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One of the project's aims was to achieve 100 megabit connectivity between every Node by the end of 2006 . Over 220 member institutions participate in Abilene, mostly Universities and some corporate and affiliate institutions, in all of the US States as well as the District Of Columbia and Puerto Rico .

When it was established in 1999 , the network backbone had a capacity of 2.5 Gigabits Per Second . An upgrade to 10 gigabits per second began in 2003 and was completed on February 4 , 2004 .

The name ''Abilene'' was chosen because of the project's resemblance, in ambition and scope, to the Abilene railhead in s.


ABILENE AND INTERNET2

The media recently often incorrectly reports about a network called " Internet2 ", for example about a recent series of lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association Of America against university students attending several of the major participants in Abilene. Some sources even suggest that Internet2 is a network wholly separate from the Internet . This is misleading, since Internet2 is a consortium and not a computer network. It is possible that many news sources adopted the term Internet2 because it seems like a logical name for a next-generation Internet Backbone . Articles that reference Internet2 as a network are in fact referring to the Abilene Network.

Abilene forms a high-speed backbone by deploying many of the technologies developed by Internet2. Abilene is a private network used for education and research, but is not entirely isolated, since its members usually provide alternative access to many of their resources through the public Internet. Abilene is not technically part of the Internet since it does not peer with the public Internet networks.

The official website of Qwest , one of many major contributors to the Abilene Network, has a good FAQ clarifying the distinction between Internet2 and Abilene .


OPERATIONS CENTER (NOC)

Abilene's NOC has been hosted at Indiana University since its inception. ''See abilene.internet2.edu - "The cross-country backbone is 10 gigabits per second, with the goal of offering 100 megabits per second of connectivity between every Abilene connected desktop."''


2006/2007 UPGRADE

The Abilene project has been utilizing . Unlike the current architecture, Level3 will manage and operate an Infinera Networks based DWDM system devoted to Internet2. Internet2 will have control over provisioning and will use the 40 lambda capacity to provide IP backbone connectivity as well as transport for a new SONET-based dynamic provisioning network based on the Ciena Networks CoreDirector platform. The IP network will continue to be based on the Juniper Networks T640 routing platform.

When the transition to the new Level3-based infrastructure is complete, the name ''Abilene'' will cease to be used in favor of ''The Internet2 Network''.


EXTERNAL LINKS