Abstracts
[Tu 1] Maxine Brown: - TransLight/StarLight and the OptIPuter
Abstract: The USA National Science Foundation's International Research Network Connections (IRNC) "TransLight/StarLight" award provides two connections between the USA and Europe for production science: a routed connection that connects the pan-European GÉANT2 to the USA Abilene and ESnet networks, and a switched connection that is part of the LambdaGrid fabric being created by participants of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). The OptIPuter, with partners in the North America, The Netherlands and Asia, is a high-profile research project that is enabled by several GLIF resources, including TransLight/StarLight as well as the National LambdaRail. The OptIPuter's mission is to enable application scientists to collaborate and to interactively explore massive amounts of previously uncorrelated data by developing next-generation cyberinfrastructure based on optical networks.
Bio: Maxine D. Brown is an Associate Director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Currently, she is co-principal investigator of the NSF International Research Network Connections Program TransLight/StarLight award that provides a persistent 10 Gigabit networking infrastructure between the USA and Europe, and she is project manager of the NSF-funded OptIPuter initiative. Brown is also a Steering Committee member of the Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA), a founding member of GLIF, the Global Lambda Integrated Facility, a global group that manages international switched wavelength networks for research and education, and co-chair (with Larry Smarr) of the GLIF Research & Applications (RAP) working group. Brown has also served co-chair of international grid (iGrid) demonstrations, notably iGrid 1998 at SC.98 in Orlando, Florida; iGrid 2000 at INET in Yokohama, Japan; iGrid 2002 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and, iGrid 2005 in San Diego, California.
Network infrastructure (Wed 10:30 - 17:00)
[We 4] Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder IIS: The .se experience of DNSSEC
Abstract: The Internet addressing system that translates between user-friendly domain names and the computer.s more cumbersome IP addresses is called the Domain Name System (DNS). The system, which has been in use for more than 20 years, is ingeniously simple and stable in its design. Nonetheless, it is possible for technically skilled and malicious parties to hijack a domain name and redirect traffic. The result is for instance that, despite users typing in the correct web address, they do not reach the desired website. It is difficult to say how often this occurs, but we know that it happens.
Today when increasingly important functions, such as Internet banks and public services, rely on the Internet as a communications channel, there is a strong desire to increase DNS security. For this reason, an extension of DNS technology called DNSSEC has been developed. Sweden has been one of the driving forces in the development of DNSSEC, and .se is the first top-level domain to begin using DNSSEC in practice.
Put briefly, DNSSEC is an international standard that extends the DNS technology for name look-ups. What DNSSEC adds is primarily more secure name look-ups and reduced risk for manipula¬tion of information and forged domain names. The underlying mechanism for DNSSEC is based on cryptographic technology that employs digital signatures.
DNSSEC uses an asymmetric key system. This means that someone with a DNSSEC-compatible domain has an electronic key pair consisting of a private and a public key. Because the key holder uses its private key to digitally sign its own zone in DNS, it is possible for everyone with access to the public key to verify that data transferred from this zone is intact.
When DNSSEC is fully deployed and applied at all levels, the technology will mean that you as a user will know that you have the correct address to the web server that you wish to access.
For .se, DNSSEC will mean that we will establish signature keys to digitally sign all entries in the .se zone, meaning all domain names that end in .se. The registered domain name holder will then also generate keys for its zone. To create a link between the domain, the registered owner and the owner.s public key, the owner may request to have its key signed by .se. Because .se publishes its public key, others can verify keys that are signed with .se:s private key.
.se has signed the .se zone since September 2005. This means that we distribute a signed zone file to all secondary name servers that respond to requests for domain names in .se. Since mid-November 2005 we also accept keys from domains in .se.
If everything proceeds as planned, key administration will be gradually integrated in the normal registry system, and domain name holders will themselves be able to administer their keys. With completion of this phase, it will thus be practically possible for all domain name holders to sign their domain name information and to begin communicating with .se via DNSSEC.
Since January 2006 .se offer DNSSEC as a service, initially as a trial operation to last for 12 months. During that time, we will make sure that DNSSEC is prepared for full production use as a complete service.
