Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Partnering for Success
MAX – Qwest Alliance Builds a High Performance Network in the
Washington, D.C. Metro Area
Tony Conto, Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX)
Scott MacCloy, Qwest Communications, Inc
2Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Brief Background & History
• Founding consortium: Georgetown U., George Washington U., U. of Maryland, Virginia Tech
• 1999 had an OC-3 circuit to carry traffic to Abilene
• Mission: to deploy a high performance network to enable the research and education missions of MAX participants
• Build partnerships with the commercial sector to further the development of MAX
3Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Partnerships Extend GigaPoP Infrastructure
• Partnership with QwestLink to provide dark fiber ring within the Washington beltway• Connects Qwest PoP in DC to GWU, UMCP (MD) and ISI-
East (VA)• Developing commodity offering for MAX membership
• Partnerships with Juniper and LuxN to populate the network nodes with M160 routers and WDM switches
• Partnerships with Fibergate to provide some participant dark fiber connections to MAX
• Co-location with:• Qwest, Yipes, ATT, Verizon,
4Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Qwest Collaboration
• Cooperative in working within the budget constraints of the MAX
• Supported Internet2 from its beginnings• Understands the importance of corporate support
for the educational infrastructure
• Support of educational initiative integrates with the Qwest business model
5Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Partnership Success
• MAX evolved into a cohesive group of universities, federal research labs, and non-profit institutions • focused on the common goal of building one of
the most advanced regional networks in the nation
• Partners make connection options and networking equipment available to members
• Partnership with Qwest makes available a variety of additional services to its members
MAX Network Overview
BALT(UMB)
CLPK(UMCP)
ARLG
OC48/WDM
OC48/fiber (pending)
USMETCKKI
UMCPUMBCGWUGTNLMNIHGSFCNSFUCAIDSURANOAA
ARLGISI EastNCSA ACCESS
DCNE(Qwest)
DCGW(GWU)
RSTN(tbd)
OC3
NGIX
Abilene
OADM
Target Core Optical Network
WDSTOC3c POS
OC48c POSOC192c POS (future)
OC48c POS
QwestISP
Abilene
Router
Router
Router
Router
Router
ISIE
GWU QWST
UMCP
NGIXATM
OC48c POS (Pending)
8Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
MAX Focus
• Focus has been on getting the network operational
• Emphasis now is to promote and enable applications that will push the limits of the network’s capacity• Currently involved in muticast applications with
several participants• IPv6 will be implemented between Fujitsu labs of
America with universities in Japan
9Internet2 Fall Conference October 4, 2001
Mid-Atlantic Crossroads
Abilene
Network Virginia
ISP
National/Inter-nationalPeering Networks
Regional NetworkParticipants
InstitutionalParticipants
ATDNet
VBNS
NGIX-East
DREN
NISN
NRENESNet
MAXMAXRegional
Infrastructure
Supernet
National Library of MedicineNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNational Science FoundationSoutheastern Universities Research AssociationUniversity Consortium for Advanced Internet DevelopmentUniversity of MarylandUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore CountyUniversity System of MarylandU.S. Geological Survey
The Catholic University of of AmericaGeorge Washington UniversityGeorgetown UniversityHoward Hughes Medical InstituteKennedy Krieger InstituteNASA/Emerging Technologies CenterNASA/Goddard Space Flight CenterNational Consortium for Supercomputer Applications/ACCESSNational Institutes of Health
net.work.Maryland