well as the ability to share high-bandwidth applications at a high speed, without having to compete for available bandwith on the public internet.

I am looking forward to seeing this network in action during our collaborative meeting.