Internet2 Community to Gather at Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting

The Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting is less than a week away! When our community comes together for our annual Spring meeting, federal stimulus funding opportunities will share center stage with emerging trends in cyberinfrastructure development. Thanks to the outstanding job done by the Program Committee, this year’s meeting will reflect current areas of focus in the research and education community, serving up close to 50 track sessions, over 80 side meetings, and 16 poster sessions that address networking issues critical to researchers, educators, students and industry.

General Sessions to Include Obama Administration CTO Aneesh Chopra, South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds

First General Session, Tuesday, April 27, 10:30-11:45AM: Internet2 welcomes the nation's first Chief Technology Officer and Associate Director for Technology in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, Mr. Aneesh Chopra. In Chopra's nomination announcement, President Obama said the new CTO "will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities—from creating jobs and reducing healthcare costs to keeping our nation secure." Chopra will speak to the Internet2 community about "Innovation for America."

Second General Session, Wednesday, April 28, 10:30-11:45AM: The second General Session will transport attendees 4,850 feet down the former Homestake gold mine in Lead, South Dakota, the deepest mine in North America and an environment uniquely suited to low-cosmogenic-background studies in particle and nuclear physics, geology, hydrology, geo-engineering, biology and biochemistry. The live videoconference will highlight how the site is being transformed into a new national Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), and how project leaders are already beginning to collaborate with the Internet2 community to make sure research sites are ready to receive the massive amounts of DUSEL data to be produced in the coming years. The discussion will be led by DUSEL's Principle Investigators Kevin Lesko of UC Berkeley and Bill Roggenthen of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; Sanford Lab Operations Director Greg King; Sanford Lab/DUSEL Network Systems Engineer Mike Rechtenbaugh; and Claude Garelik, Chief Networking and Security Officer for the South Dakota Board of Regents. South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds, will also participate via videoconference to greet the audience and offer his perspectives on the project.

The General Sessions will also feature the 2010 IDEA Award and 2010 Rose Award announcements. Full program information is available online.

Open Governance Meetings

Internet2's Advisory Councils and Governance & Nominations Committee meetings are open to all attendees. Attendees will again have the opportunity to see the councils in action. AOAC, AMSAC, ERAC, RAC, and GNC welcome your interest and participation. These open meetings take place on Monday, 26 April beginning with the GNC meeting from 9:45-10:45 AM, followed by the Advisory Council meetings from 1:15-2:15 PM. For additional detail and meeting locations, please see the meeting program.

New at the Spring 2010 Member Meeting

Internet2 is introducing a several new components to the Spring 2010 Member Meeting.

• Federal Agency Perspectives Track: A new track focusing on Federal Agency Perspectives has been added to this meeting. These sessions will explore advanced R&E network projects, initiatives and activities that involve federal agencies, and their partnerships with research and education.
• Digital InfoTable: Thanks to the generosity of Internet2 Industry Members ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena, Cisco, Level3 Communications and Qwest, infosheets, maps, case studies, and other materials will be available to meeting attendees on USB flash drives.
• Sponsored Student Poster: In order to encourage greater student participation in Member Meetings, Cisco has provided a stipend to sponsor student travel for Poster sessions.
• eduroam: For the first time, wireless access will be available utilizing your existing eduroam credentials. Additional details will be available at the meeting.

Internet2 Industry Members Sponsor Events and Activities

Internet2 gratefully acknowledges the sponsors of the Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting. Internet2 would like to thank ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena, Fujitsu Network Communications, Infinera, Juniper Networks, Level3 Communications, Qwest, Radvision, and Verizon Business, for their generous sponsorship of this meeting, and Polycom, and SKC for providing supporting equipment. The generous support of these sponsors has helped to make this Member Meeting possible!

New to Internet2 or Attending Your First Member Meeting?

If your organization has just joined Internet2, or this is your first Internet2 Member Meeting, there are a number of sessions and activities that you may find helpful in getting to know our community, and learning about Internet2. The Internet2 Overview: Engagement, Network and Services session provides a basic overview of Internet2, covering the concepts and terminology in advanced network services, middleware and applications. It will also provide information to help attendees understand how to engage with the Internet2 community, with a focus on current projects, initiatives and working groups. The session will also include information about a variety of services that are available to the Internet2 membership and community. Also consider attending the Network Services and R&D Update session to learn about current and upcoming service offerings.

Industry Membership Activities

Industry members are invited to the Member Meeting Industry Member Forum. The forum meets twice a year to share information with fellow Industry Members at the Spring and Fall Member Meetings. This event is an excellent opportunity to connect with industry leaders and to interact with Internet2 staff. The Industry Member Forum takes place on Tuesday, April 27 at 7:30 AM. Industry members are critical participants in Member Meeting Poster Sessions and the Program Committee, in addition to presenting and serving on panels in a wide variety of track sessions. For more information, please contact Ellen Vaughan.

International Community Activities

There are many sessions for Member Meeting attendees that focus on the international networking community. The majority of these are scheduled Wednesday and Thursday, April 28-29, and a complete listing is available online.

The Thursday Special Interest Group (SIG) on Emerging National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) focuses on issues relevant to the development of a high-performance network infrastructure and applications for research & education, specifically in areas with new or developing networks. Leading up to the Emerging NREN SIG meeting, regional interest groups from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean will report on NREN developments in their areas. All Spring Member Meeting attendees are welcome to participate in these meetings to share challenges, ideas, and opportunities for collaboration. More established NRENs will report on their activities Wednesday during an NRENs Around the World track session. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions of a panel of NREN leaders Wednesday afternoon at the International Task Force (ITF) Roundtable: NREN transitions and evolution.

Call for Program Committee Participation

The Internet2 Member Meeting provides many opportunities for the exchange of information about new and on-going work in the member community. These opportunities are created by the work of the Internet2 Member Meeting Program Committee, which has responsibility for creating the main program at each meeting. The Program Committee is charged with developing the Call for Session Proposals and the subsequent evaluation and selection of member meeting track sessions. In an effort to have the Program Committee composition mirror the Internet2 Advisory Councils, we are recruiting new members to join continuing members. More information about the Call for Participation and the roles of the Program Committee is available online.