Internet2, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Florida LambdaRail, and a consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago. Big science requires big computers that generate vast amounts of data that must be shared efficiently, SO the Department of Energy's Office of Science has awarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) $4.5 million to design a network up to the task. "Advanced computation and high-performance networks play a critical role in the science of the 21st century because they bring the most sophisticated scientific facilities and the power of high-performance computers literally to the researcher's desktop," says Raymond L. Orbach, director of the Depart- ment of Energy's science office. "Both supercomputing and high-performance networks are critical elements in the department's 20-year facilities plan that Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced November 10th." THE NEXT INTERNET The prototype-dedicated high-speed network, called the Science UltraNet, will enable the development of networks that support high-performance computing and other large facilities at DOE and universities. The Science UltraNet will fulfill a critical need because collaborative large-scale projects typical today make it essential for scientists to transfer large amounts of data quickly. With today's networks, that is impossible because they do not have adequate capacity, are shared by many users who compete for limited band- width, and are based on software and protocols that were not designed for petascale data. "For example, with today's networks, data generated by the terascale super- nova initiative in two days would take two years to transfer to collaborators at Florida Atlantic University," says Nageswara Rao of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Computer Science and Mathematics Division. Obviously, Rao says, this is not acceptable; thus, he, Bill Wing, and Tom Dunigan of ORNL's Computer Science and Mathematics Division are heading the three-year project that could revolutionize the business of tra