Don't fret about missing Jack Johnson's performance in Australia at the LiveEarth concert this summer - Penn is providing live feed of the international event.
The Mid-Atlantic Gigapop in Philadelphia for Internet2, a high-speed Internet2 network based at Penn, will provide a live DVD-quality multicast of the climate change-focused Live Earth concerts on July 7 for computers on networks with Internet2 capabilities, which include those at many research and educational institutions.
Penn Video Network will produce the video for the coverage.
Live Earth is a 24-hour, seven-continent concert series that is part of a campaign to spur individuals, businesses and governments to take action against global warming. More than 100 music artists are slated to take part, and multicast coverage of the concert begins at 4 a.m. on July 7 and runs through 2 a.m. on July 8.
Penn's coverage is available to those on MAGPI's network and other networks around the world with Internet2 capabilities, which allow for a faster connection and larger bandwidth.
About 50,000 research and educational institutions are on the U.S. Internet2 network, with about 460 gigabytes on MAGPI, said Heather Weisse, MAGPI applications coordinator.
Students at Penn using the University's network on July 7 will be able to access the multicast.
However, computers on regular Internet networks will not have enough bandwidth to view the multicast, Weisse said, but the concerts will be available for general viewing through MSN.
PVN director Gates Rhodes said Live Earth will be a technological first for PVN and the MAGPI network because sustained video in a live setting has never been transmitted over Internet2 for such a long time, though "high-quality video streams have been broadcasted for shorter events."
The PVN will produce the video by obtaining the signal from concert venues through receiving dishes on Penn's campus, then transmitting and encoding the signal to send it over the Internet, Rhodes said.
Live Earth is an opportunity for MAGPI to use its relatively new technology for a large audience, Weisse said.
"We're pretty excited to use these experimental big-bandwidth technologies on a global scale," she said, adding that the concert series is a way for the research and education community to utilize and enjoy the advanced technology.
If connected users don't take advantage of events like this, Weisse said, the high-speed network is "just expensive plumbing."
Because Live Earth is a high-profile endeavor, "there will be an element of anxiety" over the new technology, Rhodes said. But he said he is mainly excited for the event, and is confident that any weak points will be addressed prior to the concerts. PVN is sending out test streams over the next few days to work out any final kinks.
"We think we have all the systems in place," Rhodes said. "To deliver this to scholars at their desktops in a live setting is a very cool thing."
