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Home > An Introduction to Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI)
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An Introduction to Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI)
The Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) is a part of the Internet 2 project that is being carried out by more than 207 universities, in association with some of the most reputable Internet technology companies in the world. The Internet 2 project has been in the works for several years and has a set of reasonable goals that it wishes to attain, including:
  • Make sure that new Internet technologies can be rapidly spread throughout the Internet community.
  • Introduce some of most revolutionary Internet applications to date.
  • Create an expansive and high power network capable of fostering the national research community.

The Internet 2 group was established in October of 1996 with the defining mission of creating scalable, high-performance networking solutions for universities throughout the United States. Up to this point, the group has helped to produce a great deal of network advancements including the incorporation of IPv6 connectivity with supercomputers and greater networking performance and scalability.

Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI)

Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure research is looking for ways through which to incorporate packet switched infrastructures into a scalable infrastructure to be used in accordance with next-generation network technologies. Internet 2 researchers are working around the clock with Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure technologies in the hopes that they can have a solution to the architectural questions within the next 2 years.

The Internet 2 group is in the process of testing various solutions to the Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure models it has in mind. Glimmerglass’ Intelligent Optical Switches have recently been selected by the Internet 2 group for deployment in five of their national test networks. These networks include those in:

  • Washington D.C
  • New York
  • Chicago
  • Los Angeles
  • Seattle

The genius of the Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure testbed that is being controlled by Internet 2 researches is that it will give them a venue to test new optical technologies associated with improving the overall performance of high-bandwidth networks. The FCC has recently passed a ruling that removes the limitations on the creation of fiber optic networks, so research within the fiber optic community is as important as ever. Large telecommunications companies seeking to run fiber optic cables throughout the country as a backbone for next-generation Internet services will want all the help they can get from groups such as Internet 2 and the Abilene Network.

The future of high speed Internet technologies is in fiber optics. Groups like Internet 2 are helping to get the Internet community to next-generation broadband services as soon as possible.