EUGENE–While television viewers across the nation will be able to watch only one hour of the June 24 Prefontaine Classic at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, Internet viewers can see the entire competition, thanks to special arrangements made by the UO Computing Center.

Because the UO Computing Center is teaming up with Cisco Systems, those served by a multicast-capable network also can view the gathering of some of the world’s top track and field athletes at full broadcast quality over the Internet2 network.

Internet2 is a collaborative project among universities, government and industry partners to develop advanced Internet applications that are not viable using today’s Internet technology. In Oregon, institutions with Internet2 access include the UO, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Eastern Oregon University, Southern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology and Western Oregon University.

"Individuals with direct access to these institutions’ networks and with the right hardware and software can see the entire event at full broadcast quality," says Joanne Hugi, director of the UO Computing Center.

Through the Oregon GigaPoP, the state’s access point to the powerful fiber-optic network linking all Internet2 participants, the UO will multicast CBS-TV’s video and audio feed of the Prefontaine Classic from the crack of the first starter’s pistol to the final crossing of a finish line.

The computing center will be using what’s called MPEG-2 technology that takes advantage of the expanded broadband capabilities of Internet2. The UO has operated the Oregon GigaPoP Internet2 access since January 1999.

"With this multicast and many other projects, we are trying to extend the usefulness of the world’s increasingly powerful computer networking capabilities," Hugi says. "It’s a big effort and in this case the UO Computing Center is working closely with Cisco Systems and Nike, the event sponsor, to make this multicast possible."

For those who don’t have the computing power to receive the hefty MPEG-2 stream of information, but who nonetheless have direct access to Internet2, the UO Computing Center will also send out lower-bandwidth, "near broadcast quality" MPEG-1 and H.261 streams. Downloadable software and instructions for how to access the streaming multicast of the Prefontaine Classic is available at http://videolab.uoregon.edu.

"Right now, seeing a track meet in MPEG-2 format is a fairly advanced use of networked computing, but things are moving forward so fast that in a few years we expect this sort of opportunity to be nothing out of the ordinary," Hugi says.

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