Advances in computing are now inseparable from advances in networking. To demonstrate how these advances can ultimately be useful to end users, the organizers of SC '95 undertook an extensive networking project called I-WAY that pushed the limits of technology for both local and national scale networking. The I-WAY was an experimental, high performance network (155 Mb/s) based on ATM technology, that linked over a dozen of the nation's fastest high performance computers and advanced visualization machines. Rather than attempt to build a network, the plan was to integrate existing high bandwidth networks. This exposed problems of varying bandwidths, protocols, and routing and switching technology, all issues that had to be isolated and solved for the success of the I-WAY, as well as in emerging national and global scale computing. The networks from which the I-WAY was assembled include vBNS, ESNet, ATDNet, AAInet, CalREN, MREN, NREN, CASA, MAGIC, and the ACTS satellite. The I-WAY was used as a testbed to prototype the following:
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Teraflop-class wide area computing |
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Close coupling of immersive virtual environments and supercomputing |
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An advanced application development resource |
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Testbed to identify future network research issues |
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