News for and about the Internet2 community

[Lauren Rotman <>]

Randy Frank Named New Internet2 Chief Technology Officer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – June 19, 2009 – Internet2 today announced that  
Randall (Randy) Frank will join its staff as Chief Technology Officer  
(CTO). In this role, Randy will help set and manage the overall  
direction of advanced technology plans for Internet2, including the  
identification and development of emerging technologies in areas like  
high-performance hybrid networking, end-to-end performance, network  
security, and middleware. As CTO, Randy will play a key role in  
facilitating the development and deployment of these technologies –  
all of which are critical to supporting an advanced  
cyberinfrastructure – in collaboration with Internet2’s governance  
councils, its partners at regional research and education networks,  
and its broad membership.

“We are delighted that Randy will become a key member of the Internet2  
management team. His deep experience – in both industry and academia -  
will serve as an incredible asset to our community as we continue to  
focus on delivering state of the art capabilities for our members,”  
said Doug Van Houweling, Internet2 president and CEO. “Our community  
has traditionally demonstrated global leadership as early adopters of  
leading edge technologies. Randy’s vision, experience, and  
collaborative style will be critical to carrying this important  
tradition forward.”

Randy joins Internet2 from the Fidelity Investments Center for Applied  
Technology, where he served as the chief technologist for its research  
and development center. In that role, Randy developed initial pilots  
and implemented projects in Voice over IP, wireless LANs, real time  
media, thin client architectures, network and e-mail security, and  
next generation data centers to support Fidelity's customers, agents  
and employees globally.

Prior to Fidelity, Randy served as the Executive Director of  
Information Technology for the University of Michigan’s College of  
Engineering, where he was responsible for both the Computer Aided  
Engineering Network (CAEN) and Center for Parallel Computing (CPC),  
the primary campus facility for high performance computing. Randy has  
also served as the Director of the University of Utah Research  
Computing Facility and was the university’s first Director of Campus  
Networking. Randy is noted as the Founding Director of the Media Union  
(now the Duderstadt Center), and served as Project Director for the  
University of Michigan JSTOR Project, among many other accomplishments.

“Internet2 plays an enormous role in keeping the academic and research  
community at the forefront of networking technology,” said Frank. “I  
am excited to join this organization in a capacity where I can  
contribute to the advancement of the innovative services that today  
support research and education, and tomorrow will help support our  
broader society.”

"Randy Frank joins with a very strong understanding of the research  
and education mission of Internet2's academic members. This background  
-- along with his excellent corporate IT experience -- position him  
well to help lead the Internet2 community as CTO," said Brad Wheeler,  
Indiana University vice president for information technology and  
member of the executive search committee which supported the CTO  
selection process.

Randy’s appointment will begin in late June 2009 and he will be based  
at the Internet2 headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Randy succeeds  
Rick Summerhill, who will retire this month. Rick joined Internet2 in  
2003 and has served as Internet2’s CTO since 2007.


About Internet2(R)
Internet2 is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium. Led by  
the research and education community since 1996, Internet2 promotes  
the missions of its members by providing both leading-edge network  
capabilities and unique partnership opportunities that together  
facilitate the development, deployment and use of revolutionary  
Internet technologies. Internet2 brings the U.S. research and academic  
community together with technology leaders from industry, government  
and the international community to undertake collaborative efforts  
that have a fundamental impact on tomorrow's Internet.

For more information: http://www.internet2.edu



MEDIA CONTACT:

Lauren Rotman

Internet2