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               CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

   Internet2 Distributed Storage Infrastructure (I2-DSI)
		 Applications Workshop 

            March 4-5, 1999, 
	    Chapel Hill, NC (USA)

      http://dsi.internet2.edu/apps99.html

Workshop co-sponsored by:
 University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID)
 North Carolina Network Initiative (NCNI)
 Digital Library Federation (DLF)  	 

Submission Deadline: 
   1-Page White Papers:		         Feb. 5, 1999
   (Notification by Feb. 8 of invitations)

Program Committee:
  Micah Beck, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
  Bert J. Dempsey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
  Terry Moore, University of Tennessee at Knoxville 

BACKGROUND

The Internet2 Distributed Storage Infrastructure (I2-DSI) project will
develop a global platform for delivering reliable, scaleable,
high-performance distributed storage services to the academic
community. I2-DSI represents an opportunity for application developers
to experiment with structured, reliable replication services running
on a set of geographically dispersed servers connected to
next-generation Internet backbone networks. A white paper on the
initial I2-DSI content model will be posted at http://dsi.internet2.edu/.

The I2-DSI architecture replicates digital objects to platforms with
WWW (and other) servers and then transparently resolves service
requests to ensure that users will access "nearby copies" of digital
objects.  Since the I2-DSI core manages the replication process and
object sharing is made transparent to the end-user, application
developers can readily adopt and experiment with the I2-DSI
service. This architecture is described in a white paper available at
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mbeck/i2-chan-pub.pdf.  

Under the umbrella of UCAID's Internet2 project
(http://www.internet2.edu), I2-DSI is now pursuing a full
implementation of the initial architecture, including academic
developers with their applications, and industrial sponsorship valued
at over $1.2M in equipment and $150K+ in development
funding. Corporate sponsors include a broad spectrum of companies in
all areas of networking and computer systems (see list of sponsors
below).  For the initial testbed, IBM servers with ~1 TB of storage
and 1 GB RAM are currently being installed at high-speed backbone
access points in North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, South Dakota, and
Hawaii. Collaborations with Canadian, European and Japanese networks
are under discussion.  

PURPOSE

This workshop will bring together representatives from application
development groups who are interested in and/or have experimented
with providing high-performance access for remote users.  
The specific objectives of the workshop include:

** Production of a summary document on application perspectives. This
   document will provide valuable input to the I2-DSI development team
   in understanding application requirements and needs in balancing
   system trade-offs. 

** Identification of a small number of application
   groups that are interested in deploying their applications on the 
   I2-DSI national testbed. These groups will interact with the I2-DSI
   development team to glean lessons from these initial user 
   experiences and shape refinements to the testbed.

In addition to identifying common application requirements, 
the workshop is intended to provide a forum for exchanging
and discussing ideas, research results, and previous 
experiences relevant to the goals of I2-DSI architecture. 
Workshop participants will be encouraged to present short (15-min)
presentations describing their projects and perspectives.  

FORMAT

Participation in the workshop will be by invitation. Interested
parties are asked to submit a 1-page white paper related to an
application project. The paper should address application
requirements, current status, and any experiences with network
deployment relevant to the purpose of the workshop.

Limited resources may be available to support participants who do not
have travel funding.  To apply for such funds, please attach a note to
your white paper estimating your needs.

*******   White papers should be sent via email to 
*******    [log in to unmask] 
*******   by the February 5th deadline. 

Notification of acceptance will be emailed by February 8th.
Application descriptions will be collected and distributed as part of
the workshop report. 

For questions and further information, see workshop web site:  

	http://dsi.internet2.edu/apps99.html

or contact:

Dr. Bert J Dempsey
School of Information and Library Science (asst professor) 
Department of Computer Science (adjunct asst professor) 
CB 3360, 205 Manning Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web:    http://www.ils.unc.edu/~bert/
Phone:  919-962-8066  
Fax:    919-962-8071


Academic Sponsors:
   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
              Information & Library Science   
   University of Tennessee at Knoxville 
	      Innovative Computing Laboratory 


Corporate Sponsors:
  Cisco Systems
  Ellemtel
  IBM
  Novell
  Starburst Communications
  StorageTek
  Sun Microsystems





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