He's Got Connections
Information Officer Advances Network Connectivity

Larry Flournoy sits at his desk on the 11th floor of the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, gazing out across the Texas Medical Center skyline. Around him loom the tools of his trade - router boxes, bits and pieces of computer equipment, shipping crates filled with more of the same. Just looking at him and his three telephones, never mind all the telecom bits and pieces, a visitor knows instantly that this is a man on the go.

As interim chief information officer of the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, Flournoy is responsible for computer resources in and between its components, one of which is IBT. He is also responsible for security and authentication, and the requirements in this area have increased due to the new Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of the federal government. The act states that increased portability, accountability and security must be in place by April 27, 2003.

Having worked at IBT for the last six years, Flournoy has built up his own network among the telecommunications community in the Texas Medical Center. Just as he has helped his colleagues over the years in their never-ending quest for improved telecommunications speed and connectivity, others are now helping him get ready for HIPPA's new requirements. He notes that A&M is piggybacking on other TMC members' advances in software and medical industry expertise.

"One of the great things about working in the Texas Medical Center," notes Flournoy, "is the active cooperation that exists among telecom experts. We routinely help each other and disseminate information to each other all the time."

Obviously, this is of great importance in an area that changes as rapidly as telecommunications, with the added demands now being made by the new HIPPA legislation.

Another area that is keeping Flournoy and his telecom brethren busy is Internet2. Internet2 is a not-for-profit consortium, led by more than 180 U.S. universities, developing and deploying advanced network applications and technology, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. With participation by more than 60 leading companies, Internet2 recreates the partnership of academia, industry and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy.

"To help get Texas up to speed, so to speak," jokes Flournoy, "five local area universities are members of the Texas gigaPoP, which is a local aggregation point for very high speed research connectivity for the Internet2 national backbone."

The five universities are: Texas A&M University, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, Stephen F. Austin University, and the University of Houston.

"The Texas gigaPoP is very important not just to these members," Flournoy explains, "but also to any other member institution of the Texas Medical Center that engages in research. The regular Internet we use today is allright for basic needs, say, placing an order for a book on the World Wide Web, or just surfing. It's fine for lots of small users, but if you need to transfer the file of a typical mammogram, which has eight to ten megabytes of data and you want to do this quickly, you need the capacity of Internet2," Flournoy said. "In fact, that is the gold standard that must be met for high speed medical connectivity - transferring a mammogram."

When asked what the term "gigaPoP" stands for, Flournoy laughs and says, "Hey, that's easy. The `giga' part means `big' and `PoP' is an abbreviation for `point of presence'. A gigaPoP is a major aggregation point of connectivity, whether it is of fiber, copper wire, or radio waves. Mostly, these days, it means fiber, and that's what you've been seeing laid down all over Houston lately."

There are twelve gigaPoPs in the United States today that help make Internet2 possible. Besides the one in Houston, the others are located in Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, College Park, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Francisco, and Seattle. To view the line traffic over Internet2, go to http://hydra.uits.iu.edu/~abilene/traffic. Flournoy points out that the site shows clearly where the large research files are being transferred to and from at any given point in time.

Under Flournoy's leadership, IBT has been a key player in building telecommunications connectivity within the Texas Medical Center and out to local, state and national locations. He has helped negotiate favorable Internet1 rates for institutions in the Texas Medical Center and improve teleconferencing facilities and lines. In fact, the list of what he has been up to in the last six years is endless. It's no wonder he hasn't had time to unpack all of those computers in crates yet.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/09_01_01/page_21.html