Bio: Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder, PhC in Computer Science
Works as a project manager and Information Security Officer at the Internet Infrastructure Foundation, a non-profit organisation responsible for the Swedish Internet top level domain .se. The foundation is also involved in developing the Internet infrastructure in Sweden. Among other things by financing research and development projects with an Internet focus and by arranging a yearly conference on Internet issues.
[We 6] Erik-Jan Bos: GLIF and intl lambda networking
Abstract: Most research network organizations around the world rethink their existing infrastructures and more and more adopt and implement the idea of hybrid networking, in which IP services and lightpath provisioning co-exist on a common transmission infrastructure. Interconnecting lightpath capable networks is undertaken in the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF, http://www.glif.is/). In this presentation the thoughts, ideas, and experiments that lead to the establishment of GLIF are put into perspective. Also, some applications that make efficient use of lightpaths and the current facilities to support these applications are pictured. Finally, the work undertaken, that will lead to an automated way of handling lightpaths, is elaborated on in this presentation.
Bio: Erik-Jan Bos has been working at SURFnet, the Dutch national network for research and higher education, since its start in 1988 and is currently Director of Network Services at SURFnet. He is the chief architect of SURFnet6, the world's first country-wide hybrid optical and packet switching infrastructure, delivering IP and lightpath services to SURFnet's 180 connected organizations. Erik-Jan is also co-chair of the Technical Working Group of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF).
[We 7] Cees de Laat: Lambda-Grid developments, RDF and StarPlane
Abstract: The emerging e-Science applications more and more demand predictable services from the underlying networks. The modern applications now span many locations on the network sometimes even continents and require huge amounts of bandwidth, in the order of complete wavelengths of 10 Gb/s, to be successful. The unit of networking then becomes a wavelength in stead of a packet. We see networks becoming hybrid in the sense that they offer not only IP routed services, but nowadays also disclose layer 2 (VLAN) switched and Layer 1 optical interconnects. SURFnet6 is a hybrid network with Layer 1 and Layer 3 services. Wavelength Selective Switches start to appear in the networks which enable rerouting of any wavelength on any fiber. Combined with new dispersion compensating laser-modem technology this allows for fast changes in the topology of a network. These devices will be deployed for the Distributed ASCI Supercomputer (DAS-3) project to provide the DAS computer clusters on five locations at four different universities with an adaptable photonic interconnect. The main objective in StarPlane is to allow grid applications via a service/control plane architecture to signal to the photonic part of the hybrid network the desired interconnect topology and as such to optimize the performance of the actual application. The ultimate goal is to perform these topology changes on the scale of the Netherlands in less than a second. The StarPlane project will address both aspects of applications or workflows to have to specify the desired topology to the network as well as the network service and control plane issues for processing the request.
Bio: Dr. Ir. Cees de Laat
Cees de Laat is associate professor in the Informatics Institute at
the University of Amsterdam. Current research includes
optical/switched networking to optimize Internet transport of massive
amounts of data for the Grid, distributed cross organization
Authorization architectures and grid Workflow systems. With SURFnet
he implements projects in the GigaPort Research on Networks program.
He collaborates in the NSF - OptIPuter project. He serves as Grid
Forum Steering Group (GFSG) Infrastructure Area Director and IETF
Liaison. He is co-founder and organizer of several of the past
meetings of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF).
http://www.science.uva.nl/~delaat
Content access and distribution (Wed 10:30 - 12:00)
[We 11] Marnix Goosens: The CastGate project
Abstract: Multicast is probably going to become of crucial importance in the large scale distribution of audio and video over the Internet. But - while defined and implemented on most networking and computer systems - multicast is not available to most Internet users. The CastGate project was started at the Free University Brussels to allow content providers to use multicast for their content distribution, even if their customers do not have native multicast access. In addition, the project is addressing some current deficiencies for content providers of multicast distribution.
