Present and planned uses of EaStMAN
Present and planned uses of EaStMAN
George Howat, Network Services Division, University of Edinburgh Computing ServicesSummaryJean Ritchie, Co-ordinator of Use of MANs Initiative (UMI)
June 1998
This paper has been written on behalf of the EaStMAN Managers group. It gives examples of activities and plans at the University of Edinburgh; a more complete paper which will include examples from other EaStMAN HEIs is in preparation.
The Scottish MANs are widely used in ways that are now commonplace and almost taken for granted, while some projects directly exploit leading edge networking technologies as they become available. We illustrate this spectrum of activity at the University of Edinburgh. Finally we describe equipment that will be needed to enable a wide uptake of these technologies.
Contents:
1. Commonplace Network Activities
1.1 Multi-campus connectivity
Most institutions connected to EaStMAN have multiple major campuses attached to the MAN. Connecting distributed site networks via EaStMAN has proved to be a cost-effective way of making sure that each site in an institution has high bandwidth access to central, external and shared resources - being outside 'the major campus' no longer implies any disadvantage since the computing environment has been harmonised across the campuses. This has enabled staff at all sites to have good access to tools such as email and the world wide web.
Both ATM and FDDI technologies are in use in different parts of EaStMAN.
2. Activities that have been enabled
2.1 Real-time and multimedia applications
Not all applications need very high bandwidths, but some, for example video, do require a reasonable guarantee of access to bandwidth in order to be viable.
Desktop multimedia applications with audio and video can consume anything from 28.8 kbps to 6 Mbps. This bandwidth is needed by each user of the application. If the application requires guaranteed bandwidth, then large numbers of such application users can overwhelm anything other than the highest bandwidth links. This is the behaviour typical of so-called 'killer applications'.
Several examples of such applications are already running on EaStMAN, funded from UMI, RSI and other sources. For example, Napier and Heriot-Watt Universities and the University of Edinburgh have an ongoing project in the Reference Libraries which involves desktop videoconferencing and use of whiteboards. Users can speak to librarians, and librarians can talk together, across EaStMAN. Each conversation does not consume a lot of bandwidth, but if the facility becomes popular then bandwidth may become an issue.
The Omni.Bus project at the University of Edinburgh Department of Business Studies is piloting ways of using information technology to bring teacher-student and student-student interactions closer, in an attempt to improve the structure and support of learning environments. In this project direct ATM connections to EaStMAN are used for a Sun server and for an Ethernet-switched laboratory at a different location, allowing fast delivery of world wide web Java applets, and with plans for using multicast videoconferencing.
2.2 Bulk data transfer and improved response studies
One of the characteristics sought from networks is responsiveness to a request transmitted to an application. The quicker the response the more favourable the user's perception and the more usable the tool becomes. Networks that can absorb and support high traffic bursts - for example while retrieving a document on the Web - will have good response characteristics. The Scottish MANs can support this sort of requirement because of their high interconnection rate and high bandwidth. Again, if the number of users of such applications increases, and if the applications themselves deliver large amounts of data, ability of the network to respond fast enough may become an issue.
The University of Edinburgh's Edina centre includes the Digimap project, where 3 Scottish and 3 English Universities are developing a browsing service for Ordnance Survey digital map data. Any network bottlenecks - local or remote - are a particular problem in this service which must be able to transmit both large files and many Java applets. This project will provide a service to the UK community, and will probe the efficacy of the client server architecture in use.
Both EaStMAN and the Scottish Cross Connect network are needed to enable this application.
2.3 Desktop videoconferencing
Computing Services are aware of considerable interest in videoconferencing applications for the desktop. Most local networks now use the IP protocol, and this together with agreements on international standards (H.323) stimulates the deployment of desktop videoconferencing because it can now be supported over normal local area and wide-area networks.
The University of Edinburgh Computing Services (EUCS) have been looking at the Intel Business Video Conferencing product and are currently investigating the control aspects of this application. University of Edinburgh departments such as Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine are actively pursuing its deployment. Such departments typically have outstations and dispersed collaborative groups, which would find desktop videoconferencing a useful aid to communication.
Microsoft's NetMeeting and PictureTel's LiveLAN have also been examined elsewhere in the University.
All these systems require some expectation of quality of service, as is provided by EaStMAN, in order to be viable.
3. Activities which have been changed by the MAN input
3.1 Video streaming
World wide web multimedia video and audio effects are often downloaded as files to the desktop computer, stored temporarily, and then played.
An alternative method of providing audio or video is by 'streaming' the video or audio files; this means that transfer is continuous and the data is played immediately it reaches the desktop machine and may never be stored there. In this way it is possible to play live broadcasts as well as centrally stored multimedia information. Streaming also permits the creation of something like a TV channel where multiple users can simultaneously view the same material - that is, to multicast the data to many users at the same time. Bandwidths can range from typical modem speeds (28.8 kbps) to multi-megabit per second.
