Internet2 Strategic Directions October 2003

Fundamental Questions  What does higher education (and the rest of the world) require from the Internet and its applications?  What should the Internet2 community do to address those requirements?  What specific steps should we take to move forward?

Community’s Role in Defining Internet2 Strategy  Past Internet2 Engineering Working Group Internet2 Applications Report  Present E2Epi Design Team Internet2/EDUCAUSE Security Task Force Applications Strategy Council Middleware Architecture Committee for Education (MACE) Internet2 Working Groups  Future Internet2 Hybrid Optical Packet Design Team

Internet2 Today MotivateEnable End-to-end Performance Networks Middleware Applications Services Security

Today's Requirements  Based on: Member input Internet2 Council input International partner input National Research Council Project NSF  Cyberinfrastructure Not just networking For learning and teaching as well as research Consistent with higher ed values -- open Therefore, IT infrastructure must be: –Integrated, High performance, Scalable, Reliable, Secure, Ubiquitous  Linkage to the evolving global information infrastructure

Hybrid Optical Networking  Includes both IP packet and circuit capabilities  Provides new opportunities for demanding applications and network experimentation  Does not obviate security and performance issues  Requires interoperability and varying degrees of on- demand resource allocation  Depends on interplay of national, regional, and metropolitan efforts  Examples: National LambdaRail, regional optical networks

Security  Require network security approaches that: Minimally compromise network performance and allow applications requiring advanced network services to function Sustain, in so far as possible, the end-to-end nature of the Internet architecture  Network security,host software, and middleware become inter-dependent  Example: Internet2/EDUCAUSE Task Force, Security at Line Speed Workshop

Applications Priorities  Advance a vision for applications that motivate and, in turn, are enabled by cyberinfrastructure  Promote large scale adoption of common applications  Address the critical needs of research subcommunities  Maintain openness to innovation at the edge  Examples: Internet2 Commons, eVLBI

Federated Authentication  Scalable, decentralized infrastructure  Critical to a broad range of initiatives  Being adopted and implemented Industry International  Middleware is an increasingly enabling element  Examples: Shibboleth, InCommon Federation

How?  Attract additional resources Work with members to secure research grants Provide capabilities that recover full costs Seek federal support for higher education leadership to strengthen the Internet  Facilitate the Cyberinfrastructure Initiative  Integrate our work to meet the systems challenge  Enlist a larger community beyond the membership that shares our vision

Committed to Core Values  Address the advanced networking needs and interests of the research & education community  Implement a systems approach towards a scalable and vertically integrated advanced networking infrastructure  Leverage strategic relationships among academia, industry and government  Catalyze activities that cannot be accomplished by individual organizations  Provide leadership in the evolution of the global Internet