News for and about the Internet2 community

["Jennifer C. Wolf" <>]

April 6, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORKS IN ONTARIO AND MICHIGAN SIGN HISTORIC 
CROSS-BORDER AGREEMENT


Ann Arbor - ORION and Merit Network, the Ontario and Michigan Research and 
Education (R&E) networks, have signed an historic agreement to interconnect 
across the Canada/U.S. border, collaborate on advanced networking 
technologies, and facilitate research in the Great Lakes region.

ORION President Phil Baker and Merit President Hunt Williams signed the 
agreement at the ORION head office in Toronto March 31, 2004, where Merit 
and ORION held a one-day summit.

"We are looking forward to future collaboration with ORION and with its 
participating institutions," said Hunt Williams, President of Merit." This 
agreement will extend our networks east and west around the Great Lakes and 
open the door to advanced collaborations in many fields.

"This agreement is a great beginning," said ORION President Phil Baker. 
"Interconnecting with Merit will not only join our two networks physically 
but will also facilitate exciting new collaborations in advanced networking 
in support of research and  education in both Ontario and Michigan. "

The two networks plan to connect across the Canada/US border at 
Windsor/Detroit later in 2004, and at Sault Ste. Marie at a later date.

At the one-day summit, Baker and Williams were joined by ORION's Senior 
Manager for Strategic Partnerships Randy Neals in meetings to discuss 
potential collaborations with leading researchers in particle physics, 
astrophysics, landscape and urban design, and telecommunications 
applications at the University of Toronto.

MichNet Director Mary McLaughlin and Backbone Engineering and Technical 
Support specialist Brian Cashman also met with ORION Project Director Sam 
Mokbel and his engineering team to plan the Merit-ORION  interconnection.

The group also met with GTAnet chair Bob Gagne of York University and 
Hospital for Sick Kids Technical Director Chip Campbell, and discussed the 
new GTAnet Toronto-area R&E network and potential collaborations in 
genomics research.

The Toronto summit follows an earlier visit by ORION officials to Merit's 
head office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 	

# # # # # # #

About ORION:
The Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), is owned and 
operated by the Optical Regional Advanced Network of Ontario (ORANO). 
ORION is a high-speed, optical network that brings affordable, world-class 
broadband access and connectivity to research and educational institutions 
in the Province of Ontario. It is governed by a Board of Directors that 
includes leaders from the fields of education, research and business. Among 
its objectives is to link researchers, educators, scientists, learners and 
innovators in Ontario to one another, to colleagues around the world, and 
to networked resources so that they can advance research, learning, 
knowledge, technology development and scientific discovery.

About Merit:
Merit Network, Inc. (MERIT), a non-profit corporation governed by 
Michigan's public universities, owns and operates America's first regional 
research and education network.  Founded in 1966, Merit supports the 
high-performance networking needs of Michigan's universities, colleges, 
K-12 schools, libraries, state government, health care, and other 
non-profit organizations. Through Merit, Michigan's research and education 
organizations have access to leading-edge network research, state and 
national collaborative initiatives, and international peering.



For more information, please contact:

Mary McLaughlin
MichNet Director, Merit Network Inc.
1-734-764-9430

www.merit.edu

Andre Quenneville
Manager, Marketing and Communication, ORION
1-416-507-9860 ext 26


Photo Editors: An illustration of the map of the two networks is available 
upon request or may be seen at the networks' respective web sites.


***************

Jennifer Wolf
Merit Network
Dedicated Connections Product Manager

734-936-4251

Attachment: ORION-MERIT MOU Announcement.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document