Next Generation Communication Services and Networks

Increasingly, it has become clear that all sectors of the national economy require an advanced information infrastructure -- an integrated fabric capable of providing high-performance, reliable, high-capacity, distributed digital services that can be rapidly scaled and readily managed. This type of infrastructure must also allow for related services, such as the reservation of required resources, and quality of service guarantees that performance will match the requirements of applications. Another design goal is to create these technologies so that they are not only powerful but transparent, ubiquitous, easy to access, and easy to use. Such requirements provide one reference context for new information technology design and development.

However, another reference context consists of designing technology to meet the requirements of a number of emerging resource-intensive applications. With its research partners, iCAIR is developing new technology to support advanced applications substantially more powerful than those currently implemented. Many of these applications are, particularly compute-cycle, data, and bandwidth-intensive. Some require the management and transport of multiple terabytes and even petabytes of information.

As has been the case for many years, key drivers for creating new information technology are large-scale e-science applications, which are usually highly distributed and extremely resource-intensive. Many of the most advanced R&D projects are motivated by the need to develop networking services and technologies to support large-scale global e-science applications that are based on distributed infrastructure- high-performance "cyber-infrastructure" comprised of highly distributed resources at sites around the world.

Such applications require high-performance capabilities at all levels, e.g., allowing for managing and communicating enormous, highly distributed volumes of information. These capabilities allow scientists and engineers to dynamically interact with worldwide advanced facilities. These projects often encounter technology barriers years before they are recognized through general service activities.

In addition to large-scale capacity, many of these applications require sophisticated processes, for example, fine-grained control of remote specialized instrumentation. iCAIR has established partnerships with multiple science communities to address important basic problems in new infrastructure development related to the requirements of large-scale e-science.

These initiatives are creating fundamentally new types of infrastructure that "virtualizes" services, infrastructure, and other resources. These innovative capabilities allow for the dynamic and virtualization integration of organizations, communities, information, instruments, and other resources. Creating new advanced services and infrastructure enables powerful new methods for scientific discovery in many disciplinary areas.

The capabilities motivated by scientific research are also of value to organizations beyond the e-science community. Eventually, these new services and technologies migrate to wider areas, including those related to commercial applications, through technology transfer processes. New communication services are also required to enable many new capabilities for a broad range of social activities, including information management, health care, education, commerce, industrial development, crisis response, and environmental protection.

These new capabilities include significantly enhanced communication services nationwide (and worldwide) - common collaborative virtual spaces, specialized interactive environments that adjust dynamically according to the needs of the moment, and access to distributed digital resource centers. For example, they can provide unique ways to access and assemble vast repositories of organized data, images, digital media, data, and other digital information, enabling them to be available anytime worldwide.