The University's Connection

The University's Internet2 connection is now active. UA is connected to I2 through associations with the networks that make it up.

Internet2 traffic from UA is sent to Birmingham to the Gulf Central GigaPoP, an organization within the University of Alabama system. This GigaPoP (Gigabit Point of Presence) is designed to provide connections from the members (UA, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and The University of Alabama in Huntsville) to I2 and other high-speed networks.

From the GigaPoP, I2 information is sent to the SURA Southern Crossroads (SoX), located in Atlanta. This is the point at which the University is connected to the broader Internet2 networks. SURA is the Southeastern Universities Research Association, of which The University of Alabama is a member.

At SoX, the University's I2 traffic gets onto Abilene, one of the two major Internet2 networks. Abilene is a project of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development and is developed to support I2. From Abilene, the information is either delivered to the destination school (if it is also a member of Abilene), or it is transferred to the vBNS at one of the many crossover points. The vBNS, operated by MCI, is the other major I2 network.