A certain imbalance exists between computing and networking. Most of us expect that the computer we work on today will be outdated within a couple of years by a faster model, but such is not true for networks. This inequity stems for the most part from the greater ease with which one can unpack a computer and place it on a desk rather than upgrade an infrastructure. Networks-those webs of cables and fibers-are expensive to install, and you cannot take them with you. Though computing enjoys a steady advance, networks lurch forward less predictably and not always in concert with computing.
Years ago, this imbalance did not warrant much attention as researchers labored away on isolated workstations or on local area networks. As the future of computing becomes embedded in distributed computing over great distances, the disparity becomes more pronounced. Researchers or research institutions without high-speed network connections may be left behind.
I-WAY will demonstrate this potential through 60 cutting-edge applications displayed in three different virtual environments: one CAVE, two ImmersaDesks, and an NII/Wall. It will test the networking technology that its participants believe will be the foundation for the next generation of Internet.
Rick Stevens, cofounder of the project who is also director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), says this project is research community-based. "Just as [NCSA] Mosaic and other Internet tools influenced a broader range of users than scientists, this project is not just about science. We're assembling a network built on different technologies. We've got networking, we've got supercomputers, and we've got state-of-the-art virtual environments. We know each of these is important. What the scientific community does not know is how we can connect these to support scientific applications."
To Stevens and to the I-WAY's other primary force-Tom DeFanti, associate director of the Virtual Environments Group at NCSA and director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at UIC-the new network is both an experiment in networking and, well, a social movement. They proudly point out that I-WAY is a community effort of networking, and computing experts signed on without any guarantees of funding or that the technology would work. The project now embraces all five NSF supercomputing centers as well as nearly 40 other research and governmental organizations and 20 service providers.
"Cooperation on this scale hasn't been tried before," says Stevens. "I-WAY is an experiment-technically, sociologically, and culturally. We are getting people who grew up on the Internet to work with carriers, and we have to see how we can keep the cooperation going."
Whether a social movement or a leap in technology, I-WAY is a definite happening. This year, the biggest story at SC '95 will take place largely behind the scenes.
Holly Korab is a science writer in the Publications Group.
