NETWORK REQUIREMENTS FOR 3-D FLYING IN A ZOOMABLE BRAIN DATABASE

In laboratories around the world, neuroscientists from diverse discipl ines are exploring various aspects of brain structure, Because of the size of the domain, neuroscientists must specialize, making it difficu lt to fit results together, causing some research efforts to be duplic ated because of lack of sharing of information, We have begun a long-t erm project to build a neuroscience research database for brain struct ure, One aspect of the database is the ability to visualize high-quali ty, high-resolution micrographs montaged together into 3-D structures as they were in the living brain, As demonstrated in this paper's anal ysis, realistic presentation of these visualizations across computer n etworks will stress current and proposed gigabit networks. Image compr ession can reduce network loads, but wide-spread use of the visualizat ions will still require networks capable of sustaining terabits per se cond of throughput.