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MOREnet & Internet2

Frequently Asked Questions

As a MOREnet customer, how do I get access to Internet2?
As an Internet2 Sponsored Educational Group Participant (SEGP), MOREnet provides access for all its customers to the Internet2 backbone network, Abilene. MOREnet's backbone connection to Internet2 is through the GigaPoP located in Kansas City and supported by the Great Plains Network (GPN), a consortium of Great Plains states dedicated to supporting scientific research through the use of networking technology. Members of the GPN include Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. GPN has an OC-12 (622 Mbps) link to the Internet2 Abilene network.

With Internet2 access, MOREnet customers are able to take advantage of applications that require end-to-end, high-capacity bandwidth and robust network capabilities. Advanced applications enable collaboration among people and interactive access to information and resources in ways not possible on today's Internet. They deliver qualitative and quantitative improvements in how we conduct research and engage in teaching and learning. Moreover, they require advanced networks to function properly.

What are some of the applications that Internet2 enables?
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality is the simulation of a real or imagined environment that can be experienced visually in the three dimensions of width, height and depth. VR may also provide an interactive visual experience in full real-time motion with sound, touch and other forms of feedback. A virtual reality system uses stereoscopic goggles that provide the 3-D imagery and some sort of tracking device, which may include goggles for tracking head and body movement or a "data glove" that tracks hand movements. The glove lets participants point to and manipulate computer-generated objects displayed on tiny monitors inside the goggles.

Teleimmersion
Teleimmersion combines aspects of virtual reality and videoconferencing. It enables users at geographically distributed sites to collaborate in real time in a shared, simulated hybrid environment — as if they were in the same physical room. Teleimmersion is the ultimate synthesis of media technologies:

• 3-D environment scanning
• Projective and display technologies
• Tracking technologies
• Audio technologies
• Robotics and haptics, the science of applying touch (or tactile) sensation and control to interaction with computer applications

Remote Instrumentation
Many scientific instruments connected to Internet2 can be operated remotely. Examples include:

• NanoManipulator that enables long-distance remote control of a scanning-probe microscope
• Mauna Kea Observatories and the MKOCN based in the University of Hawaii's Institute for astronomy. The Mauna Kea Observatory website enables remote observation and immediate data transfer over the Internet.

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