By Eileen K. McCluskey

Special to the Gazette

Dreams of digital daring and ingenuity have long been nurtured among members of the University community. But now many of these dreams are likely to come true, under the aegis of a new multimedia initiative.

Technological innovations at Lamont Library's Language Laboratory, for instance, would allow many students simultaneously to access instructional videos, audio tapes, software, and text from a 70-computer facility, or even from their dorm rooms.

The Medical School is creating virtual patients that can manifest a wide variety of symptoms from a broad range of diseases. Through "dialogue" with the virtual patient, medical students will be exposed to a far wider range of illnesses than they are likely to come across in real-time hospital residencies or rotations.

[The term "multimedia" refers to the use of computers' integrated audio and video tools in a networking environment, along with conventional computer software.]

Solving A Catch-22

"Harvard's had a longstanding interest in using multimedia technology to improve teaching and research," says Mark Van Baalen, senior client manager in University Information Services (UIS) and project administrator for what has been dubbed the multimedia infrastructure project. "But historically we have not had a large number of multimedia projects."

This phenomenon -- the interest in multimedia applications, but their scarcity nonetheless, is described by Van Baalen and others involved in the multimedia project as "a chicken and egg" situation.

Anne Margulies, assistant provost for Information Systems, describes the dilemma. "The number of multimedia applications has been held back by the lack of technological infrastructure and shared

experience." At the same time, Margulies says, "The development of

the infrastructure has been hindered by the lack of demand for

multimedia applications" across the University.

Enter Intel and Microsoft. Under Intel's Technology for Education 2000 Program, the two high-technology giants have partnered to support university research and curriculum development through the donation of high-speed multimedia computers, workstations, servers, and networking hardware and software. Intel has awarded Harvard $2.2 million under this program.

H.T. Kung, the William H. Gates Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and one of the principal investigators on the multimedia infrastructure project, points out, "This Intel grant

complements much larger investments that various parts of the

University are already making or will be making in multimedia

applications and infrastructure."

Sharing The Wealth

Kung says an important dimension to the multimedia infrastructure project is that it "provides a forum for sharing multimedia experiences and resources across the University."

Spiro Pollalis, professor of design and technology management at the Graduate School of Design and a co-principal investigator on the project, says the disbursement of multimedia know-how "is exciting. This is a unique opportunity for information technology to bring Harvard together."

An example Pollalis offers is how the same technology used in

creating virtual patients at the Medical School also underlies the

crafting of virtual space for design students. "We're using the same

tools on different content," Pollalis says. "There is much to gain

from sharing knowledge."

The benefits of multimedia exchange reach far beyond the University's borders. Paul Martin, chair of the Facuty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Information Technology and the other principal investigator of the project, points out, "There are many areas in which we can gain tremendously by working interactively with people from around the nation and around the world." The multimedia infrastructure project will, for example, facilitate "virtual communication" among Harvard students and faculty, and experts from far-flung universities.

From Mega to Giga

The proposal that won Harvard the Intel award contains, among other elements, "a proposed re-engineering of the high-speed data network," says Van Baalen, "to forestall a situation in which multimedia traffic -- video files, images, and sounds -- could suck up all of the core network's bandwidth, bringing the network to a halt."

But it's unlikely that such a scenario would occur immediately, say Van Baalen and other project leaders, since the number of people

taking advantage of the multimedia traffic will be modest at first.

During the project's first year, says Kung, "the existing backbone network for the campus will be upgraded from 100 megabit to gigabit speeds. We will also provide dedicated network switches to support multimedia applications at major user and server sites."

Short-term steps will also be taken to accelerate traffic on the

University's backbone network. These changes involve upgrading

existing routers and switches, according to Scott Bradner, a senior

technical consultant in UIS.

The more involved re-engineering of the high-speed data network will become necessary as users and applications multiply. Of course, that's a central idea behind the project: to make the technology ubiquitous in the community.

Getting Into The Loop

How can eager faculty members and others realize their pet multimedia applications?

"We'll administer the project by soliciting proposals from the

University community," Van Baalen explains. "Each proposal will be

reviewed by a steering committee according to four criteria," he adds. (See sidebar for details.)

This proposal process "will begin in January with an invitation to all of the Schools," notes Margulies.

Leveraging the Grant

Intel's grant ushers into the University the kind of cutting-edge

hardware that, because it pushes the evolutionary envelope on

computing, changes at a dizzying pace. This, in turn, translates

into a built-in boon to the University: the value of the grant will

actually rise over time.

The reason for this lovely leverage is that Intel won't ship $2.2

million worth of equipment all at once. Instead, the corporation

"will provide the equipment in quarterly batches," explains Van

Baalen. "We will submit requests to fill specific needs," he says,

"and we will receive state-of-the-art equipment at the time of

shipping."

A major trend in the high-tech industry is, of course, that the cost to the consumer tends to drop over time. Van Baalen notes, "Today's servers cost $25,000. In a year, you'll be able to get the newer version for $10,000. So as time goes by, we'll get more and more out of the award."