FYI - This is the response from SDSU regardign Silkroad.
It is highly encouraging. However, it does not say if there is any actual use of the equipment going on successfully at this time.
I am curious myself how, as a practical matter, this could be applied to distance learning to Asia if it is fiber-optic based. It would imply that Silkroad would be given access to a single complete fiber across the Pacific? That seems far-fetched, and it also brings into the picture interaction with any re-amplification equipment.
I would guess, although this e-mail does not describe it, that there is a local demo in progress. But that is also not clear.
===============================================================
>From: "Eric G. Frost"
>Subject: Re: SilkRoad
>
>
>I am responding to your query to Dean Locke at SDSU regarding SilkRoad. I
>am the liason between SilkRoad and SDSU, so am the person most familar with
>the interaction between the company and SDSU. In response to your several
>questions, I would be most pleased to answer these and any other questions
>that you might have. We have been working with the folks from SilkRoad for
>about a year and have had the opportunity of observing them at many stages
>of their growth. In response to your specific questions:
>
>1) Yes, SDSU has an MOU with SilkRoad just as advertised at the New York
>launch. It was signed prior to the launch and we were very honored that
>SilkRoad felt strongly enough about it to announce it at the launch. I was
>there representing SDSU and spoke to several media people who were
>interested in the connection.
>
>2) Yes, Dr. Palmer was been named as an Adjunct Faculty member in the
>College of Sciences, which was approved prior to the launch and described
>in the news item. His affiliation will be formally listed when the new
>catalog comes out---which is where the web page is derived. We are very
>honored to have him---his unorthodox way of viewing optical science and
>science in general is something we can learn a great deal from and hope to
>construct classes around his desire to teach about this new technology.
>His insight into many different problems, such as heat flow from a moving
>volcanic flow, which is a 4-dimensional problem with complex shapes, is
>something that is far afield from optics but of interest to Dr. Palmer and
>described wonderfully by some of his mathematics. We realize that SilkRoad
>has thousands of demands on their time, so we are endeavoring to develop
>technology for distance learning with the SilkRoad equipment and then will
>seek to specifically involve Dr. Palmer in teaching using his own
>equipment. SilkRoad has also graciously invited us to begin an internship
>program with them. Such programs that link our students to new
>technologies and that can help motivate them and prepare them for jobs are
>highly sought after by the university. We have similar relationships with
>numerous other companies such as Qualcomm.
>
>3) Yes, we are trying to use their equipment to address major problems in
>distance learning that SDSU is involved in solving. Our university has
>been actively involved in teaching internationally for many years and has
>probably the largest distance learning program in the U.S. Most of these
>programs were developed by Dean Locke when he was Dean of Extended Studies.
>Extended Studies to us means everything that is off campus---including
>divisions like Professional Development, International Training Center, and
>American Language Institute. If you would like to come visit us, I think
>you would find it extremely attractive. This is a self-supporting College
>and is therefore the model being adopted by most university groups since
>the state of California only pays a portion of the expenses. As we become
>a global provider, the Extended Studies model is the focus for many groups
>in the entire CSU system to adopt. The CSU is the largest single
>educational unit in the country (more than 358,000 students) and perhaps in
>the world---within it, Dean Locke's success story is being emulated by lots
>of folks that want to accomplish more than the state of California funds
>allow. Dean Locke has focused his attention on development of such global
>programs and stepped down as Dean of Extended Studies to focus more
>completely on these enormous global programs. He is now Dean of Global
>Program Development, which is in the Office of the President, just as
>described in the news release. This is a particularly prestigous position
>and was created for him last year. His focus is on delivery of education
>and training to China, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and
>Africa, which is potentially billions of people. I work with him on
>education and training in the area of my focus in Central Asia. As a
>geologist, I am also focused on using huge data sets as are routinely used
>for oil exploration, global change and earth system science, and
>environmental remediation.
>
>4) We have worked extensively with the folks from SilkRoad on design and
>development of some of these distance learning programs. Our partners on
>these large projects are commonly corporations with whom we are trying to
>work together with for mutual goals. SilkRoad has been unquestionably the
>leader in this endeavor with many of my activities in Central Asia. They
>are working with numerous corporations, but their mutual non-disclosure
>agreements need to be honored, so that it should just be left to say that
>an enormous amount of work has been done to try to see how the SilkRoad
>equipment could help solve fundamental problems in global collaboration
>(we use this term rather than distance learning). We are very excited
>about the possibilities and progress toward this end. Our president and
>many of the senior administrative staff, as well as a number of the most
>creative teachers and computing specialists on campus have been involved to
>varying degrees with this effort. We are very proud of our association
>with the folks at SilkRoad and have found them to be all they claim to be
>and actually much more. Their technology could change our entire
>educational world, so we take our relationship with them exceedingly
>seriously. The thought of really being able to deliver interactive
>collaboration with large data sets such as remote sensing and seismic cubes
>(what I do) to people around the world is extraordinarily exciting to us.
>We are actively applying for grants with our normal funding sources with
>them. They have indeed offered to make their equipment available for such
>purposes in remarkable ways---much as other groups like Sun Microsystems
>and others do with us.
>
>5) You make the note that Dean Locke's title and phone directories don't
>match---phone books have a lead time of perhaps half a year and "somebody"
>pulls it all together---his position is new, all infrastructure takes
>awhile to catch up. Dean Locke and his official position title are
>appropriately cited by SilkRoad; he is an extremely impressive pioneer and
>leader in distance learning. If you would like to come by SDSU and visit
>us, we would be most happy to show you what we are doing in global
>interaction.
>
>I went back and read the article again, and it is very accurate. We are
>the largest school in the CSU system (31,000 on this campus, which makes us
>the second largest school in California and 14th largest in country). The
>other things about the school are directly from the official description of
>the school that was available at the time, we have a few more programs now.
>
>
>For my specific work with SilkRoad, some of what I am doing can be seen at
>http://earthview.sdsu.edu/ec/summary.html, a web page which has been up
>since the beginning of December. We have done many more things with
>SilkRoad since then, but your questions really address the news statements
>that were released in November. They are accurate and describe a linkage
>that we are very proud to describe. We are actively working with numerous
>other universities and research groups and are seeking to share this
>partnership with others who are interested. If you are so inclined,
>perhaps you can contact us and come by the university for a visit.
>
>Thank you for your inquiry; we highly recommend the SilkRoad folks to you.
>Having worked with them for hundreds and hundreds (actually thousands I
>guess, thinking about it) of hours, we know many of them very well. They
>are a model of how we would like to work with many other companies. Please
>feel free to contact me with any questions you might have or to come visit
>us if you would like. We very much want to partner with others, as global
>projects take global teams to accomplish.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>Eric
>
>
>Eric G. Frost
>Associate Professor
>Geological Sciences
>San Diego State Univ.
>San Diego, CA 92182
>
>Director, Central Asia Research and Remediation Exchange
>CARRE
>
>
>PHONE 619-594-5003
>FAX 619-594-4372
>http://earthview.sdsu.edu
>
>
>
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