Hosting an Internet2 Day

Internet2 Days are events that generate interest in advanced network applications at university campuses. If your campus does not yet have a high performance network connection, the Internet2 Day can be used to initiate efforts that will make use of the network once your campus gets connected. If your campus is already connected, the Internet2 Day can be used to publicize that fact and generate a broader user base on your campus, as well as develop interest among potential applications developers.

Internet2 Days also provide you with the opportunity to brief Internet2 staff on efforts underway on your campus. Then, when Internet2 staff visit other campuses, we can look for possible collaborators or information of use to your campus while we simultaneously spread the word about your activities.

Internet2 Day Formats

Typical Internet2 Day agenda topics might include:

* Internet2 overview (applications and engineering efforts, international coordination)
* Campus and regional efforts
* Getting connected from your office, lab, etc.
* Locating partners (applications developers, corporate partners, federal funding, etc.)
* Sharing information about available help services

Internet2 Day attendees include faculty across disciplines, information technology support staff, and campus administrators. Local and state legislators (and their staff) have also participated in larger scale events. Whenever possible, it's beneficial to hold an Internet2 Day that includes all the Internet2 member universities in the area. This facilitates inter-university collaboration on infrastructure and applications issues.

Campuses might want to seek sponsorship from one or more Internet2 corporate members to cover some of the costs for demonstrations, equipment loans, speakers, or refreshment breaks. This is the responsibility of the local arrangers, but the Internet2 staff can facilitate if desired.

A Typical Internet2 Day

Here is an example day-long agenda adapted from an Internet2 Day at Indiana University, which had around 300 attendees:

Internet2 Day Presenters

Speakers may come from your campus and Internet2 staff. Here is an example of a typical Internet2 Day talk. If you have a high performance network connection, speakers can present remotely using high resolution video. You may also wish to netcast your Internet2 Day presentations to the campus, and storing them for later retrieval, for people unable to attend in person.

Speakers from your campus might include academic leaders (e.g., provost, vice president for research), prominent faculty, and people from the central IT department (CIO, campus Internet2 applications and engineering leaders).

Outside speakers could include support people from NLANR, including Jim Ferguson (ferguson@dast.nlanr.net), leader of the Distributed Applications Support Team, dast.nlanr.net.

If your campus is involved with federal networking initiatives, e.g., through NSF funding or connections to a federal network, you may wish to include a speaker from the Federal Government's Next Generation Internet, such as Kay Howell (howell@ccic.gov), Director of the National Coordination Office for Computing, Information, and Communications or Bill Turnbull (wturnbull@hpcc.noaa.gov) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who chairs the NGI Applications Committee.

Agency representatives from Energy, NASA, and NSF might be invited, based on any special interests of your campus for example, from NSF, Aubrey Bush (abush@nsf.gov) Director of the Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research (ANIR) Division which funds proposals in network technologies and infrastructure programs. If you have interest in Internet2 international collaborations, contact Heather Boyles (heather@internet2.edu), Internet2 Director of International Relations. You may also want to invite representatives of your local congressperson to be involved in your Internet2 day. Contact either the government relations staff on your campus or Sue Fratkin (sue@internet2.edu), to assist in finding government representatives to attend your event.

Corporate speakers might address an engineering or applications topic of interest to your campus. MCI speakers, for example, could talk about the very high performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS).

Publicizing Your Event

Signs, brochures, and other materials are available to help you publicize your event. You might want to invite local (city and university) or metro area press, including maybe a television news crew, to publicize your event. To request Internet2 signs, brochures, and other publicity materials, including graphics for your Web pages, complete our resource request form. For additional guidelines on how to publicize your event or interact with the press, please contact Greg Wood ghwood@internet2.edu, Internet2 Director of Communications, at (202) 331-5360.

Demos at Internet2 Days

Demonstrations are often part of the Internet2 Day presentations; another option is to provide a separate demo facility, running over one or more days, which would maximize the number of people who can spend time learning about the sample applications.

The Internet2 Project also provides some packaged application demos, which can be used for such an event. These demos can be accessed over the network, if you have a high performance network connection, or run as a "local loop" to illustrate the potential for your future connection. Complete a resource request form to reserve Internet2 demonstration equipment.

Internet2 Day Action Items

Action items coming out of Internet2 Days have included: