EUGENE–About 400 of the nation’s top Internet engineers and operators will soon be gathering in Eugene to address technical issues associated with operating the dramatically growing Internet.

The spring meeting of the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) will be held May 23-25 at the Hilton Hotel and Eugene Conference Center, Two Eugene Centre. The event is sponsored by the University of Oregon and Vario Inc.

NANOG provides a forum for the exchange of technical information and promotes discussion of issues that require network community cooperation. The overall goal is improving the stability of service to network users, explains Joanne Hugi, director of UO Campus Computing.

"These are the people who have built the nation’s Internet backbone and who are working to improve it as it goes through this period of spectacular growth," Hugi says.

Attendees will be hearing presentations on such specialized topics as "IP over Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing," "Deploying a Greenfield Network using POs and MPLS," and "Packet Optimized Optical Transport Solutions."

Three NANOG meetings take place each year in different locations nationwide.

"We wanted to make sure that this meeting had a distinctly ‘Eugene’ feel to it," Hugi says. "So when it came to designing the conference t-shirts, we decided to make ours tie-dyed."

A local blues band, John Swan and the Revelators, will be part of the festivities on the evening of Monday, May 23, to help the 400 tie-dye-clad network gurus relax after a long day of technical presentations and discussion.

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