The Quilt, a consortium of regional Research and Education (R&E) Networks throughout the United States, today announced that Carahsoft Technology Corp. has been awarded an amendment to its Master Service Agreement, adding solutions from 25 technology manufacturers to the contract and making more than 70 solutions providers available to the education and non-profit marketplace through The Quilt and its authorized reseller partners.
The agreement is effective through May 2022 and includes two additional option years for a five-year total period of performance. Carahsoft and authorized reseller partners will jointly provide products and services, including software licenses, managed services, cloud subscription services, training, and professional services and hardware.
Click here to view all the newly-awarded solutions providers.
The Quilt, a non-profit coalition of 38 regional research and education networks across the country, leverages the collective purchasing power of its membership and their authorized member institutions to cost-effectively purchase advanced networking technology and services. Participating member institutions that utilize the Carahsoft’s Master Service Agreement will benefit not only from access to dozens of technology solutions with special discounted pricing and a simplified procurement process but also Carahsoft’s experience meeting the technology needs of public sector and educational institutions.
“In 2016, The Quilt Community initially came together to provide our members and institutions with a publicly sourced, pre-competed contract for VMware technologies,” said Jen Leasure, President and CEO for The Quilt. “In 2019, we initiated another competitive process in order to include Palo Alto Networks, Amazon Web Services, Dell Technologies, Veeam, and HPE. We have continually recognized a growing need for alternative and complimentary technologies due to the diversity of our member institutions. Carahsoft has been an indispensable partner, keeping a finger on the pulse of our national Quilt community and advising us on trending and sought-after technologies. Through this amendment process, we have been able to provide our national community with the products and services they need to strengthen and grow their technology footprint with the purchasing flexibility that these rapidly changing times demand.”
Carahsoft’s commitment to partnering with The Quilt Community began in May 2016 when it secured its original Distribution Partner Master Service Agreement to distribute VMware and AirWatch solutions to authorized Quilt buyers. This agreement has been expanded with this amendment to offer products and services from more than 70 authorized manufacturers and allows Carahsoft to add additional technology solutions as agreed upon by The Quilt. This broadened offering allows Quilt members and their authorized buyers to procure solutions from Carahsoft and Quilt authorized resellers that cover multiple verticals, including data center modernization, virtualization, cybersecurity, and cloud services and infrastructure.
“Now more than ever, the public sector needs tools and services that they can trust to securely support digital services and remote workforces,” said Martin Gavin, Program Manager for The Quilt at Carahsoft. “So, we are very pleased to offer an expanded pool of leading technology manufacturers to better meet the needs of our educational institutions and nonprofits across the nation. We are also proud to partner with The Quilt to streamline access to these solutions at lower costs to maximize investment and ensure they can continue to fulfill their missions.”
Carahsoft’s authorized solutions providers are available through The Quilt Master Service Agreement Number MSA05012019-F. To learn more, visit Carahsoft’s dedicated resource page or contact The Quilt team at Carahsoft at (703) 673-3518 or Quilt@Carahsoft.com.
##
About Carahsoft
Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®. As a top-performing GSA Schedule and SEWP contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the Master Government Aggregator® for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value.
The company’s dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and deliver VMware, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Veritas, McAfee, Dell, Adobe, F5 Networks, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Open Source, Micro Focus Government Solutions, SAP, Salesforce, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer and is listed annually among the industry’s fastest growing and largest firms by CRN, Inc., Forbes, Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and Bloomberg Government. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
About The Quilt
The Quilt is the national coalition of non-profit U.S. regional research and education networks representing 48 networks across the country. Members of The Quilt provide advanced network services and applications to over 900 universities and thousands of other educational and community anchor institutions. Together, we promote consistent, reliable, inter-operable and efficient advanced networking services that extend to the broadest possible community and represent common interests in the development and delivery of advanced cyberinfrastructure that enables innovation through our education and research mission. Visit www.thequilt.net and follow on Twitter @TweetTheQuilt.
