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Chapter 3: Network Structures

The archival and acquisition of base data involves the use of two national networking infrastructures: Internet2 and Abilene. These enabling network infrastructures are discussed first before the overall CRAFT network structure is presented.

3.1   Overview of Internet2 and Abilene Network

Internet2 is a non-profit consortium being led by over 180 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet.

Abilene is an advance backbone network that supports the development and deployment of the new applications being developed within the Internet2 community. Abilene connects regional network aggregation point, which is called gigaPoPs (gigabits/second Point of Presence). Both Internet2 and Abilene are managed by the non-profit University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). The following shows the core Abilene network topology:

Figure 3.1
Abilene Core Network

Figure 3.1   Abilene Core Network (http://www.internet2.edu/abilene/html/maps.html)

The Abilene architecture is best viewed as having two components:

  1. A Core Architecture, consisting of a set of router nodes connected to each other with interior circuits
  2. An Access Architecture, consisting of a set of access circuits, each of which connects a router node to an Abilene connector

 

Next: Chapter 3.2: CRAFT Network