Introducing the ADN Network Group

Once upon a time, there was a tiny network at the Academic Computer Center with just a few people running it, and it was called the Academic Data Network, or the ADN. Before long, it grew to be a huge network with just a few people running it. It became very successful, and the Computer Center decided to apply the successful-sounding ADN moniker to the whole organization.

This is the story of how all this came about.

Back in the late 1970s, in the early days of networking, the Computer Center started out with an IBM 360 mainframe, sixteen IBM Selectric terminals running at 134.5 bits per second (bps), and several dozen Teletypes running at 110 bps. Compared to using keypunches, this was state of the art. The Teletypes were later replaced by Hazeltine terminals running at speeds up to 1,200 bps, connected to a new IBM 370-158 mainframe. We had sixteen 300 bps modems and nearly one hundred terminals. An HP 2000 computer added thirty-two terminals of capacity, and soon after a port selector was added that allowed any terminal to connect to either host.

By 1982, the 370 mainframe was replaced by a pair of IBM 4341 mainframes, and a number of Series/1 minicomputers were used as terminal controllers. The Series/1 controllers ran at 9,600 bps. The number of terminals soon grew to several hundred, and email service and list servers began to evolve. We joined BITNET as a charter member and became the central interconnect point for the entire Midwest.

Campuswide access was required, so during 1982 and 1983 we installed cable TV wiring throughout the east campus, which carried data on a Sytek broadband system of networking and which was known as the ADN-I. The number of terminals and PCs running YTERM and Kermit terminal emulators grew to a thousand. Remote printing became a priority, and this became the first major Computer Center service to migrate into departmental locations.

The Circle and Medical Center campuses merged, and we moved our data center from SEL to BGRC for the beginning of the fall 1983 quarter. A west campus cable system was built in 1984, and a microwave link was designed and installed to connect the two campus backbones. An IBM 3081 mainframe replaced both of the 4341 models. The number of computers and terminals grew to nearly four thousand, making the UIC ADN system one of the largest Sytek networks in the world.

At this point, a development known as NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) was evolving out of the Defense Department's research network. We purchased our first router and connected to NSFNET's site in Urbana over a 56 Kbps link. Argonne, Fermi, University of Chicago, Northwestern, DePaul, and IIT joined with UIC to upgrade the link to T1 (1.544 Mbps) and to share our connection, and Chicago's early Internet was formed. This group called itself Chubnet (Chicago-hub-net) and later became part of CICNet, with UIC as a charter member.

With a grant from AT&T, we installed our first phase of fiber-optic cable, linking most oncampus buildings. Using AT&T's ISN (Information Systems Network) ethernet bridged network, we began the evolution away from terminals, emulators, and asynchronous modems to the TCP/IP networking that became the basis for today's Internet. As UIC's campus network continued to grow, an FDDI backbone (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) replaced the ISN system, and the feed to the Internet was upgraded to a dual T1 connection.

More fiber-optic cable was installed through the mid-1990s under the campus's Network Initiative and ITIP (Instructional Technology Improvement Program), and ten buildings were pre-wired for data connections. The core routers were upgraded and their numbers increased, which caused network capacity to double, allowing us to stay ahead of the nearly geometric growth of the installed base of ADN workstations.

The strong base of installed fiber facilitated the installation of an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) campus network, centering initially on research applications. UIC was next awarded one of the first grants to connect to the vBNS research network (the MCI/NSF very-high-performance Backbone Network Service) by linking through the Ameritech NAP (Network Access Point) at OC3 speeds (155 Mbps). The ADN's design became a prototype for future connections to the vBNS.

With UIC's connection to the Ameritech NAP, it became practical and advantageous to connect at the NAP to an ISP, or Internet Service Provider, using the much higher speeds available via ATM technology. CICNet, our previous ISP, was unable to provide the capacity needed so we switched to Nap.Net and more than tripled our Internet capacity.

Over the next year, all major Chicago sites followed UIC's lead and connected to the Ameritech NAP. A new Chicago network organization was formed, the Metropolitan Research and Education Network, or MREN, of which UIC is a charter member. Within a short period of time, UIUC followed suit with a connection to the NAP and also joined MREN.

At present, the ADN's ATM and FDDI campus backbone networks continue to grow. Whenever funding is made available, additional buildings are pre-wired to the standards of 21st century networking needs. More dialin lines are added at every opportunity. Switched ethernet and fast ethernet have become strong components of the installed campus network connection base. UIC's ADN network will continue to grow and evolve at a rapid pace for the foreseeable future, as the only common thread in networking is change itself.

Return to Contents

• Network design and architecture, of all local area networks, the backbone networks, and all external networking.
• Network management, including internal and external routing, performance monitoring, and statistics collection.
• Network maintenance, diagnosis, and problem resolution.
• Backbone expansion, network upgrades, installations, and moves.
• Remote-access dialin services.
• Documentation and Domain Name Service registrations.
• Work on specialized network projects such as vBNS, RADB, Internet-II, MREN, etc.

Cliff Nelson, manager
Dave O'Leary
Jack Gallagher
Mike Lanski
Nancy Hollister
Will Marcyniuk
Trish May

Our network consists of over 300 miles of fiber, over 100 miles of 10BaseT cables, over 2000 hubs, equipment in nearly 700 communications closets, 26 routers with nearly 500 subnets, 12 ATM/workgroup switches, 32 communication servers, and over 350 dialin lines. We have direct routes to 44,713 IP Networks, 204 IPX networks, and 98 AppleTalk networks.

We field 1000+ service calls per year and resolve most within hours. We put 3000+ miles per year on our truck driving between the two sides of the campus, without even considering the countless trips on the shuttle, in our own cars, walking, or even running! In the event of problems we can be reached at network@uic.edu when email is available, or by calling (312)413-8080.

All in all, I think I can say that we all like the varied nature of networking and its demands; but even with our experience, we're constantly amazed by the incredible pace of change and the unending challenges that if offers.

Comments are welcome; please send them to:
Cliff Nelson, network@uic.edu