Our 2014 Fall Member Meeting was a great success this month on the shores of Lake Monona in Wisconsin. We had more than 80 networking leaders from around the country attend this year for some exciting discussions on how R&E networks are uniquely positioned to meet the infrastructure challenges of the research and education communities we serve.
David Hotchkiss, CIO at Medical College of Wisconsin and member of WiscNet Board of Directors, provided an outstanding discussion on large-scale medical research and education by sharing some his experiences with the group from the largest research institution in eastern Wisconsin.
“Please don’t let anything happen to your R&E networks; we need you in order to carry-out our mission,” Hotchkiss said during his keynote remarks.
Dr. Mark Luker, Associate Director for the National Coordination Office for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, also provided a valuable framework for Quilt members to understand how the NITRD program is serving as a great catalyst for collaboration and innovation for U.S. global leadership in networking, information technology and applications.
Kevin Thompson, program director at the National Science Foundation, was excellent in his remarks providing an overview of current NSF Advanced Cyber Infrastructure initiatives including the CC*IIE program.
Kim Milford, executive director of REN-ISAC, provided great insight into network security issues for our R&E networking community.
Two very impressive sets of Quilt-member panels focused on grant opportunities and strategic planning within the R&E community followed by a smaller group discussions regarding SDN exchanges, connecting and supporting community anchor institutions as well as network security. Finally, we had a strong end to our time together with a Quilt-hosted leadership workshop facilitated by Don Welch, president and CEO of Merit Networks in Michigan and current chairman of The Quilt Board of Directors supporting our Quilt member professional development programs.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our meeting this month and special thanks once again to WiscNet for hosting such a great event. And, while we have your attention, please go ahead and mark your calendars for our 2015 Winter Member Meeting scheduled Feb. 10-12 at the La Jolla Shores Hotel and La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club in La Jolla, Calif. More details about the event and program agenda will be coming soon.
Read More...For three decades, North Carolina technologists, educators, and innovators have set the pace for national networking by leveraging the power of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN). As one of the country’s oldest and most enduring broadband networks, NCREN has changed the way we work and live by providing the foundation for accelerating innovation, managing cutting-edge infrastructure to give tremendous potential for education and commerce, and increasing the economic vitality of the state.
Since the 1990s we have recognized our community’s achievements with NCREN Community Day. This annual event allows constituents, colleagues, supporters, and friends to gather face-to-face in a celebratory and festive environment while openly discussing critical issues and sharing exemplary cases of integrating the services of NCREN to achieve our member’s goals and missions.
We cordially invite you to join us on Wednesday and Thursday, November 5 – 6, 2014 at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on the NC State University campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. We are truly grateful that NC State will host NCREN Community Day for a second consecutive year.
Community Day 2014 marks the 30-year anniversary for NCREN! This special milestone is a time to commemorate the past while we eagerly anticipate The Next 30!
This year’s theme entices us to begin planning our future network, bandwidth, video, and beyond the horizons for the entire community! While keeping many traditions, the program will be designed to encourage your active participation as well as offer a few surprises.
We look forward to seeing you in November.
Sincerely,
Todd Broucksou
Senior Director of NCREN Community Support
MCNC
Membership will bring advanced broadband capabilities to remote areas
BOULDER, Colo. — Students and researchers across Wyoming will now have access to advanced collaborative resources through the national Internet2 networking consortium.
Wyoming’s statewide government and educational system has joined the U.S. Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN), an Internet2 community program working with regional research and education networks across the country to advance broadband capabilities.
The new capabilities are being made possible through the State of Wyoming; the University of Wyoming; the Front Range GigaPoP (FRGP), a regional network managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR); and the Western Regional Network, a regional network providing the three Internet2 connections managed by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC).
Wyoming is the 44th state to offer U.S. UCAN connections.
“We’ve had a long and valuable relationship with the State of Wyoming,” said FRGP manager Marla Meehl, who heads High Performance Networking at UCAR. “We are pleased and excited that we are now able to extend access to the preeminent U.S. network for research and education.”
That relationship, Meehl noted, includes networking for the state-of-the-art NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne, which opened in 2012.
—–New connections, new resources—–
Through U.S. UCAN membership, Wyoming state entities will be able to connect community anchor institutions to advanced broadband capabilities and applications. In turn, those anchor institutions will be able to interact directly with more than 93,000 other anchor institutions across the nation that are connected to Internet2.
For example, Wyoming K-12 schools will be able to take advantage of a number of resources. These range from interactive master music classes to the Presidential Primary Sources Project, where students can interact with past U.S. presidents and take part in virtual field trips to various national parks and presidential libraries.
“We continue to expand access to high-speed broadband. This benefits all citizens and particularly children,” Governor Matt Mead said. “Resources like Internet2 allow us to compete and collaborate globally. I thank UW for its help and the Front Range GigaPoP staff for making this possible.”
Robert Aylward, University of Wyoming vice president and chief information officer, noted that many state-affiliated entities, such as K-12 schools, community and technical colleges, , have typically not been eligible or able to become Internet2 members themselves, due to the size of their institution or the costs associated with individual access. “Now these institutions will be able to use the network to expand global and local collaborations,” Aylward said.
Louis Fox, president and CEO of CENIC, added, “We welcome Wyoming’s participation in education and research initiatives–in California and the West, through the Western Regional Network–and nationally, through U.S. UCAN.”