The RIT Global Collaboration Grid is a live, interactive, multi-way video and audio system that will connect all major points on the Rochester campus as well RIT's presences in Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. This persistent framework will create One Connected Community. The Grid will leverage the research activities of the Research Computing Group and the Interactive Collaboration Technologies Laboratory for ad hoc interactions, teaching & learning activities, research collaborations, distributed musical performances, telemedicine, and administration.
Sites on the Rochester campus will include the Center for Student Innovation, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Wallace Library, the nine Colleges, the Student Alumni Union, and the High Tech Incubator. Sites abroad will include the ACMT in Croatia, the American University in Kosovo, RITDubai, and programs in the Dominican Republic. RIT partners will include Gallaudet University and Rochester General Healthcare System.
The public on-campus nodes, called CyberPortals, will be based on Access Grid technology. They will use additional technologies including uncompressed high definition video and high quality audio. The network infrastructure to support this will be 10 Gigabit ethernet switches, network cards, and fiber. The engines for this connection will be Sun and Apple workstations as well as custom built units connected to commodity LCD panels, consumer HD video cameras, and professional grade audio equipment. The UI for public access will be a touchless, multitouch manipulation of standard definition 'thumbnails' embedded in a geographical framework triggering full-scale HD videos.
Sponsors and supporters include RIT, Cisco, Sun, Microsoft, Neterion, and Apple.
RIT Global Collaboration Grid (pdf slide presentation) Nov 2011