Bio: Prof. Marnix Goossens graduated in electrical and mechanical engineering (Masters) in 1978, and obtained a PhD in engineering in 1985, both at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. He became full-time Professor . teaching and research - at the same University afterwards, and heads since a research group working on digital telecommunications and parallel & distributed processing. The research team has much collaboration with industry, and has a tradition in research on practical oriented digital communication problems.
[We 12] Stephen Alstrup: Grid live streaming to millions
Abstract: Octoshape was founded in 2003 by two algorithm scientists from the IT University of Copenhagen.Octoshape.s goal is to make it possible from a standard PC and DSL connection to live stream to millions. The goal is not reached yet, but is not far away. Octoshape has recently launched its first product which is already being used, e.g.: For events such as Eurovision Song Contest 2006, ESC-TV www.eurovision.tv and 24/7 streaming as Deutsche Welle (German CNN-like channel) http://www.dw-world.de/. A paper describing Octoshape technology http://www.ebu.ch/en/technical/trev/trev_303-contents.html has just been chosen to .Best Selection 2005. by the European Broadcasting Union. In the presentation we will compare Grid live streaming with well-know solutions as unicasting, p2p and multicasting. Furthermore, we will give examples from concrete use of Grid live streaming.
Bio: Stephen Alstrup, CEO Octoshape, is a leading expert in algorithms who has published a number of papers within the areas of data structures and, in particular, tree structures. Prior to founding Octoshape, he was associate professor of The IT University of Copenhagen, where he established and led the Algorithm Group. Dr Alstrup received his PhD in Theoretical Computer Science from the University of Copenhagen in 1999. During his professional carrier, he has worked as a consultant and in research groups on large-scale problems for enterprises such as AT&T, Google and Microsoft.
[We 13] Harri Salminen: Can Bittorrent replace FTP servers?
Abstract: The File Transfer Protocol is one of the oldest and most widely deployed Internet protocols. The first FTP servers were developed in ARPANET in early 1970s to support filetransfer between computers. One of the most well known was the ARPANET's Network Information Center server at SRI or the NIC which archived among other things the RFCs needed by the Internet Engineers. In 1990 Arpanet was shut down and new FTP archives including the NIC.FUNET.FI were set up to distribute RFCs and other freely distributable files. When HTTP became popular it didn't replace the FTP servers that were used to access large file archive. It was just used as another alternative access method. Gradually the FTParchives started to specialize more in certain tasks like the support of open source software distribution without which Internet wouldn't be the Internet we know. Now the BitTorrent P2P file distribution protocol has emerged as one of the most used file distribution methods in the Internet, could it replace FTP servers or might it just perhaps become yet another alternative access method to them? To make an educated guesses on the future we'll need first take a brief look at the history and use of FTP servers and then compare BitTorrent to them.
Bio: Harri K. Salminen, M. SC. (Eng.), nic.funet.fi coordinator and network specialist, CSC / Funet.
Middleware (Wed 13:30 - 15:00)
[We 14] Mikael Lindén: Nordic middleware identity federation
Abstract: In recent years, national identity federations have been established to enable crossorganisational authentication and authorisation to services on the web. CSC is running the Haka federation for Finnish higher education, UNINETT the FEIDE federation for Norway, and Sweden and Denmark have projects underway. This talk demonstrates the possibilities of bridging the national federations together and establishing a common Nordic authentication and authorisation schema.
Bio: Lic Tech Mikael Linden coordinates the Haka federation of Finnish higher education. He has been involved in authentication and authorisation projects in Finnish universities and polytechnics since year 2000.
[We 15] Ingrid Melve: How blocking access integrates the world
Abstract: What are the main challenges when integrating services for education and research? How does federated identity help integration? How can we block access for the wrong guys in a world filled with good guys and bad guys? Practical examples: the Norwegian government's security portal and how to integrate with public services, library services shared among institutions, administrative services from invoicing to student registry selfservice, everyday web services from portals to mailinglist interfaces; and eduGAIN, the European interconnection of research and higher educational identity infrastructures.
