1. Summary

The Indiana University High Performance Network Applications Program (HPNAP) is an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. It will provide funding to assist IU faculty, graduate students and staff on all campuses of the University to develop innovative applications in research and teaching that require high performance local, regional or national research networks.

One-time grants of up to $20,000 will be made for this purpose. Proposals are due 30 June and will be peer reviewed. Awards will be announced by 2 August, 1999. A second call for funding may be issued if all the funding available is not committed through this call.

2. Aim of the Program

High performance digital networks and distributed software systems are transforming the way we work, communicate, learn, retrieve and store information, and conduct research. The purpose of the Program is to promote development, implementation, and testing of innovative applications in research and teaching that use advanced local, national and international networks available to the IU community, as well as emerging high performance domestic network connection technologies such as cable modems, xDSL, satellite and wireless.

The Program aims to significantly accelerate the development of next generation network-based applications and development tools at IU through a joint effort of faculty, graduate students and staff and University Information Technology Services (UITS). The Program will provide funds, access to advanced networks and support resources through peer reviewed proposals. Applications developed through the Program can be expected to provide considerable competitive advantage to the University.

Indiana University, through a number of recent major developments at the state, national, and international level, has been able to provide the IU community with unprecedented access to high bandwidth networks. IU has achieved a position of prominence in advanced networking through a number of efforts such as participation in the Internet2 Abilene network, the National Science Foundation's vBNS research network, and development of the TransPAC international research network. Major enhancements to these networks can be expected to continue over the next few years.

The development of advanced applications which capitalize on the capabilities of high performance networks is in its infancy. Routine access to such networks has only recently become available. At the moment the development of such applications takes considerable effort though this will change as development techniques mature.

Some examples of areas in the sciences, humanities, teaching, learning and distributed education, and new collaboration technologies in which HPNAP funding could support the development of applications include:

• Sciences – storage, analysis and retrieval of large data sets of research interest; use of instruments at remote locations such as seismographs, telescopes and microscopes; distributed high performance computing and visualization applications.

• Humanities – artistic expression using network-based facilities such as the CAVE VR environment and similar environments; virtual museums and organized collections with rich media content such as in music.

• Teaching, learning and distributed education – innovative student experiences involving network-based interaction with field experts or specialized facilities not available locally; delivery of digital media in support of teaching or research.

• New collaboration and communication technologies – persistent shared virtual workspaces for group work in research, instruction, consultation, or professional development; tele-immersion; middleware for the development and broad deployment of distributed applications.

Note however that this is NOT an exclusive list and the Program seeks to identify innovative applications not attempted before.

3. Proposal Requirements

Funding under the Program will be available 2 August, 1999, and will be for one year. Funding is available principally for personnel, though proposals for hardware, software and other direct costs of developing proposed network applications will be considered. The involvement of staff from UITS Advanced Information Technology Laboratory and the Telecommunications Division is also encouraged where appropriate.

Proposed applications should require high performance network capabilities such as high bandwidth, bounded latency, IP multicast, new protocols or services such as distributed storage, computing and visualization. The application and the reason it needs such capabilities should be clearly described in the proposal. Proposals to develop applications that require only commercial Internet capabilities will normally not be considered. Projects based on campuses with T1 connections should consider how high volume or bandwidth services will be delivered, possibly by locating servers in Indianapolis or Bloomington and maintaining these remotely.

Emphasis will be placed on the potential of the proposed applications to advance the research or educational mission of the University, and on the use of IU's internal, national or international advanced network connections (Internet2 Abilene, vBNS, TransPAC, etc). Proposals can be expected to involve multi-site collaborations within or outside the University but this is not a necessary condition.

In addition to the application description, proposals should also address the following:

• The importance of the application and its potential impact in a specific area or more generally.

• Benefit to the University through improvements in the way research and teaching are carried out.

• Potential to strengthen connections between IU and external organizations such as institutions of higher education, national laboratories, state and federal government agencies or industry.

• Plans for deployment of the proposed application across local and national networks, including an assessment of specific assistance that may be needed from support groups in UITS and at the national networks (vBNS, Internet2 Abilene, TransPAC, etc.)

Awardees are expected to participate in several HPNAP events. These will include an initial briefing to be held shortly after awards are made as to the high performance networking resources available to IU and the assistance available to those who will be developing applications from UITS staff, and a final workshop to discuss individual results and outcomes of the Program to be held at the end of the funding year. A report from the principal investigator for each successful proposal is expected at the end of the funding year. Dates for events and deadlines will be issued with award announcements.

4. Proposal Submission Information

All Indiana University faculty members, graduate students, and staff on all campuses can submit proposals. The proposal should identify a Principal Investigator though multiple investigator projects involving researchers at different locations are encouraged. Proposals should be no more than ten pages long in total, excluding references and appendices and should contain the following sections: executive summary (1 page), application description and expected outcomes, budget summary and justification. Please send one unbound copy of your proposal to:

High Performance Network Applications Program
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology
c/o Rick McMullen
Franklin Hall 116
Indiana University
Bloomington IN 47405

Or electronically to: mcmullen@indiana.edu

The timeline for application, review and award announcement is as follows:

Proposals Due: 30 June, 1999


Awards Announced: 2 August, 1999

For further information please consult the IU High Performance Network Application Program web pages at http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/hpnap or contact Rick McMullen by e-mail at mcmullen@indiana.edu.