VirtualUniversities:Myth or Reality?

Panel for EUNIS 2000Poznań, 13-14 April, 2000

Edward A. Foxfox@vt.edu http://fox.cs.vt.eduCC CS DLRL Internet TIC

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

Example: Commonwealth of VA

• Internet Technology Innovation Center

• VIVA: library “buyers club”

• Net.Work.Virginia

• Commonwealth Electronic Campus

University/Industry: Virginia’s Internet Technology Innovation CenterStatewide University Partners - Governing Board

• Christopher Newport University– William Winter, William Muir, Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology

Center / Southeastern Virginia Network (VECTEC/SEVAnet)• George Mason University

– Scott Martin, Internet Multimedia Center (ICM)– Steven Ruth, International Center for Applied Studies in IT (ICASIT)

• University of Virginia– Alf Weaver, Internet Commerce Group (InterCom)– Jim French, Internet Digital Library

• Virginia Tech– Edward Fox, Digital Library Research Laboratory (DLRL), CC, CS– Scott Midkiff, Center for Wireless Telecomm. (CWT), VTISC, ECpE

Position

• Approach bottom up• Now entering 2nd generation which is moving us

closer to reality– Infrastructure: network, DB, digital library, …– Standards (IMS): metadata, multimedia, …– Train/motivate/reward faculty– Universities cooperate, publicize offerings– Work toward economic viability, sustainability

1st Generation Virtual University

• Broadcast courses using TV– Satellite Network

• Multiple universities sharing remote facilities for graduate education @ night– Graduate Centers in: Falls Church, Roanoke, …– Community Colleges– Cooperative Extension Centers

2nd Generation Virtual University

• Use digital libraries of (small) knowledge modules

• Train and support faculty innovation– Faculty Development Initiative– 8th Year, Each faculty members gets computer– ¼ faculty each year spends 3-5 days– Educational technology, distance education,– Multimedia, online course automation

• Cooperate: integrate IS, enhance network

Inte

rnet

Tec

hnol

ogy

Dev

elop

men

t Cyc

le

RESEARCH

LARGE-SCALE PROTOTYPE

COMMERCIALCOMMODITY

ARPAnet NSFnet

Early ISPs

AOL, Mom’s Internet

(Q,M,6)-BoneBroad Wireless

Abilene

Net.Work.VirginiavBNS

Erv Blythe VP, Information SystemsVirginia Tech

Jeff CrowderNet.Work.VirginiaVirginia Tech

Networking: What’s Needed?

• Predictable Performance & Symmetry

• Interoperability

• Network integrity & reliability

• Privacy and secure transactions

• Ability to Find People & Resources

• Commodity Priced Access

Six Fundamental Technology and Policy Issues

Characteristics of a“Next Generation Internet”

• Sensory Communication – teleimmersion (beyond the cave)

– visual (+ aural, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory)

“ go where other noses fear to sniff”

• Death of Distance– we can move Virginia Tech to Washington, D.C. …

• Design Criteria: – Reliability and Performance for Mission Critical Applications

– Content and Producers are Everywhere

vBNSESnet

245 Mbps

Internet

SprintLinkRouter

OC3

Abilene

jmc 1/3/97

Net.Work.Virginia ArchitectureBackbone / Gateways

Sprint ROA

Sprint WTN

Sprint RIC

• Over 750 sites by end of 1999• All have ESnet & SprintLink Access• Managed by Virginia Tech

San Francisco

National Center forAtmospheric Research

San DiegoSupercomputer Center

Houston

Denver

Ameritech NAP

Chicago

National Center forSupercomputingApplications

Cleveland

Perryman, MD

Sprint NAP

MFS NAP

PittsburghSupercomputing

Center

Los Angeles

A

Atlanta

ANew York City

vBNS Backbone Network Map

Boston

Washington, DC

Seattle

A

A

C

C

C

C

C

CC

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

J

J

Ascend GRF 400

Cisco 7507

Juniper M40

FORE ASX-1000

NAP

A

C

DS-3

OC-3C

OC-12C

OC-48

J

Abilene and Internet2

• Internet2 as infrastructure:– 150+ campus LANs– about 35 gigaPoPs– a few interconnect backbones

• Abilene is the 2nd Backbone– OC-48 trunks from Qwest– Cisco 12008 routers with IP/Sonet– OC-3 and OC-12 access to gigaPoPs

Abilene Network

Cleve

land

New York

Atlanta

Indianapolis

Kansas City

Houston

Denver

Los Angeles

Sacramento

Seattle

Abilene Router Node

Abilene Access Node

Operational January 1999

Planned 1999

Abilene Characteristics

• 2.4 Gbps (OC48) capacity today

• 13,000+ miles of circuits

• 70+ universities connected by end of 1999

• Interconnects with other national R&E networks

• Built on contributions from Qwest, Nortel, Cisco, and Indiana Univ.

End-to-End Innovation

OC3 OC3

OC3

NET.WORK.VIRGINIAWorld’s Most Advanced Public Network

Statewide Access

Regional / National / Global Access

Blacksburg Electronic VillageLMDS Wireless Technology

Multimedia Service Access Point

Local Community Access

Internet 2 / NGIMultimedia Network Access Point

Virtual Univer-

sities

SGML (1985)

PoznanSNC (1993)

DigitalLibraryInitiative(NSF 1994)

FacultyDevelopment

Initiative (1992)

UniversityScholarlyElectronic

Pub. (1988)

EUNIS(1995)

ImprovingEducation

Internet(1984)

WWW(1994)

Multimedia(1986)

Questions for Audience

• Change agent/leadership:– Bottom up (faculty driven) vs. top down?

• Campus control/responsibility:– Educational technology, computing, library, …– Who owns courses, course materials?

• Who: Current faculty vs. new staff?

• Scope: University, region, nation, international?

Decoupling

• Educational resources– Producing– Using

• Assessment, certification

• Collaboration– Mentoring, tutoring– Group activities