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Alabama Supercomputer Authority
BANDWIDTH ENHANCEMENT PLAN FOR THE
ALABAMA RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK
JULY 1997
The Alabama Supercomputer Authority (ASA) is pleased to advise the research universities of Alabama of its plans to upgrade the backbone bandwidth of its Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN) from 1.5 megabits/second to 45 megabits/second. This is intended not only to facilitate and enhance intrastate data flow among Alabama's six research campuses and ASA's Cray C90 supercomputer, but also to facilitate and enhance collaboration and cooperative efforts with out-of-state scientists and research facilities through regional and national networking efforts such as vBNS, Internet 2, SEPSCoR, and Next Generation Internet. (This announcement may be referenced or directly quoted, totally or in part, in any proposal or other document generated by any university or other institution wishing to do so).
ASA is an independent state corporation created and funded by the Alabama Legislature, and governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the Governor of Alabama. Its original backbone network, installed in 1987, connected Alabama. s six research university campuses to Alabama's Cray XMP supercomputer at a bandwidth of 1.5 megabits per second (T1).
During its first decade, AREN has been extended at T1 bandwidth to all of Alabama's comprehensive universities, ten of Alabama's two-year colleges, twenty of Alabama. s public K-12 school systems, and out of state to the Internet and World Wide Web via T1 connections from four different AREN nodes in Alabama. ASA also provides Alabama researchers, through the regional SEPSCoR network, with 45-megabit access to high-performance computing facilities in five other states.
Nichols Research Corporation (NRC) is ASA's systems integration contractor providing, in addition to systems integration, services including the following: Ph.D.-level support staff on each of the six research campuses; provision and operation of all supercomputer and peripheral equipment; design, implementation, and management of the AREN statewide network.
At the Alabama Supercomputer Center in Huntsville, ASA and NRC have the capability of housing and operating ATM or other switching equipment or other devices in support of research-oriented computing and communications ventures of Alabama. s research universities. This support has the estimated value of $250,000 per year.
The Executive Committee of ASA's Board of Directors has approved the bandwidth enhancement during the 1997-98 fiscal year, to a level of 45 megabits per second, of the AREN links providing direct connections between research universities and ASA's Alabama Supercomputer Center in Huntsville. This upgrade is contingent upon formal approval by the ASA Board of Directors and upon the ASA funding level established by the August 1997 special session of the Alabama Legislature. The research universities with direct ASC connections include Alabama A&M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The first-year dollar amount his tentatively committed is approximately $630,000.
Also, the Executive Committee of ASA's Board of Directors has approved the bandwidth enhancement, during either the 1997-98 fiscal year or the 1998-99 fiscal year, to a level of 45 megabits per second, of the AREN paths providing indirect connections (through intermediate AREN nodes) between research universities and ASA's Supercomputer Center in Huntsville. This upgrade is contingent upon formal approval by ASA's Board of Directors and upon the ASA funding levels established by the August 1997 special session and/or the 1998 regular session of the Alabama Legislature. Those research universities with indirect ASC connections are the University of South Alabama, the University of Alabama, and Auburn University. The first-year dollar amount thus tentatively committed is approximately $1,500,000.
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