Tools for Building Virtual Laboratories

This paper describes two pilot projects which provide testbeds for the tools. The first is a virtual laboratory project providing remote access to LBNL's Advanced Light Source. The second is the Multidimensional Applications and Gigabit Internetwork Consortium (MAGIC) testbed which has been established to develop a very high-speed, wide-area network to deliver realtime data at gigabit-per-second rates. 1 Motivation A collection of emerging technologies, ranging from distributed data handling and distributed computing to the underlying multicast network infrastructure, have the potential to make it possible to create distributed scientific and industrial laboratory environments that provide complete location independent access to instruments, data handling and analysis resources, and enable remote human collaboration. These technologies will produce not so much an incremental change of today's routine use of PCs and LANs in laboratory environments, but rather the introduction of a new paradigm more akin, perhaps, to virtual reality. The vision is for a scientist thousands of miles away to get the same (or even better) sense of presence and control as if he or she were at the experiment site. The expected value of these geographically distributed environments includes substantially increased effectiveness in doing science by more closely integrating university and federal researchers, and an enabling capability for analytical and high-value production use of unique facilities by industry. 2 Introduction The scientific community will benefit from advanced information infrastructure for several reasons. Breaking down the barriers of distance will permit routine and frequent para. This work is supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Computation and Te..