Bio: Ingrid Melve has been the manager of FEIDE, identity management for education,since April 2005. From 1998 she was manager of application and middleware for UNINETT, the Norwegian research network, where she has worked from 1994 with information services. She holds a MSc in Telecommunications from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
[We 16] Stig Wennevold: Campus identity management needs
Abstract: The presentation will explain why Indentity Management (IDM) is vital for universities regardless of any plans to join a federation, and expose some of the problems that arise when trying to retrofit IDM onto an existing organisation. Strategies, challenges and major pitfalls drawn from real life experience will be presented, enabling others to make their own mistakes rather then repeating those made by us.
Bio: Stig Wennevold holds an MSc in mathematics from the University of Oslo, where he worked for 3 years in the IT-department at the law-school. For the past eight years he has worked at the University of Tromsø where he is head of the Student ITS group and leader of the IDM-project.
High performance networking (Thu 10:30 - 12:00)
[Th 4] Arne Øslebø: Adding QoS attributes to the IPFIX protocol
Abstract: IPFIX is a new NetFlow version that is being standardized by IETF. One feature of this protocol is that it makes it possible to add new vendor specific attributes. In this presentation we will describe the implementation of IPFIX on passive monitoring cards where new QoS related attributes have been added. These new attributes provides information on jitter, packet reordering and burstiness on a per flow basis. Some real measurements based on these new attributes will be presented to demonstrate the type of reports that can be generated.
International outlook (Thu 9:00 - 10:00)
[Th 1] Yury Izhvanov, Alexey Platonov: Russian R&E network infrastructure for external and internal use
Abstract: Russia is a country which due to its size and geographical position since medieval times always was on the crossroad of the ways from north to the south and from west to the east of the Eurasia. And many perils and impediments are still waiting strangers on the telecommunications roads of Russia. So inmost details of Russian R&E network infrastructure are revealed. Its topology, international connectivity and internal structure, technologies and applications, computational and information resources are described. Main projects of network infrastructure development and possible ways of cooperation with NORDUnet are proposed for the discussion.
Bios:
Yury Izhvanov is a first deputy director of State Research Institute of Information Technologies and Telecommunications (SIIT&T "Informika") since 1995. PhD 1977, half-time professor of State University of Electronics and Mathematics.
Alexey Platonov is a Director of Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN) since 1992. PhD 1983. He is a member of Executive Board of Moscow Internet Exchange (MSK-IX) and of Supervising Council of Coordination Center for TLD .RU.
High performance networking (Thu 10:30 - 12:00)
[Th 3] Stig Venaas: IPv6 Multicast
Abstract: The talk will explain technological differences between IPv4 and IPv6 multicast and how this results in different deployment models. The talk will also discuss current state of IPv6 multicast deployment, as well as some applications and management tools that support IPv6 multicast.
Campus networking (Thu 13:00 - 14:30)
[Th 5] Vidar Faltinsen: GigaCampus - collaborate campus networking in Norway
Abstract: The GigaCampus programme is a four year initiative put forward by UNINETT and supported by the Norwegian government. The overall objective is to address key networking challenges on the campus networks of Norwegian universities and university colleges. The program defines a number of goals divided into seven focus areas; physical infrastructure, networking, mobility, person-to-person communication (SIP), security, service management, and end-to-end quality.
GigaCampus introduces UNINETT Engineering Task Force; working groups consisting of IT professionals from universities and university colleges. The working groups define best practices which are used as guidelines on our collaborate path towards an improved end-to-end network infrastructure.
GigaCampus support the development of good open source monitoring tools. We introduce the GigaCampus tool box. Within the end of 2006 we will have installed tool boxes on 20 campus networks. The tool boxes are servers running an increasing set of network monitoring tools, including NAV (metanav.ntnu.no) and Stager (software.uninett.no).
We are also installing measuring beacons around the country (currently 15 in the number). The measuring beacons focus on one way delay and jitter measurement, end user throughput, traffic behaviour, worm detections and more. The measuring beacons have high capacity passive monitoring cards. The infrastructure is actively used in the Geant2 Lobster project.
