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]

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.

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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.

La Mirada & Berkeley, Calif., Aug. 7, 2020 — CENIC is now able to provide high-capacity services, from 100G to 400G and beyond, on its coastal path between Los Angeles and Sunnyvale. The research and education network upgraded its optical line system along the 460-mile path, including nodes in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Soledad.

CENIC’s California Research and Education Network (CalREN) serves the vast majority of K-20 students, educators, researchers, and individuals at other vital public-serving institutions. CalREN operates over 8,000 miles of fiber optic cable and serves more than 20 million users.

New high-capacity capabilities along the coastal route are part of CENIC’s strategic plan to upgrade its optical network to the latest 400G-plus capable technology. In 2019, CENIC upgraded the southern path of its network between Los Angeles and Riverside, including nodes in Tustin, Oceanside, San Diego, Escondido, and Sun City. Work will start in the fall on upgrades to the final inland path, which completes the network ring from Sunnyvale back to Los Angeles and includes nodes in Oakland, Sacramento, Fergus, Fresno, and Bakersfield. [Read the full article at CENIC | News]