Thousands of Educational Institutions to Connect to Internet2 Backbone Network
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 dont work well or at all on todays 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.
About Abilene
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/
Contacts:
Greg Wood:
Internet2:
ghwood@internet2.edu:
+1-202-331-5360
Ann Fuller:
Nortel Networks:
afuller@nortelnetworks.com:
613-768-1208
Mojgan Khalili:
Cisco Systems:
mkhalili@cisco.com:
+1 978-244-3022
Sara Faatz:
AlexanderOlgivy:
for Qwest Communications:
sfaatz@alexanderogilvy.com:
+1 (757) 851-4955
Brian Voss:
Indiana University:
bvoss@indiana.edu:
+1 812-855-9220
