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Advanced Network Technologies Division (ANTD) The Advanced Network Technologies Division is part of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). As part of NISTīs Measurement and Standards Laboratory (MSL) program, ANTDīs mission is to: "Provide the networking industry with
the best in test and measurement technology" Our goals are to:
- To improve the quality of networking specifications and standards; and,
- To improve the quality and expedite the commercial availability of new networking products.
. Our Current Technical Areas:
High Speed Network Technologies - ANTD works with the communications industry
to expedite the development of technologies for high speed networks, and to promote the deployment and use of such technologies. The main emphases of our work include: (1)
testing methods and prototype development for high speed network technologies, (2) interoperability among high speed network products, and (3) analysis, simulation, and
measurement of the performance characteristics of high speed network technologies.
Internetworking Technologies - ANTD actively participates in the design,
standardization, development, and testing of next generation internetworking technology. These activities focus on current design and standardization efforts within the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) to add significant new functionality to the Internet Protocol Suite (IPS). Our efforts concentrate in areas that hold promise for the most significant
improvements to the capabilities of the IPS infrastructure: network security technology, protocols and architectures to support Internet Quality of Service (QoS), and advanced
middleware for mobile / reconfigurable distritubed systems.
Multi-media and Digital Video Technologies - ANTD works with the multimedia
networking industry to facilitate the development of interoperable multimedia products. Specifically, ANTD develops new metrics for evaluating image quality, develops and
collects tools, prototypes, and tutorial material to aid the industry, and provides technical contributions to emerging multimedia standards. In addition, ANTD hosts interoperability
bake-offs with industry and provides a web site through which product developers can record specific technical information regarding conformance of their products to
appropriate features within multimedia standards.
Wireless Technologies - ANTD's activities in wireless communications center around
pushing the limits of technology to provide users with a much expanded array of wireless services requiring higher communication rates, with global interoperability while roaming,
and with a significant increase in the capacity of wireless information networks within the available frequency spectrum, thereby making it possible to serve a much larger percentage
of the general population. ANTD pursues these goals by evaluating cutting edge wireless technologies, developing our own techniques and methodologies, and actively participating
in national and international standardization bodies to facilitate adoption of advanced capabilities in future standards for wireless communications.
Other Current Activities - ANTD is currently active in other areas and projects
including: Federal EDI conventions.
Potential Future Technical Areas:
We are currently monitoring the development of several emerging
technologies that might ultimately require our technical contribution. At present, we are monitoring developments in four general directions: (1) mobile code, (2) multicast, (3)
future wireless technologies, and (4) information models. We see an increasing role for mobile code in such initiatives as Active Networks and Jini. In addition, we can foresee an
increasing number of distributed systems beginning to exploit IP multicast, including the scalable, reliable multicast protocols emerging from various research activities. Regarding
future wireless technologies, two aspects are attracting our interest. First, a growing number of earth orbiting satellite systems are planned to provide high-speed, integrated
voice and data backbones for internetworking land-based systems. Second, the research community is beginning to explore techniques to provide gigabit per second wireless access
for stationary and mobile users. Here are some white papers discussing ideas we are currently exploring.
We solicit input
from the networking research and development community on these and other potential future activities. Past Technical Areas and Activities:
- This section provides a place holder to provide Web access for projects, technical information, and activities that have become inactive.
Our Recent Products: Our Customers, Collaborators, Suppliers and Advisors: Our Resources:
ANTD has a staff of approximately 60 members and an FY99 operating budget of approximately $7 million.
ANTD General Staff Composition |
Research Staff Composition by Degree |
Research Staff Composition by Discipline |
Research Staff Composition by Technical Area |
ANTD Budget Breakdown |
Our Facilities and Other Assets |
Other Overview Information:
 ANTD Overview for FY99 Assessment Panel- ANTDīs Perspective on "Testing" for Next Generation Network Technologies.
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