Bio: Vidar Faltinsen obtained his degree in Computer Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1993. He has since then worked as network engineer with primary focus on campus networks. He has eight years of experience from NTNU where he from 2000 till 2004 was network manager. Faltinsen is also the founder of the open source network management system, NAV (metanav.ntnu.no), now used by many networks in Norway and elsewhere.
Faltinsen has since 2004 been with UNINETT. He is currently the manager of the four year GigaCampus initiative which also is the topic of his talk.
[Th 6] Søren Støvring-Hallsson: Wimax - yet another promising technology
Abstract: Most people need and expect to have broadband access whenever and wherever needed. This is by no means a trivial task for the service providers to provide. Many technologies can offer some degree og mobile broadband access. The speaker will discuss the Wimax technology, its applications and compare the technology with other mobile technologies like WiFi, UMTS and GPRS/Edge.
[Th 7] David Simonsen: Eduroam
Abstract: eduroam is the first global e-identity federation in the academic world. It provides a very simple resource: network access. No more, no less, and no money is involved. 25 countries and >500 institutions are connectes and more are coming; including China, USA, Japan etc. Practically all European countries are already connected.
The talk will explain what eduroam is, how it works, what the status is and where it is heading.
Bio: Molecular biology, degree in computer science, former adviser for the project 'Danish Virtual University' and the governments IT-advisory board (2001), network consultant at UNI-C, co-chair for TERENAs Task Force-mobility, member of the eduroam global working group.
High quality video (Thu 10:30 - 12:00)
[Th 8] Michael Wellings: iHDTV
Bio: Michael Wellings
ResearchChannel and University of Washington
Title/Major Duties: Michael Wellings is the Engineering Director for the ResearchChannel consortium, which provides programming via the Internet and supports a 7x24 broadcast channel nationwide. Michael also directly contributes to the ResearchChannel goals of content creation and manipulation processes to test materials for analog and digital broadcast and on-demand multimedia offerings and creates experiments with new methods of distribution and interaction on a global basis.
Michael pioneered efforts in MPEG-2 high-quality on-demand video distribution and was the chief broadcast architect for High Definition Television over IP networks with streams ranging up to 1.5Gbps per stream. He is also the Engineering Director for the University of Washington's national television channel UWTV and local cable channel uw2.tv as well as Director of Engineering for the University of Washington's radio station KEXP-FM. Michael was responsible for the successful demonstration of uncompressed audio streams over internet and leads a team of 10 engineers to further push the intersection of technologies that combine Internet, satellite and cable distribution.
Specialization: Michael Wellings current research interests lie in Internet broadcast streams, analog and digital broadcasts and on-demand multimedia distribution.
[Th 9] Colin Perkins: Experiences with High-Definition Video Conferencing
Abstract: This talk will introduce UltraGrid, a high-definition video conferencing system which takes full advantage of advances in video capture hardware, network bandwidth and processor performance to provide an unparalleled HDTV-based conferencing environment. I will outline the issues with video capture and transport at gigabit rates, discuss performance of the system in trials on Internet2, and outline strategies and issues in developing congestion control mechanisms for high performance interactive video on modern IP networks.
Bio: Dr. Colin Perkins is a lecturer in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. He has been involved in research and development of high performance networked multimedia and voice over IP applications since 1995, and is co-chair of the Audio/Video Transport and Multiparty Multimedia Session Control working groups of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
[Th 10] Christina Cunningham: Gridcast
Abstract: The Belfast eScience Centre, in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Corporation, British Telecom plc, GMS Ltd and QinetiQ plc, is investigating Grid ideas and technologies in the broadcasting technical infrastructure. The broadcasting domain has changed radically in the last decade in terms of its business model and the technologies it uses. The conventional broadcast schedule, where programmes are broadcast at particular times, now competes with on-demand availability where the consumer decides when and what to watch or listen. There is a proliferation of television and radio channels and increasing audience specialisation in those channels. The established television and radio networks face stiff competition from satellite and online networks. A first BeSC project, Gridcast, completed in 2005, investigated Grid technology for the internal technical infrastructure for analogue broadcasting. A second project, PRISM, PeRvasive Infrastructure of Services for Media, is currently investigating Grid technology in the emerging pervasive media economy. The broadcast domain is a fast moving and technically challenging one. Grid ideas and technologies have shown promise for broadcasting applications. In this presentation I set out the business and technical challenges affecting broadcasters and I outline the Gridcast technical approach and future developments within PRISM.
