PlanetLab Creates Testbed for Internet Applications/Services

PlanetLab, an initiative led by the academic community in partnership with HP and Intel, is building a global test bed for new Internet applications and services. PlanetLab consists of 170 Linux-based computers distributed at 60 research centers around the world. The computers are configured in an overlay network to the public Internet using their own intelligent routers and servers. The goal is to enable new applications that are decentralized, with pieces running on many machines spread across the global Internet. Some form of application processing could occur inside the network (instead of at the edges). PlanetLab, which was first proposed in March 2002, brings together researchers from the University of California (Berkeley), the University of Washington, MIT, and Princeton University and other universities overseas. The goal is for PlanetLab to grow to 1,000 widely distributed nodes that peer with the majority of the Internet's regional and long-haul backbones. Some 95 research projects are currently running on PlanetLab.
http://www.planet-lab.org