The 2020 wildfire season exploded well ahead of schedule this year under conditions of record low humidity, extreme winds, and scorching temperatures—Death Valley reached 130 degrees last month, the highest mercury reading on Earth in almost 90 years. Fires ignited by epic storms, human error, and, reportedly, even by intention are currently ravaging huge swaths of California, Oregon, Washington, and other western states. Communities already facing loss and hardship related to COVID-19 are now scrambling to protect family, businesses, livestock, and property. And, due to the fires, the air quality in Oregon is currently the worst in the world. Our thoughts go out to everyone in harm’s way.
As Link Oregon architects its statewide fiber broadband network, we are considering the access and data transmission needs of our partners in research, education, healthcare, and public service. This translates into an opportunity to bolster the efficacy of two early warning systems—ALERTWildfire and ShakeAlert®—that are working to reduce the devastating impact of wildfires and earthquakes. Both collaborations extend across multiple US states and are particularly important in the West, where these events occur with greater frequency.
Doug Toomey—a professor in the Earth Sciences department at the University of Oregon (UO), director of the Oregon Hazards Lab (O-HAZ), and a pioneer in the use of ocean-bottom seismology to study tectonic and volcanic processes—oversees both the ALERTWildfire and ShakeAlert programs for Oregon. Doug is a colleague and a friend, and the University of Oregon is one of Link Oregon’s five founding members. [Read the full Link Oregon Blog Post by Steve Corbato]
Read More...SEATTLE, Wash. and RENO, Nev. (Aug. 19, 2020) – The Quilt, a consortium of regional Research and Education (R&E) Networks throughout the United States, today announced that the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), operator of the videoconferencing and data network, NevadaNet, has become the latest affiliate member to join The Quilt.
“We’re so pleased that NSHE System Computing Services has elected to join our diverse membership,” said Jen Leasure, president and CEO of The Quilt. “The Quilt is a national community of innovators with a long track record of success as our members and affiliates collaborate to develop, deploy and operate advanced cyberinfrastructure that enables innovation in research and education throughout the United States. NHSE operates NevadaNet, the statewide research and education network. We are looking forward to learning from NHSE and their experiences as a new collaborator and contributor to The Quilt community.”
Headquartered in Reno, System Computing Services is a unit of the NSHE and is responsible for provisioning and managing system-wide information services. NevadaNet provides data and video Internet and Internet2 connectivity statewide to more than 200 NSHE campus locations, rural K-12 locations, health clinics, and state agencies.
“NSHE/NevadaNet is proud to be a new affiliate member of The Quilt,” said, Kirk Fitzgerald, Director of Network Services at NevadaNet. “We are anxious to join forces with esteemed colleagues to collaborate on ideas, share resources and expertise, and grow our network professionals’ competencies so we continue to provide world-class video, data and internet services to our research and education customers. We hope to learn from other regional connectors to stay current with best practices, successful projects, good ideas, and to promote NSHE research infrastructure to grantors and prospective researchers.”
The NSHE, formerly the University and Community College System of Nevada, or UCCSN, is a state government unit in Nevada that oversees its public system of colleges and universities. It was formed in 1968 to oversee all state-supported higher education in the state.
For a complete list of members and affiliates of The Quilt, visit this website. If you interested in becoming a member, please visit the Become a Member page online.
##
About NSHE System Computing Services
NSHE System Computing Services is the recognized leader and catalyst for technology change and innovation in the Nevada System of Higher Education. Their purpose is to facilitate collaborative technology partnerships throughout NSHE and select agencies of the state of Nevada, with an adaptable, reliable, robust and current infrastructure and core application, network and technical services to enable users to excel in their core academic, research, outreach and administrative missions. Visit www.scs.nevada.edu.
About The Quilt
The Quilt is the national coalition of non-profit U.S. regional research and education networks representing 48 networks across the country. Members of The Quilt provide advanced network services and applications to over 900 universities and thousands of other educational and community anchor institutions. Together, we promote consistent, reliable, inter-operable and efficient advanced networking services that extend to the broadest possible community and represent common interests in the development and delivery of advanced cyberinfrastructure that enables innovation through our education and research mission. Visit www.thequilt.net and follow on Twitter @TweetTheQuilt.