Provost honored for development of Internet network

IU Interim Provost Michael McRobbie has been honored at a ceremony in Singapore for his role as a founder of the Asia Pacific Advanced Network, a high-performance broadband network supporting research and the educational community across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a press release. \nHe was presented the "Founders Award" at a ceremony celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the network. \n"APAN has turned into the major organization promoting the development of new Internet technologies to support research collaborations in all fields between the Asia Pacific and the United States and other countries," McRobbie said in a statement. "I am delighted to have played a small role in its foundation 10 years ago." \nJames G. Williams, IU director of international networking, accepted the award on McRobbie's behalf during the ceremony that took place during the 22nd APAN Meeting, July 17 to 21 at the national University of Singapore, according to the release. \nAlso honored during the event was Kilnam Chon of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul, Korea. \nAccording to the press release, the idea of APAN was introduced in 1996 when McRobbie and Chon made a speech to the Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure Test Bed Forum in Seoul. After a series of meetings with top researchers in the field, they proposed the research and education network to support the development of science and technology in the region. \nOne year later APAN was formally established and now supports 35 full and associate member organizations from Japan, China, Australia and other countries in Asia, according to the press release. \n"(APAN) provides an advanced networking environment for the research and education community in the Asia-Pacific region and promotes global collaboration," according to the press release. "Its objectives include coordinating and promoting network technology developments and advances in network-based applications and services; coordinating the development of an advanced networking environment for research and education communities in the Asia-Pacific region; and encouraging and promoting global cooperation."\nMcRobbie furthered this project when he became part of the IU faculty in 1997. He had the idea to connect the scientific and research groups in the United States to similar organizations in Asia using APAN. This was called the TransPAC project and was funded in 1998 with a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation for which McRobbie was the lead investigator, according to the press release. \n"TransPAC was a high-bandwidth, international Internet connection from advanced networks in the United States to APAN," according to the press release. "TransPAC2 is the five-year continuation of the project. As part of the National Science Foundation International Research Network Connections program, TransPAC2 continues the NSF's efforts to provide fundamental network infrastructure to support collaborations between researchers in the United States and elsewhere in the world." \nRecent events are still bearing the fruit of the connection with Japan's network as it helped foster the relationship with Tsinghua University that led to the agreement IU and Tsinghua signed July 10. \nThe landmark deal with Tsinghua University will establish a cooperative research program that includes student exchanges and collaborations targeting improvements in information technology.