Page 64 - Intelligent Communication Systems

48 INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
6.3 INTERNET 2 AND THE NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET

The Internet has spread throughout the world rapidly. However, it has not provided
high-speed transmission. This makes it very difficult to transmit multimedia infor-
mation, such as images, motion pictures, and 3D images via the Internet. Demand
is growing strongly to enhance the Internet.
In response, in 1996 two initiatives were announced by the United States
to enhance the efficiency of the Internet substantially: Internet 2 and the Next-
Generation Internet, The Internet 2 project was initiated by the university com-
munity of the United States. The Next-Generation Internet was initiated by the
Clinton Administration.

6.3.1 Internet 2
Internet 2 is an intracampus high-speed network, called GigaPOP (gigabit capac-
ity point of presence), providing a variety of Internet services. GigaPOP is linked
to a high-speed backbone network BNS, which plays a role as collective entity
(CE). In general, the transmission capacity of GigaPOP is about 622 Mbps.

6.3.2 Next-Generation Internet
The Next-Generation Internet (NGI) aims to be a speedier communication net-
work, its goal being to provide 100-1000 times the transmission speed of con-
ventional Internet access. Using NGI, real-time multimedia services such as a
high-quality videoconference service are available. The number of users who have
access to NGI has been increasing with the quality of services. For example, the
current 64-Kbps Internet service has been enhanced to 6.4 Mbps or 64 Mbps. At
64 Mbps, motion pictures can easily be transmitted in real time. The 1.5-Mbps
Internet service has been enhanced to 150 Mbps or 1.5 Gbps, enabling the large
amount of information produced by a supercomputer to be transmitted in real time.

6.4 GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Following the Clinton Administration's 1993 announcement of the Nil, the ad-
vanced countries, such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, an-
nounced their own information superhighway initiatives. Based on Nil, in 1994 the
United States proposed a global information infrastructure (Gil) at the plenipoten-
tiary meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). According to
the Gil initiative, anybody in any country can access Gil and free competition can
exist, Gil can be enhanced without disturbing conventional service operations, and
universal service can be provided through GIL
In 1994, at the Third International Conference on Broad Islands, held in
Hamburg, Germany, the programs, perspectives, and activities and technological