d Sunnyville, California. "Eventually, UltraNet could become a special- purpose network that connects DOE laboratories and collaborating univer- sities and institutions around the country," Rao says. "And this will provide them with dedicated on-demand access to data. This has been the subject of DOE workshops and the dream of researchers for many years." 5.2.2 Faster Protocol As the Internet becomes an ever more vital communications medium for both businesses and consumers, speed becomes an increasingly critical factor. Speed is not only important in terms of rapid data access but also for sharing infor- mation between Internet resources. Soon, Internet-linked systems may be able to transfer data at rates much speedier than is currently possible. That's because a Penn State researcher has developed a faster method for more efficient sharing of widely distributed Internet resources, such as Web services, databases, and high-performance computers. This development has important long-range implications for vir- tually any business that markets products or services over the Internet. Jonghun Park, the protocol's developer and an assistant professor in Penn State's School of Information Sciences and Technology, says his new technol- ogy speeds the allocation of Internet resources by up to 10 times. "In the near future, the demand for collaborative Internet applications will grow," says Park. "Better coordination will be required to meet that demand, and this protocol provides that." Park's algorithm enables better coordination of Internet applications in support of large-scale computing. The protocol uses parallel rather than serial methods to process requests. This ability helps provide more efficient resource allocation and also solves the problems of deadlock and livelock-an endless loop in program execution-both of which are caused by multiple concurrent Internet applications competing for Internet resources. The new protocol also allows Internet applications to choose from among available resources. Existing tec