The focal point for this charter is advanced connectivity. Through the collaborative deployment of advanced lightpath networks in each of the Digital Sister Cities the DSC partners will realize an economic advantage. The connection and real time collaboration afforded by the new lightpath networks will allow true global partnerships between DSC partner businesses. The initial business focus is the digital media sector. The goal is to connect and support real time collaboration between the early adopter business and education partners in this sector. There are already a number of DSC partner businesses and Universities queued up to take advantage of this new opportunity. Other commercial sectors such as pre-press, remote education, medical imaging and advanced gaming will quickly follow the digital media sector.

The technology focus of the DSC charter is to develop enabling applications that support real time collaboration in each of the business sectors. These first generation efforts are focusing on rapid development of focused applications that deliver in-demand solutions for the business and education partners. Sebastian is one of the key applications being developed. Sebastian will support real time ‘review and approve’ for film, effects and other digital media production. By interviewing major players in this sector we have identified this application as a true ‘sweet spot’ for a real time lightpath enabled application. The combination of accessible and affordable lightpath point to point networking and a real time collaborative tool for supporting distributed production is a ‘needed now’ priority for these companies.

 

The significant increase in bandwidth, low latency and the determinism and synchronous nature of the new LightPath network, the Next Generation Internet,  is not simply a change in  the medium of the internet, it represents a new medium.

The goal of the DSCLAB is to position the Digital Sister Cities, their digital media businesses, educational institutions and new entrepreneurs to take full advantage of lightpaths, true real time collaboration and the future of the internet.