NCSA NEWS

Thousands of Educational Institutions to Connect to Internet2 Backbone Network

released March 8, 2001

 

Contacts
Greg Wood
Internet2
ghwood@internet2.edu
202.331.5360

Ann Fuller
Nortel Networks
afuller@nortelnetworks.com
613.768.1208

Mojgan Khalili
Cisco Systems
mkhalili@cisco.com
978.244.3022

Sara Faatz
Alexander Olgivy
for Qwest Communications
sfaatz@alexanderogilvy.com
757.851.4955

Brian Voss
Indiana University
bvoss@indiana.edu
812.855.9220

Partnerships with Internet2 Universities and Regional Networks Provide Broad Access to High-Performance Networks

WASHINGTON, DC — Abilene, a nationwide Internet2® network, today announced state education networks in Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Virginia and Washington will establish connectivity under a new policy that allows expanded access to the high-performance educational backbone. Partnerships with Internet2 universities and regional networking organizations will provide institutions such as elementary schools, secondary schools, community colleges, museums and libraries access to the national high-performance network.

"Expanded access to Abilene supports the primary Internet2 goal of facilitating the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the global Internet and especially the broader educational community," said Douglas E. Van Houweling, president and CEO of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, the organization leading both the Internet2 and Abilene projects.

Access to the high-performance backbone, leveraged by network upgrades at the state and local networks upgrades, will allow expanded use of applications that don't work well or at all on today's Internet. Abilene access for:

• Washington K-20 Education Network in Washington State will enable a new system of network-accessible professional development video library for teachers and education professionals
• Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN) in Oregon will extend the capability of the Cyberschool program to work with partners at public schools around the country.
• Net.Work.Virginia Next Generation in Virginia will support the work of the Virtual Institute for Technology Advancement in Education for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (VITAE-HBCU)
• MOREnet in Missouri will allow fourth-grade students to access online historical information available in rich multimedia formats from Presidential libraries and public television
• MichNet operated by Merit in Michigan will enable researchers to explore the use of an advanced form of virtual reality in distance education

State networks in Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Rhode Island are expected to be approved for access to Abilene in the near future. Access to Abilene is now available to educational organizations through partnerships with organizations with existing connections.

Abilene, an advanced backbone network developed through a collaboration among Qwest Communications, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Indiana University and the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), supports the development and deployment of the new applications being developed within the Internet2 community. Abilene connects regional network aggregation points, called gigaPoPs, to support the work of Internet2 universities as they develop advanced Internet applications. For more information about Abilene, see http://www.internet2.edu/abilene/.

 

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