Coates Currently, all regional electronic traffic from Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala is channeled through Costa Rica, using a 128 cubs satellite link to the Internet. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the Panamanian Academic Network (RAP) are linked to the Internet through Costa Rica via a 19.2 cubs land line. This small-bandwidth land line is inadequate for the needs of the research community of Panama, and is notoriously unstable. In order to address the needs of the researchers at STRI, the Smithsonian Institution (SI) has installed a satellite dish at STRI's Tivoli/Tupper facility. STRI has offered half of the bandwidth of its newly installed satellite link to RAP. This satellite link will be initially installed to handle traffic of 128 cubs, but the link can be expanded up to a full T1 connection (24 x 64) cubs) should the need arise. Following laboratory facilities will be connected to the Tivoli/Tupper satellite dish after the planned installation is completed: 1. Within Tivoli/Tupper itself, over 100 workstations on an existing Local Area Network (LAN) will be connected to the satellite dish link. 2. An existing 20 station LAN at the STRI Naos marine research laboratory, 3.5 km distant, will be augmented by a server and connected via a spread-spectrum wireless link to Tivoli/Tupper. STRI will supply an additional 30 workstations for the Naos Laboratory, and connect these machines to the LAN. 3. An existing LAN at Barro Colorado. Island (BCI), STRI's principal terrestrial research site, over 30 km distant, is currently connected to Tivoli/Tupper by a microwave link to the Panama Canal Commission's fiber optic cable. SI plans to fund a major expansion of the LAN within BCI, and STRI has requested support from NSF for the upgrading of the microwave link to support this expansion. 4. An existing Wide Area Network linking the members of the RAP (the Technological University of Panama (UTP), the University of Panama (UP), th e University of Santa Mar a Antigua (USMA)) will be connected using a spread spectrum wireless link to Tivoli/Tupper. 5. The LAN at the National Institute for Renewable Natural Resources (INRENARE) currently has no link to the Internet, and the 20 km distance to Tivoli/Tupper will require the use of two high-capacity modems over two dedicated INTEL telephone lines. The Internet link to the LAN at INRANARE will also require a 4 Mb server, a router, a transceiver, and a UPS The incremental equipment requested in this proposal will allow the global change research community at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama to participate fully in the electronic exchange of data and information crucial to a successful and cutting-edge research program. STRI has many data sets of the first scientific quality that would be difficult to access any other way. STRI operates on of the best documented sites within the Center for Tropical Forest Science's global system of 50-hectare plots, and has over forty years of data from its coral reef monitoring program. In addition to STRI, several other research institutions will benefit from this improved service, all members of the Panamanian Academic Research Network (RAP): the Technological University of Panama (UTP), as well as the National Institute for Renewable Natural Resources (INRENARE). Panama is a Member State of the inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), a U.S. initiative to stimulate cooperative research on global change issues among the scientific institutions of the Americas. The National Science Foundation is the U.S.Government agency designated by the White House to carry out U.S. responsibilities within the IAI.
