JPL First in Line to Join Ultra-Fast Net

By KAREN KAPLAN

Aug. 2, 1999 12 AM PT

Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory last week became the first user of the National Transparent Optical Network, a high-speed network that will serve West Coast users of the new SuperNet. More than 50 corporations and government agencies from San Diego to Seattle will join the NASA lab on the network in the next three years. With speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second--more than 1,760 times faster than a standard dial-up modem--the network will be used to make remote medical diagnoses, edit motion pictures from afar in real time, hold virtual-reality videoconferences and conduct simulation tests of weapons systems. SuperNet is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and is part of the government’s Next Generation Internet project.

Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

JPL First in Line to Join Ultra-Fast Net

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