Not all institutions have been afforded this opportunity. Access through the vBNS will give UC faculty on all campuses the opportunity to collaborate with cutting-edge researchers anywhere in the world. The increase in speed was probably best summed up by Robert Frank, associate dean for research and advanced studies, who said current access is like filling a swimming pool with a garden hose. The vBNS is like having a pipe big enough to fill the pool in seconds.
Projects range from the fine arts to the hard sciences.
Users in remote locations can share experiences and interact through computing networks. Thomas Beck, professor of chemistry, will develop visual images of molecular motions, up to 10,000 molecules moving at once. The workstations represent a test-bed where engineers and computer scientists can develop faster and more reliable applications in distributed computing. Distributed and networked computing have major advantages over running programs on a single computer. Imagine a factory trying to produce a car with only one worker on the line and ten workers watching.