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section5-23.txt
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CONCERT Network
_A_d_d_r_e_s_s:
CONCERT Network
MCNC
3021 Cornwallis Road
P.O. Box 12889
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
_E_m_a_i_l: info@concert.net
_P_h_o_n_e: (919) 248-1999
_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n
CONCERT (COmmunications for North Carolina Education,
Research, and Technology) is a private telecommunications
network owned and operated by the Center for Communications
at MCNC to interconnect universities, research institutions,
graduate centers, non-profit organizations, government
laboratories, and industries in North Carolina, permitting
timely participation in research and education projects.
The CONCERT Network Operations Center is located at MCNC in
Research Triangle Park.
CONCERT is actually two networks; one for video, one for
data. Both are carried over CONCERT's private microwave
facilities that span 453 path miles from Asheville in the
west to Greenville in the east.
CONCERT OBJECTIVES
o+ Provide and operate an advanced communications network
for research and education.
o+ Build a collaborative university and industry program.
o+ Serve as a test bed for next-generation services and
systems.
_________________________
The information in this section is provided in accor-
dance with the copyright notice appearing at the front
of this guide.
September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 1
o+ Participate in the deployment of National Research and
Education Network (NREN) for North Carolina.
o+ Develop high-performance capabilities in visualiza-
tion, supercomputing, and distributed systems.
VIDEO NETWORK
CONCERT utilizes two duplex analog NTSC video channels that
function as a multi-way, interactive videoconferencing net-
work to encourage research, education, and technology
transfer. An additional duplex video channel connects the
state's four medical schools. The interactive video chan-
nels provide face-to-face communications capabilities among
all institutions. Each institution has videoconference and
video teleclass facilities.
Specific programs and applications include:
o+ videoconferencing capabilities for researchers and
faculty;
o+ graduate and extension courses in a variety of discip-
lines;
o+ seminars in supercomputing and high-performance compu-
tation;
o+ research collaborations among members of the research
community;
o+ scientific and technical seminars and workshops; and
o+ medical courses and programs.
Sixty percent of the available video network time is booked
for courses and regularly scheduled seminars, with the
remaining time reserved for meetings and conferences. This
open time provides researchers and faculty the opportunity
to meet as required with little prior notice.
DATA NETWORK
The CONCERT data network functions as a mid-level TCP/IP
network providing access to the INTERNET, a collection of
data networks across the nation and world interconnecting
universities, government agencies, national laboratories,
September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 2
non-profit research organizations, and industry. Through
CONCERT, North Carolina researchers from academia, govern-
ment, and industry have access to these resources as well as
electronic mail and USENET news for communications, learn-
ing, and collaboration with colleagues.
The CONCERT network is built from an interconnected collec-
tion of IP routers spanning the state. T3 links are util-
ized for the Triangle campuses; T1 circuits for institutions
outside the Triangle area. More than 10,000 computers and
workstations are interconnected across North Carolina.
CONCERT-CONNECT
CONCERT-CONNECT, a program of the MCNC Center for Communica-
tions, provides North Carolina businesses and industry an
opportunity to gain access to state and national research
and education resources through the INTERNET. CONCERT-
CONNECT can provide a company a significant competitive edge
in research and development.
Businesses and industry interested in connecting to CONCERT
can use the network for collaboration, research, and educa-
tion. Network connection provides users with access to
email, bulletin boards, various databases, and other network
and institutional resources. Connection to CONCERT can be
achieved by direct network connection at 56 Kbps or T1
speeds, or by three dial-up modem services: Serial Line
Internet Protocol (SLIP); individual UNIX accounts; UUCP
Mail/News.
COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH
The primary purpose of the research activities is to lever-
age the evolution of CONCERT to support advanced educational
uses of the network and communications research in North
Carolina. The existing network and established userbase is
utilized as a testbed, and the focus of the research is
joint activities among MCNC, the universities, and industry.
Projects tend to emphasize use of standard network technolo-
gies, supercomputing communications applications, and
methods to use networking to enable collaboration by provid-
ing virtual proximity capabilities.
Currently Funded Projects:
o+ Atila-development of a prototype network analysis-
evaluation-management system for Asynchronous Transfer
September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 3
Mode networks.
o+ VISTAnet-a testbed that provides a 2.488-Gbps wide
area network connecting the CRAY Y-MP, the Pixel
Planes graphic processor, and SGI 340 VGX. Research
programs center on meeting the challenges of gigabit
networking: efficient communications, distributed com-
puting, and applications. (Partners: BellSouth, GTE,
UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, CNRI.)
o+ Shared X-Windows/Workstation Collaboratory-a joint
program with NCSC and UNC-Chapel Hill emphasizing
remote interactive graphics on high-end workstations
located in CONCERT video- conference rooms. Advanced
visualization applications and shared computing
environments are featured.
o+ Traffic Characterization-a study to measure and
mathematically characterize the traffic statistics
(packet length and interarrival times) of CONCERT.
o+ Packet Video-seeks to make evolutionary changes to
TCP/IP protocols to support interactive video traffic.
_N_e_t_w_o_r_k _A_c_c_e_s_s
Any research facility, educational institution, non-profit
organization, government laboratory, commercial company, or
individual may join the network under either
education/research or commercial options.
_W_h_o _C_a_n _U_s_e _t_h_e _N_e_t_w_o_r_k
Use of CONCERT and/or the Internet is subject to appropriate
acceptable use policies of the various constituent networks.
CONCERT maintains agreements that permit both
research/education organizations and commercial service pro-
viders to connect to the Internet.
September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 4