TeraBurst Networks Launches SDSU into Immersive World
TeraBurst Networks of Sunnyvale, California, has helped launch the College of Sciences and SDSU into the world of Immersive Visualization with a gift of $78,000 and equipment worth more than $300,000. The SDSU center has blossomed with the donation of the TeraBurst Networks expertise, equipment, and funding. TeraBurst senior managers and engineers have been working with SDSU for more than a year designing and developing the optical transport equipment and systems to link SDSU with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) with high-bandwidth fiber-optic connections.
This remarkable capability will allow Immersive Visualization centers at both UCSD and SDSU to send 3-D stereo images as large as a room between the two labs. The TeraBurst Networks switch will also allow the images to be sent outside the San Diego metro area to other research centers focusing on such Immersive Visualization for earth sciences, telemedicine, manufacturing, biochemistry, astronomy, geography, public health, conflict resolution, performing arts, and even sports.
The SDSU facility will be doing research into the practical ways of utilizing high bandwidths and Immersive Visualization, especially in a command-and-control center setting for crisis management and public safety during natural disasters. 
By linking the visualization centers at UCSD and SDSU with the SDSU College of Sciences Field Stations, video and data fromsensors in the field will be brought back to the visualization centers for integration into remote sensing and GIS visualizations of the San Diego-Tijuana region.
This project is being done under the broad sponsorship of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, or Calit². Larry Smarr, Calit² Director, is providing vision for hundreds of scientists and companies to come together to help invent the future for the State of California. Calit² and the College of Sciences will cooperate in utilizing resources such as the SDSU Field Stations and the Immersive Visualization Center in the new CSL building for the larger project linking the Orange County-to-Ensenada region together for shared scientific projects.
Panoram Technologies will be providing the visualization systems and COX Communications the fiber services for this project. The SDSU facility will be formally called the TeraBurst Optical Networking Center and will house the Center for Immersive Telecommunications for Global Exchange, directed by Eric Frost and utilized by departments from across the College and University.
Bruce Wingerd has provided the lead within the College of Sciences for the design and construction of the facility which should be completed by January 2002. Under the leadership of Dean Thomas Scott of the College of Sciences, these companies and facilities will be helping to build a unique university-industry partnership in cooperation with Larry Smarr and Calit².
This article is a reprint of one published in the fall 2001 issue of "Sciences Update," a quarterly publication of the College of Sciences, San Diego State University, edited by Michele Brown.
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