I-wayI-way (Information Wide Area Year) is an experimental networking project currently being developed by individuals and corporations all over the country. Although still in its infancy, it is thought by many to represent the future of the Internet as a fully virtual community complete with "interactive video, distributed applications, and remote computations for interactive virtual environments and scientific visualization" (I-way home page).
I-way is an exciting development in networking that is being developed with the cooperation of many different types of multi-media corporations. Network service providers, software designers, video servers, and virtual reality experts are among the groups working to make this experimental network a reality.
The I-way is the most sophisticated method yet to test how high-speed computers can be networked together to act as a single facility. It is being designed also to improve the virtual closeness between user and machine by linking interactive environments and backend supercomputing, and to improve applications used in this networking medium. Finally, the developers are using this high-powered network prototype as a way to uncover network areas that will require more research.
The possible applications of this network are immense. A network of this magnitude could connect researchers all over the world working to find a cure for a deadly virus, bring families living in Bosnia and the United States together, and create an environment where all children could have equal access to knowledge and information.
The I-way network is based on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology. It supports TCP/IP over ATM and direct ATM-oriented protocols.