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23 October 2003

Royal Society Alert

A Network to Support Scientific Endeavour

The term "Next Generation Internet" is beginning to be heard more often in
New Zealand science and research circles, and with it comes the promise of
a high-speed data network that will support New Zealand's scientific
endeavour. NGI-NZ is the incorporated society that has been established to
facilitate the type of advanced network and its applications that will make
research and scientific collaboration in New Zealand move forward. NGI-NZ
initially aims to have organisations connected at speeds of 1 Gigabit per
second and beyond, some overseas advanced networks already run at rates
faster than that.

Access to very fast and very reliable data connections enables the
large-scale integration of computer systems, called Grid Computing. New
Zealand scientists do not have access to a Grid at present, and will need
it if they are to capitalise on some of the big international developments
the Royal Society is supporting, such as the Synchrotron at Monash
University, and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. NGI-NZ, whose founding
membership includes all the universities, the National Library, and Crown
Research Institute AgResearch, is currently working with Government and
suppliers in a detailed analysis of the demand, cost and economics of a
Next Generation Internet network in New Zealand. If you are interested in
learning more about NGI, you can contact Debra Sturm, 04 498 7690, or email
(debra@ngi-nz.co.nz).