HPNC: High-Performance Science Education and Research Project

探索中心将开展一个为期两年的项目，通过与全州范围的Abilene参与者组织加州教育网络倡议公司(CEEN)建立和维持与国家Abilene/Internet2主干的高性能网络连接(HPNC)。HPNC将使探索博物馆能够扩展其基于媒体和以博物馆为基础的教育计划，以包括高带宽IP视频传输、MPEG2视频/音频流、高分辨率图像传输、实时数据挖掘和操纵、远程视频会议以及其他需要DS-3(45 Mbps)连接的多媒体应用。该项目将使用现有的光纤和设备，只需最低限度的升级，即可将探索博物馆的美术宫大楼连接到加利福尼亚州桑尼维尔的加州研究和教育网络(CAL-REN2)，后者是连接Abilene/Internet2主干的端口。安装和连接项目是与CENIC合作规划的，CENIC正在将整个加州的K-20教育机构连接到一个光网络。CENIC对探索馆的赞助将加强博物馆与教育技术社区的联系，并使整个Abilene/I2网络的学校和大学更多地获得博物馆广泛的教育节目。HPNC将为探索博物馆提供与合作研究组织的高带宽连接，如CERN、JPL和NASA，这些组织参与探索博物馆网络广播和远程教育计划。制作的节目将通过Cal-REN2和Abilene/Internet2网络提供给参与的教育机构和研究人员，包括与CEEN数字加州项目、太平洋灯塔项目和I2K20倡议有关的学校。HPNC将进一步扩大现有的、得到联邦政府支持的探索博物馆计划的影响和覆盖范围，这些计划包括：Origins，一个由美国国家科学基金会资助的来自偏远科学研究站的为期三年的网络广播系列；显微镜成像站，NIH资助的博物馆潮湿生物实验室的最先进的显微镜工作站；以及日食和天文台，探索博物馆正在与NASA太阳-地球连接教育论坛合作制作远程网络广播。

The Exploratorium will conduct a two-year project to establish and maintain a High Performance Network Connection (HPNC) to the national Abilene/Internet2 backbone through an affiliation with the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), the statewide Abilene Participant organization. The HPNC will enable the Exploratorium to expand its media-based and museum-based educational programs to include high-bandwidth IPvideo transmission, MPEG2video/audio streaming, transmission of high-resolution imagery, real-time data mining and manipulation, remote videoconferencing, and other multimedia applications requiring a DS-3 (45mbps) connection. The project will involve using existing fiber and equipment requiring minimal upgrades to connect the Exploratorium's Palace of Fine Arts building to the California Research and Education Network (Cal-REN2) POP in Sunnyvale, Calif., which serves as a port to the Abilene/Internet2 backbone. The installation and connectivity project has been planned in collaboration with CENIC, which is in the process of linking K-20 educational institutions throughout California to an optic network. CENIC's sponsorship of the Exploratorium will strengthen the museum's ties to the educational technology community and increase access to the museum's extensive educational programming to schools and colleges throughout the Abilene/I2 network. The HPNC will provide the Exploratorium with access to high-bandwidth connections to partner research organizations, such as CERN, JPL, and NASA, who participate in Exploratorium Webcasts and remote educational programs. The programs produced will be made available over the Cal-REN2 and Abilene/Internet2 networks to participating educational institutions and researchers, including the schools linked to the CENIC Digital California Project, the Pacific Lighthouse Project, and the I2K20 Initiative. The HPNC will further the impact and reach of existing, federally supported Exploratorium programs such as Origins, a three-year series of NSF-supported Webcasts from remote science research stations; the Microscope Imaging Station, an NIH-funded state-of-the-art microscopy station in the museum's wet biology lab; and Eclipses and Observatories, the Exploratorium's ongoing production of remote Webcasts in partnership with the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum.