Indiana University Partners to Create Anchor Network

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Indiana University today announced partnerships and plans put in place to create a new national network backbone in the US.  But we already have one, right?  Yeah, but not one with 100 Gbps per link leg.  The new group, called the United States Unified Community Anchor Network [US UCAN], will link regional and state education networks across the country.

Indiana University, Internet2, National LambdaRail (NLR), and the Northern Tier Network Consortium (NTNC) will collaborate with technology companies Ciena, Cisco, Infinera, and Juniper Networks to link the networks, as well as other projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

IU Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Brad Wheeler said, “The U.S. lags behind many nations in the availability of very high speed Internet to community institutions. IU is delighted to use our unique networking expertise along with leading research networks and companies to build next-generation networks for communities across the nation. The $97 million project unites an extraordinary list of marquee partners across the nation to improve high-speed Internet connections to many communities.”

This collaboration is made possible by a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) award of more than $62.5 million in federal stimulus funding through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). The NTIA grant will be supplemented with an additional $34.3 million in contributions from the proposal partners and suppliers.

This project will play a critical role in expanding high-performance network access to thousands of additional sites, especially in rural and underserved areas,” said Indiana University Associate Vice President for Networks Dave Jent. “These new capabilities will be key in our country’s economic recovery and sustainability, and will allow us a greater competitive advantage on a global scale. IU is pleased to bring to this initiative more than 10 years of experience in managing national and international networks.”

Very cool stuff from the folks at IU.  Check out all the juicy details here.

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