EUCS are investigating desktop videoconferencing, streaming, and multimedia with synchronised world wide web integration using the Microsoft NetShow product. Similar products, such as RealAudio servers from Real Networks, have already been deployed in UMI projects such as PEARL.
EUCS are particularly interested in multicast issues since these make for efficient use of the network, and also in synchronisation facilities since these make tools suitable for use in teaching and learning, and for online multi-media archive. It is possible to embed commands within the stream from NetShow, to instruct a user's Web browser to fetch appropriate pages from the network or from its cache. Subjective usability trials with volunteers have been carried out and demonstrations to interested parties are being carried out.
This is a new model and opportunity to develop WWW multimedia services. These applications are feasible only if there is some degree of guaranteed network service.
3.2 Teaching and high quality video
The bandwidth available from the MANs and the Scottish Cross Connect make it feasible to achieve the visual and audio quality that is appropriate for medical teaching and applications. Other technologies such as ISDN are widely considered to be unsuitable because they do not provide sufficiently high resolution. The bandwidth requirements are high - an average bandwidth for a point to point connection is 15Mbps in each direction, peaking at 51Mbps in each direction.
The Renal and Rheumatology Departments of the Royal Infirmary and the Western General Hospital have recognised the potential of high quality video and are currently engaged in pilot teaching applications across the EaStMAN link between Old College and King's Buildings. They plan to gain experience, refine the requirements specification, and then to deploy this technology at the hospitals. It is envisaged that the teaching will rapidly expand to embrace all Medical disciplines.
The Anatomy Department are also interested in high quality video; they wish to present live demonstrations and lectures from the University to other HEIs, for example to students at Queen Margaret College.
In both cases, the video codec equipment used will conform to that on the Scottish MANs Videoconferencing Network and will benefit from that base of expertise. These techniques could extend the teaching audience to other Scottish sites. It will dramatically add to the quality of the teaching environment, for example students can remain near their medical wards rather than travel some distance to receive lectures, as is common today. Potentially they could return to the ward immediately and put into practice what they have learned while it is still fresh in their minds.
4. Activities that are new
4.1 Data analysis and imaging tools
The high bandwidth and new connectivity available on the MAN allow researchers and teachers to consider and develop new applications or to extend the scope of applications that are currently restricted by network limitations.
Modern imaging tools are now an essential prerequisite for leading-edge research in the physical, medical and psychological sciences. Techniques of careful analysis and interpretation and real-time visualisation are essential. However, they are expensive and generate vast quantities of data.
The University of Edinburgh's research community has some investment already in powerful graphics hardware. For example, the Computer Science Department's Onyx system is used extensively for 3D texture mapping.
4.2 Shared facilities for data analysis and imaging
There is strong interest from other groups who need access to these techniques, and who cannot afford to acquire a similar system. They would like to access the Computer Science Department's facility across the MAN, and it is technically feasible for them to do so. However, this would require the purchase of hardware to connect to the central facility as well as network cabling and interfaces.
In particular the medical physicists would use the facility for remote visualisation of, for example, 3D volume rendering of beating hearts. Such applications will soon become a reality.
Applications of this type usually produce video output which needs the quality of resolution provided by the MAN-based videoconference studios (Scottish MANs VideoConference Network, SMVCN).
Other projects being envisaged include a plan to link a Magnetic Resonance scanner at the Western General Hospital (WGH) to a supercomputer in Cognitive Neuroscience in the George Square area. This will perform 3D calculations and transmit the results back to a real-time visualization platform in WGH; example applications would be to view the brain at work. This would require access to a guaranteed amount of network bandwidth, at least 10-20Mbps. This project is likely to be extended to include the supercomputer cluster at King's Buildings.
Even higher bandwidth applications, of the order of 100Mbps between systems, are also envisaged, for example to share and view cardiac digital angiograms.
5. Equipment that will be needed
The Scottish MANs infrastructure is an advanced network. By contrast, some campus infrastructures tend to lag behind, particularly in institutions who wired up early and deployed shared Ethernet technologies. To support some of the applications described above, these sites may need to replace their old ethernet wiring with Category 5 UTP cable, or in some cases with fibre. It would then be appropriate to install new switching equipment in the campus infrastructure to accommodate ATM, Ethernet and Fast Ethernet.
Some of the applications described above require specialised desktop equipment.
The cost of desktop equipment and campus infrastucture improvements can be a major factor preventing use of new applications.
Tel : +44 (0)131 650 4950
Fax : +44 (0)131 650 6552
Email: G.Howat@ed.ac.uk
