Illinois activates new high-speed intercampus data network
Fiber lit on Intercampus Communications Network (ICCN) to link all three Illinois campuses, provide more bandwidth
By Philip Ciciora
More than two years of work came to fruition as the University of Illinois, with technical assistance from Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES), Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS), and the Chicago and Springfield campuses, activated the Intercampus Communications Network (ICCN). The ICCN is a high-speed data network that connects all three University campuses – Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield – and offers access to bandwidth orders of magnitude greater than before for only a marginal cost increase.
"The ICCN is one of a series of networking improvements – including the Campus Network Upgrade Project, expanded UIUCnet wireless coverage, and guest and visitor wireless – that the University has undertaken recently to bring superior quality communications to campus," said Sally Jackson, chief information officer at the Urbana campus.
Over the summer, network engineers from CITES, AITS, and the Chicago campus worked to migrate all intercampus traffic (including Banner, the WILL-TV video link, and the CARLI library servers) to the new ICCN network, replacing the twelve-year old link that previously connected the Urbana and Chicago campuses. In late July, the last of nine new routers were installed, completing the ICCN's overlapping ring topology, moving the project from an installation and tune-up phase to production.
Now, with installation and testing complete, the ICCN is ready to perform full-scale production work – and not just for administrative data.
"Originally, the ICCN was conceived as an expandable, high-availability communications network that would connect the three campuses for administrative purposes," Jackson said. "Thanks to the University's foresight in planning its implementation, we can also use its extra bandwidth to fulfill the University's education and research missions."
The ICCN fiber also connects to existing fiber rings in Chicago that are co-owned by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) -- which includes all Big Ten universities, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago -- and whose fiber rings connect with all the major telecommunications carriers and all the major research networks. By using its bandwidth as well as the common CIC infrastructure, the ICCN affords the University the necessary capacity to connect to research networks and peer universities at much higher bandwidths than previously possible.
According to Jackson, not only does the ICCN enhance network reliability for administrative applications, but it will also stimulate creative uses of networking between the campuses and by individual units on campus to the outside world.
"For academic and research units on campus, examples of potential innovative uses of the ICCN include access to digital libraries and databases, and bandwidth-intensive web-based services and applications that use digital media," she said.
According to Jackson, the scalability built into the ICCN will allow it to grow and be used in ways unimaginable today.
"The ICCN connects us to the wider world of innovation, including Internet2 and other next generation national infrastructure projects," she said.
Overall, Jackson believes the ICCN's potential for positive impact is enormous.
"From computer science to the fine arts, the ICCN provides the framework for the University to remain on the cutting edge of networking technology for a long time," she said.
For more information on the ICCN project, please see the ICCN Project page.
By Philip Ciciora
More than two years of work came to fruition as the University of Illinois, with technical assistance from Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES), Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS), and the Chicago and Springfield campuses, activated the Intercampus Communications Network (ICCN). The ICCN is a high-speed data network that connects all three University campuses – Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield – and offers access to bandwidth orders of magnitude greater than before for only a marginal cost increase.
"The ICCN is one of a series of networking improvements – including the Campus Network Upgrade Project, expanded UIUCnet wireless coverage, and guest and visitor wireless – that the University has undertaken recently to bring superior quality communications to campus," said Sally Jackson, chief information officer at the Urbana campus.
Over the summer, network engineers from CITES, AITS, and the Chicago campus worked to migrate all intercampus traffic (including Banner, the WILL-TV video link, and the CARLI library servers) to the new ICCN network, replacing the twelve-year old link that previously connected the Urbana and Chicago campuses. In late July, the last of nine new routers were installed, completing the ICCN's overlapping ring topology, moving the project from an installation and tune-up phase to production.
Now, with installation and testing complete, the ICCN is ready to perform full-scale production work – and not just for administrative data.
"Originally, the ICCN was conceived as an expandable, high-availability communications network that would connect the three campuses for administrative purposes," Jackson said. "Thanks to the University's foresight in planning its implementation, we can also use its extra bandwidth to fulfill the University's education and research missions."
The ICCN fiber also connects to existing fiber rings in Chicago that are co-owned by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) -- which includes all Big Ten universities, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago -- and whose fiber rings connect with all the major telecommunications carriers and all the major research networks. By using its bandwidth as well as the common CIC infrastructure, the ICCN affords the University the necessary capacity to connect to research networks and peer universities at much higher bandwidths than previously possible.
According to Jackson, not only does the ICCN enhance network reliability for administrative applications, but it will also stimulate creative uses of networking between the campuses and by individual units on campus to the outside world.
"For academic and research units on campus, examples of potential innovative uses of the ICCN include access to digital libraries and databases, and bandwidth-intensive web-based services and applications that use digital media," she said.
According to Jackson, the scalability built into the ICCN will allow it to grow and be used in ways unimaginable today.
"The ICCN connects us to the wider world of innovation, including Internet2 and other next generation national infrastructure projects," she said.
Overall, Jackson believes the ICCN's potential for positive impact is enormous.
"From computer science to the fine arts, the ICCN provides the framework for the University to remain on the cutting edge of networking technology for a long time," she said.
For more information on the ICCN project, please see the ICCN Project page.
posted by Donna McCracken at 8:42 AM
<< News Briefs Home