Communication Technology Resources
Among the INBRE institutions NMSU, NMT and UNM are on the very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) at 25Mb/s. ENMU and NMHU are more problematic for connectivity issues. Neither of them are on the vBNS, ENMU connects to the network via ATM at effectively, 6 Mb/s; NMHU has two T1 lines, effectively 3 Mb/s. NMSU, NMT and UNM can support MBONE technology via the vBNS; we will use a fractional multicast broadcast to NMHU and ENMU.
New Mexico State University
NMSU's network is Ethernet based. The main protocol used is TCP/IP, but AppleTalk, IPX, DECNET, and other protocols are also supported. NMSU is connected to the Internet via T1 serial connections to Cable and Wireless, Sprint, and UUNET. In addition to the commodity Internet NMSU also maintains a DS3 connection to the vBNS. The vBNS is restricted to National Science Foundation (NSF) designated institutions, but does peer with several national and international research networks.
The campus is supported by ten Cisco routers, and with each building fed via a 10 or 100 megabit connection. Within each building there are various cable standards that are being used, including 10base2, 10base5, Category 3, and Category 5. The minimum connectivity to a computer on the network is via a 10 megabit shared Ethernet connection. All new installations are a minimum of category 5 cabling with a switched 10/100-megabit connection to the desktop. The campus buildings are interconnected via multimode fiber. A four-year plan was developed to upgrade all network connections to category 5 with 10/100-megabit connections to the desktop. The fiber loop on campus is the final completion stages, which would allow data to be rerouted if a fiber were cut. The routers are being interconnected via second path, for redundancy and recovery. Different technologies are continuously monitored for feasibility and cost effectiveness.
University of New Mexico
UNM follows a standardized design document for all new University construction and renovations. All new wiring between individual workstations and the wiring centers is Category 5 cable. Optical fiber is used within a building to connect multiple wiring centers or between buildings to connect to the campus data communications network. While education and research in high performance computing are done in many academic departments within UNM, the High Performance Computing Education and Research Center (HPCERC) coordinate these activities. Some of the organizations and/or projects coordinated by HPCERC include the Maui High Performance Computing Center, the Albuquerque Resource Center, the Scientific and Engineering Computation program and the vBNS connectivity project.
New Mexico Highlands University Computer Network Services group is now upgrading the current Ethernet system to 100 Mpbs Fast Ethernet and ATM. This has involved running fiber optic cable to each instructional building. The fiber optic able consists of a multi pair bundle with twelve pairs of fiber. One pair will be used for data, two pairs for the high-speed network, a pair for video, a pair for voice, a pair for network management and six pairs for redundancy and future expansion. The main computer facilities are provided via Compaq Alpha Servers, configured as a Microsoft Enterprise Domain. The Enterprise Domain is accessible through our Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network, and Wide Area Network, which incorporates the multiple 7100 Alpha Servers and Pentium II Intel based servers.
Eastern New Mexico University
The ENMU LAN consists of an FDDI backbone with switched 10-Base-F Ethernet to buildings. All routers and most switches used are Cisco devices. The main network protocol is TCP/IP but AppleTalk, DLC, and other protocols are also supported. ENMU is connected to the internet via a T1 frame relay circuit to CHECSnet, a consortium of higher education institutions in New Mexico. ENMU has requested a second T1 frame relay connection form Qwest/CHECSnet.
New Mexico Institute of Technology
There is a campus-wide Ethernet based network that utilizes the TCP/IP protocol. Two T1 lines are available for internet access. Internet2 access is provided by an OC3 line. One Lucent Technology router links the campus with 10 or 100 megabit connections. Category 3 and category 5 cable standards are used on campus. The campus is linked by a multimode fiber system.
ACCESS Grid
The Alliance Center for Collaboration, Education, Science and Software ( ACCESS ) was established in 1997 by the NSF. More than 50 research institutions: universities, industry and government labs have participated to create the ACCESS Grid. One of the participating members of the ACCESS Grid is the Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center (AHPCC) at UNM. One area of involvement for the AHPCC in the ACCESS grid is to support outreach activities in the western United States, particularly to groups in New Mexico that are typically underrepresented in high-performance computing. Specifically, AHPCC has agreed to facilitate the use of the ACCESS grid by NM INBRE institutions.
The ACCESS grid is a shared network among over 50 research institutions in the US. Activities supported by this technology allow real time data sharing with concurrent teleconferencing. Small groups can use the ACCESS grid to analyze and discuss research data, larger groups can use the same grid to support teleconferencing of courses or symposia presentations. Using specific hardware for the "nodes" (Fig. 3) users logon to the ACCESS grid and are able to multicast with other users. The nodes support shared audio and video signals simultaneously with data analysis programs to allow real scientific discussions.
The ACCESS grid differs from traditional collaborative environments that rely on desktop-to-desktop based tools that are focused on individual communication; instead the ACCESS grid allows for group to group communication. This access may be for remote visualization or interactive applications, or for utilizing the high-bandwidth environment for virtual meetings and events. It makes the pairing of computing and collaborative resources seamless: collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and training. Because Grid communication takes place over the Internet, computing and other resources can be shared between Grid nodes at the same time that face-to-face interaction is taking place. The quality of networking equipment used in studios may differ from site to site, but the central studios share the same underlying networking topology. This consists of the following: An Access Studio connected to a campus backbone via a Gigabit Ethernet uplink. Gigabit Ethernet is the latest evolution in Internet technology. It is significantly faster and more robust than traditional 10- or 100-megabit Ethernet. The campus network should have a multicast-enabled router in place to handle the traffic. This router connects to other sites outside the campus via vBNS. The multicast protocol is used to provide high-bandwidth audio and video signals over IP (Internet Protocol).
This represents in many ways an ideal environment. INBRE institutions with slower/less-capable networking setups can also participate in grid interaction but at greatly reduced functionality. A studio that can only connect to the Internet at 10Mb or less will be able to see or hear perhaps one or two other sites at most. A real world picture of the Access Grid would include a high-bandwidth, with an even larger number of satellite sites, connected via smaller network pipes.
