As popular use of the Internet explodes, the academic community's need for advanced network capability becomes more urgent every day. To help speed the next generation of Internet products, services, and applications, Virginia Tech has opened Virginia's first Internet2 technology studio. Donald Upson, Virginia's secretary of technology, and Paul Torgersen, the president of Virginia Tech, unveiled the studio in Richmond on June 1.

The key to Internet2 technology is wider bandwidth, which allows a greater amount of data per second to be transmitted through a computer's communication ports. This speed allows users to see broadcast-quality video over the Internet, for example. The studio, located at 11 South 12th Street in Richmond, will be open to the public free of charge from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Corporate groups will also be able to visit the studio to explore applications specific to their business needs.

The studio is made possible by Virginia Tech and the Center for Innovative Technology. CIT is paying for the rental of the 2,000-square-foot office space. Virginia Tech worked with its corporate partners to provide the equipment to operate the studio and will provide the staff support. The corporate partners include Litton Network Access System of Roanoke, Dell Computers, Bell Atlantic Virginia, Sprint, A&J Technologies, Amteva, CRT, EduTest, EMR, CISCO Systems, FORE, Leibert, and Zydacron.