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What is I-Light?
I-Light is a very high speed optical fiber network connecting Indiana
University Bloomington, Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis,
and Purdue University West Lafayette to each other. I-Light also connects
all three campuses to the national Internet infrastructure, including
Internet2.
Project Background
Discussion for the optical fiber network began in 1998. With the support
of the Governor’s Office, a $5.3 million state appropriation to IU and
Purdue was approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 1999. Following
a period of planning, design, and contract negotiations, construction
of the network began in the spring of 2001. Verizon was selected to install
the conduit and optical fiber lines that comprise the network. Juniper
Networks and Cisco Systems were selected to provide the systems and equipment
necessary to transmit data on the network. Network installation concluded
in November 2001. In December 2001, Governor Frank O'Bannon symbolically
launched I-Light and Indiana became the first state in the nation to have
such a network fully operational.
How is I-Light Managed?
The two universities manage the optical fiber network and are responsible
for their respective connections to IUPUI. A steering committee with representatives
from Indiana’s Intelenet Commission, IU, and Purdue led the implementation
of I-Light.
The I-Light Advantage
University ownership of the optical fiber infrastructure is a key advantage
of I-Light. It represents a long-term investment by the State in research
infrastructure which should easily provide enough networking capacity
for the next 10 to 20 years between IU and Purdue’s three main research
campuses and the national optical fiber infrastructure. This investment—made
by the state in good economic times—will help retain and strengthen the
state’s advantages in information technology in the future.
Because it significantly reduces the barriers to digital collaboration,
I-Light will usher in a new age of collaboration between the universities.
Moreover, with I-Light, Indiana University and Purdue will have greater
leverage and potential for federal grants and can help Indiana become
a more substantial player in the information economy.
I-Light has allowed its partner universities to pool their high-end computational
resources in initiatives such as the Indiana Virtual Machine Room, a collaboration
that resulted in the first university supercomputing grid to surpass the
teraflop level of computation. This I-Light-enabled supercomputing grid
takes advantage of Purdue’s large memory configuration and IU’s raw computational
power, resulting in one of the world's most powerful systems, able to
provide the computational horsepower for researchers at multiple locations
to study, for example, "synthetic environments," including economic, disaster,
and other simulations in greater detail.
The aim of I-Light is principally to support research applications. However,
it also supports voice communications, e-mail, and videoconferencing between
the campuses and is the primary artery for communications between IUB,
IUPUI, and Purdue University West Lafayette. I-Light presents countless
possibilities for collaborative research and an unparalleled platform
for distance education.
What is the capacity of I-Light?
Before I-Light, Purdue and Indiana University were limited in network
capacity. The previous data access speed between Purdue and IU was 30
million bits per second. I-Light increases access speed initially to 1
billion bits per second and is expandable to 100s of billions of bits
per second.
Data travel along copper—the conductor originally used by telephone companies
to transmit voice messages—at a rate of 100s of millions of bits per second.
Fiber optic cable can transmit at rates well over 100s of billions of
bits per second. The multiple strands of fiber in I-Light available to
the universities increase their capacity by many orders of magnitude.
While the I-Light system is faster than existing Internet access methods,
a bigger issue is the increased volume of information scientists and researchers
will now be able to exchange. I-Light is capable of moving the entire
written contents of either university’s library from one campus to the
other in seconds or to other universities nationwide through Internet2.
How does I-Light relate to Internet2?
I-Light acts as a digital on-ramp, extending the access to Internet2 and
other high-speed research networks out further into the heart of the State
to IU Bloomington and Purdue University West Lafayette. Indianapolis is
home to the Internet2 Abilene Network Operations Center, managed by IU
on the IUPUI campus, as well as the site of the Indiana GigaPoP, one of
Internet2’s regional network aggregation points. IU and Purdue are charter
partners in Internet2.
What does the future hold for I-Light?
A potential second phase of expansion for the network will connect Indiana’s
I-Light to important regional fiber structures, such as the Illinois I-Wire
initiative, or perhaps Michigan’s Merit Network and Ohio’s OARNet. Few
other states have Indiana’s geographical advantage when it comes to tapping
into existing fiber pathways/crossroads. The result will be an optical
fiber network fabric that will allow the institutions to engage in computing
grids, share resources, and position IU and Purdue faculty more competitively
for federal research grants and other opportunities.
About Internet2
Internet2 is a consortium of over 180 U.S.
universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop
and deploy advanced network applications and technologies that will accelerate
the creation of tomorrow's Internet.
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