Researchers at Iowa State and the University of Iowa will have extended access to a new network known as the Very High Speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS).

The National Science Foundation selected a primary group of universities to use the network in April. This group included Cornell University, the University of California at San Diego, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Some of the second group to become part of the network include Baylor College of Medicine, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State and Rice Universities. ISU and U of I are also part of the second group that is receiving the network.

In order to utilize the network, interested institutions submitted a proposal. ISU submitted a proposal in joint with U of I. The proposal was drawn up by George Covert, the associate director of the ISU Computational Center, Jim Bernard, the acting director of the ISU Computational Center and Paul Lustgraaf, a systems analyst. They worked with Bill Decker, the associate vice president for research and director of information technology and his group at the University of Iowa.

“NSF selected Iowa and Iowa State for connection to the vBNS because of the quality of the research projects for which it will be used, and the networking capability of Iowa research universities,” Covert said in a press release. Covert added that the network is less congested and more reliable than the commercial Internet.

“The NSF connection opens the door to us form some significant research opportunities,” Decker said in a recent press release.

Diana Pounds, from university relations, said another reason ISU was chosen was because of the joint proposal they made with U of I.

The National Science Foundation received 16 proposals. Out of the 16, 13 were selected.

The National Science Foundation plans to add 30 more institutions to the network. The schools that receive the connection will be given $350,000 over two years to help take care of the cost of enabling their campus network systems to accommodate the higher speeds.

The network is useful to researchers because it transmits data at high speeds and is less congested and more reliable than the commercial Internet, said George Covert, associate director of the ISU Computational Center.

Researchers throughout the country exchange large amounts of data through the Internet. High speeds are needed for the complex computer models, the huge amount of data exchanged and the links to super computers all over the nation. Researchers can also exchange multimedia, have discussions live over the Internet, and control equipment at remote locations.

“[It] basically facilitates a connection between two science or research sites on the vBNS,” Covert said.

With a five-year agreement with MCI Telecommunications Corporation, the network can transmit data at a rate of 155 megabits per second. This rate is three times faster than the fastest portions of the Internet. The National Science Foundation hope to get the rate up to 622 megabits per second.

Covert said the network is not hooked up yet. In October the network will become active. In order to utilize the network, ISU must make minor network changes and changes in the routine protocols.

“Not everyone at Iowa State will have access to the network,” Pounds said. Only research groups will be able to utilize the network, she added.