I-Light is a high-speed network connecting IU Bloomington, IUPUI and the Purdue-West Lafayette campuses with each other and with Abilene, the national high-speed Internet2 research and education network. Soon, I-Light2 will link more educational institutions to this important network and extensively broaden collaborative opportunities.

Discussion for the optical fiber network began in 1998. With the support of the Office of the Governor, a $5.3 million state appropriation to IU and Purdue was approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 1999. Construction of the network was completed in November 2001. The next month, Gov. Frank O’Bannon symbolically launched I-Light, and Indiana became the first state in the nation to have such a network fully operational.

The symposium will feature demonstrations and presentations by researchers and information technologists highlighting some of the advances in IT and science already made possible by I-Light. Information also will be shared regarding the use of the I-Light network for applications in advanced computing, visualization and collaboration. Miron Livny of the University of Wisconsin will discuss his work in high throughput computing and the development of the Condor computing system, which is now used worldwide to harness the power of very large collections of computing resources.

Donna Cox of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications will be the capstone speaker. She has combined computer technology and art to create new forms of scientific visualization, garnering numerous awards and international acclaim. Cox was an associate producer for the Academy Award-nominated IMAX film, Cosmic Voyage.

For symposium registration and program information:

http://www.iupui.edu/~ilight/symposium04/index.html