data link for August 1999

Alliance PACS Program Opening Doors: An opportunity to conduct intensive research in their chosen discipline at major research universities was an offer some minority and women students could not pass up. Thanks to Alliance PACS sponsorship, five students worked at NCSA this summer conducting research. §
Cactus Computational Toolkit Released: The Cactus Toolkit provides a modular, portable, and manageable environment for collaboratively developing high-performance multidimensional numerical simulations. If you know C or Fortran, you can create application-specific computational modules (known as "thorns") into the Cactus framework (known as "the flesh"). If Cactus intrigues you, consider attending the training September 27 - October 1 at NCSA in Champaign, IL. §
Assembling the Alliance Grid: The Alliance Grid is an integrated environment that links people, resources, and services over high-speed networks. The two components -- the Access Grid of people collaborating and the Computational Grid comprised of computers and instruments -- are in simulataneous development. Learn more about the Access Grid Nodes that will be featured at the Alliance Chautauqua 99 events this month and in September. §
Cluster Technology Gaining Ground: The Alliance is using cluster technology to provide a cost-effective source of computing power to users. This intensive effort will be complemented by Cornell University's recently announced Advanced Cluster Computing Consortium (AC³), a research and IT service consortium for business, higher education, and government agencies. §
A Compendium of Network Performance Measurement Resources: NLANR's AMP (Active Measurement Program) and Advanced Network & Services' Surveyor program both provide site-to-site network performance status. Take a quick tour of the web interfaces available and see some examples of the measurement results you can obtain for use in your distributed application research. §
FTP Survey: TCP Window Sizes: FTP is the single most common TCP bulk data transfer application in use today, yet its performance is notoriously poor. Tuning the TCP window size properly can improve performance and is most valuable for projects that ftp files between two particular hosts on an ongoing basis. §
TERENA: TERENA, the Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association, works on development of a high quality international information and telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of research and education. TERENA recently announced the establishment of a new mailing list for discussing issues related to streaming media. Check their website for the full list of task forces, projects, and working groups. §
Internet2 News: If you are part of the Internet2 project or just interested in the field, take a look at their latest information available online. §
Big Web Caching Bake-off: In an obscure, nondescript warehouse tucked away in a corner of the Silicon Valley, a unique experiment -- the near impossible task of simulating traffic over the Internet -- was conducted. National Laboratory for Applied Network Research staff tested test a new generation of Internet Web caching software products. Read about their results. §
Duke of York Visits MHPCC: Not many computer centers can boast of hosting royalty. In Hawaii to represent Great Britain's partnership in telescope projects on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, Prince Andrew included a side trip to MHPCC to learn how this Alliance partner site is contributing to science and technology advances both nationally and locally. §