Internet2 Meeting Keynote To Showcase Transformation of Former Gold Mine into High-Tech National Scientific Laboratory

High-Definition Videoconference to Transport Meeting Attendees Nearly a Mile Underground

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Apr 21, 2010, 01:44 ET

ARLINGTON, Va., April 21 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT: Internet2's 2010 Spring Member Meeting will transport participants nearly a mile underground to explore America's newest networking frontier. The live high-definition videoconference will show how the former Homestake gold mine in South Dakota -- once the deepest mine in North America -- is being transformed into a high-tech national Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL).

The HD videoconference, using Polycom HDX 8006 room telepresence systems, will connect the meeting's hotel ballroom audience to the so-called "4850 Level" -- the construction site 4850 feet deep inside the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake -- and to Pierre, South Dakota, where Governor Michael Rounds will be on hand to offer his perspectives on the unique history and scientific importance of the massive project. Project leaders will introduce attendees to their extreme environs. They'll discuss plans and challenges up close, and they'll explain how this unlikely place will soon become the source of a new series of groundbreaking science discoveries.

WHO: Governor M. Michael Rounds, Governor of South Dakota

Claude Garelik, Chief Networking and Security Officer, South Dakota Board of Regents

Kevin Lesko, DUSEL Principal Investigator, UC Berkeley

Greg King, Sanford Lab Operations Director

Mike Rechtenbaugh, DUSEL Lead Network Systems Engineer

Bill Roggenthen, DUSEL Co-Principal Investigator, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Doug Van Houweling, Internet2 President and CEO

WHY: The deep underground laboratory will offer physicists a "quiet" environment that will shield extremely sensitive experiments from the noise of background cosmic radiation. Geologists, biologists, hydrologists, biochemists and other scientists also plan experiments at DUSEL. However, the project presents extreme challenges for those who are building an advanced networking environment that will reach a mile and a half below the earth's surface when completed. The network must support underground connections at multiple levels and enable high-speed, secure access from globally distributed research teams. Project leaders are already collaborating with Internet2's community to prepare the way for the immense volume of scientific data that must be stored, processed, distributed and analyzed by scientists in the coming years.

For more details on the DUSEL demonstration visit: http://bit.ly/dvWyEI

For full conference program details, visit: http://bit.ly/9Bjm8l

For info on the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake, visit http://bit.ly/deVxUd

WHEN: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 10:30 a.m. EDT during the second keynote session of the Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting which will be held from April 26-28, 2010. This session will be netcast for viewing on the Internet, visit: http://bit.ly/dvWyEI

WHERE: Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202

MEDIA INVITED TO ATTEND: To RSVP contact Lauren Rotman, Internet2, +1-202-251-2997, [email protected]

Info on Internet2: http://www.internet2.edu

SOURCE Internet2