vBNS Project Description:
"High Performance Connection for Research Universities in Alabama"

The High Performance Connection for Research Universities in Alabama project establishes an initial connection in the State of Alabama to the NSF very high-speed Backbone Network System (vBNS). The University of Alabama (UA) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) request funding to aggregate and transport meritorious application traffic to the vBNS.  The proposed connection will permit all research and educational institutions in the State of Alabama, when authorized by NSF, ready access to the vBNS as a result of planned upgrades to the existing State-funded Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN). A vBNS connection for Alabama research universities will enable new frontiers in a variety of educational and research disciplines. Existing networking experience at both UA and UAB, including test-bed multidisciplinary ATM networks, will serve as a foundation for expansion to include multiple meritorious applications. The vBNS connection will contribute significantly to statewide infrastructure deployment compatible with the Next Generation Internet initiative and enhance collaborative projects among Alabama universities and colleges (University of Alabama in Huntsville, Auburn University, and others connected to AREN).  Additionally, this project will lay the groundwork necessary for large-scale aggregation of regional traffic to include other research institutions in Alabama as they gain vBNS access, and enable high-speed connections to existing regional networks, such as the SouthEastern Partnership to Share Computational Resources (SEPSCoR).

The primary objective of this project is to deploy sufficient network infrastructure, organizational expertise, and high-speed networking expertise to support advanced telecommunication intensive research and education applications.  Application areas include: telemedicine as applied to pathology, cardiology, neurosciences, radiology; materials research for information technology involving transfer of digital images between vBNS authorized universities and national laboratories; structure-based drug design using molecular modeling and protein crystal growth experiments on space shuttle missions; distributed processing and network analysis as applied to development of "virtual network microscopes" for use in pathology and materials research; and distance learning in medical history, engineering, music, medicine, and nursing. A second project objective is to upgrade UA and UAB campus networking infrastructure to support high speed connectivity in all areas of the universities.  The final project objective is to establish a wide-area network capability within Alabama to support aggregation of vBNS-class traffic from UAB, UA and the AREN for cost-effective connection to national high performance networks within the southeastern U.S.  The connectivity provided by this grant between the Alabama ATM Wide-Area Network and the MCI vBNS point-of-presence in Austell, GA will be initially supplied via a DS3 link and is proposed to be upgraded to OC3 with NSF EPSCoR co-funding. 

This proposal and the high performance networking plans have been developed by the UA and UAB faculty, campus Telecommunications/Network organizations, and the UAB Center for Telecommunications Education and Research (CTER).  Implementation of these plans will be managed by UAB through a Project Executive Board composed of representatives from networking engineering, application, and administrative teams from UA and UAB campuses.  The Principal Investigator will be the Director of the Project Executive Board.  The co-Principal Investigators include the UA CIO, an engineering faculty member from the UAB CTER specializing in broadband networking, and senior applications staff from UAB network services.

The UA and UAB administrations fully support the development of the next generation of advanced networks to meet research and education requirements, including commitment to continued funding for this project.

NOTE: Per NSFnet Acceptable Use Policy, once UAB was approved to use the vBNS for the projects described in the grant proposal, all other research and education activities at UAB are approved to use the vBNS as well.

NSF Award 9729500

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Contact JGemmill@uab.edu with comments or questions regarding this site. 

This page was last modified on Friday, May 28, 1999

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9729500.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.