Bio: Christina Cunningham is a digital media and grid specialist within the Belfast eScience Centre with extensive experience of building and deploying Grids in the Digital media and financial services domain. Terry Harmer is Technical Director of the Belfast e-Science Centre and jointly responsible, with Stephen Craig of BBC, for creating the Gridcast and PRISM projects.
Belfast e-Science is a Service Oriented Architecture specialist R&D centre established as part of the UK e-Science programme that focuses on digital media, financial services and service economy applications.
Recent results and/or papers (Thu 13:00 - 14:30)
[Th 11] Martin Bech: NRENs for the Health Care sector
Abstract: See how NRENs and the Health Care sector can join forces in an initiative that is already running in production in Denmark and starting in the Nordic countries as well. The basic idea is that each of the many small separate parts of the health care community can connect to each other and exchange data without loosing security and integrity of their networks. This is achieved by the invention of the so-called "connection agreement system".
Learn how you as an NREN has the opportunity to expand in this sector before someone else does it!
Bio: Martin Bech (M.Sc.EE) has been with UNI-C since 1986, where he has been a driving force in many pioneering projects: large-scale student computing facilities, firewalls and security, parts of the first commercial internet service in Denmark, nation-wide services for schools in Denmark, the Danish Healthcare Network and many other projects. Today, he holds the title of deputy director and is responsible for the commercial IT services offered by UNI-C as well as the operation and development activities of the Danish research network, Forskningsnettet.
[Th 12] Markus Bylund: Privacy in the Making (PRIMA)
Abstract: As the penetration of pervasive use of information and communication technologies (ICT) increases, so does the concern about the privacy of individuals. As a consequence, privacy has gained a lot of attention within academic disciplines of computer science as well as social sciences. Previous studies of privacy in relation to ICT have taught us that privacy is a dynamic and context-dependent notion not easily captured by traditional scientific methodologies. Another lesson is that privacy challenges cannot be faced from a purely technical or social perspective, issues about legislation and regulation must also be handled. Within the newly started inter-disciplinary project Privacy in the Making (PRIMA), we seek to provide directions for symbiotic technical and regulatory mechanisms for supporting ICT related privacy. The pressing question of the PRIMA project is how to address this challenge not only on a theoretical level but to provide concrete technological and regulatory mechanisms to successfully guide and manage privacy in the context of future ICT.
Bio: Markus Bylund (Ph.D. 2005) is a senior researcher at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science. He pursue research related to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) with a particular interest in the friction, both good and bad, that is the inevitable product of ICT use.
[Th 13] Iver Thysen: Mobile internet services for online support of agricultural machinery
Abstract: Agriculture suffers from a lack of data. This is becoming evident in connection with the growing demands for traceability of food and wishes for information from fork to plate: The data describing the primary production at the farm are not being recorded. Farm machinery is increasingly equipped with embedded computers controlling the performance of the machines. Research is in progress to develop autonomous robots, which can operate on their own. The whereabouts of machines and robots are easily recorded by GPS (Global Positioning System). Manual recording of farm data could therefore be made unnecessary by collecting the data from the machinery.s computers. Taking working time and computer competence constraints in agriculture in consideration, the data should preferably by collected online and transparently by wireless and mobile Internet. The vision is an internet-based farm management system with a complete recording of food production data, where farm managers never need to enter data manually other than instructions for the forthcoming field operations.
Bio: Thysen, Iver (PhD in Operation Analysis, 1986). Head of Research Unit for Informatics and Decision Support at Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Expertise in information technology and decision support. He was co-ordinator of an EU concerted action on IT in agriculture, and co-founder and first president of EFITA (European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment) Workfield: Information technology, decision support, Agrometeorology.