News for and about the Internet2 community

[Lauren Rotman <>]

Great Plains Network To Double Internet2 Network Connectivity for Its  
Member Universities

Regional Network First to Take Advantage of New Internet2 Network Fee  
Options

Ann Arbor, MI and Kansas City, MO – February 23, 2010 - Taking  
advantage of new options for network connectivity to the Internet2  
national research and education Network, the Great Plains Network  
(GPN) today announced it will double its network connectivity on  
behalf of its member universities by adding a second 10 Gigabit  
connection to the Internet2 Network.

This connectivity will provide the additional capacity needed to  
ensure that scientists and educators from GPN member universities in  
South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas,  
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa can effectively collaborate with  
colleagues around the world on exciting "big science" projects.

The additional connectivity will also provides GPN a pathway for  
participating in the Internet2 Commercial Peering Service (CPS) which  
provides peering to commodity Internet traffic. In doing so, GPN can  
leverage their Internet2 investment to more cost effectively provide  
higher performance commodity Internet services to its members.

“The GPN community continues to push the envelope as innovators in  
major scientific research projects like the Large Hadron Collider  
(LHC), the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory  
(DUSEL), advanced climate modeling and interactive educational  
experiences – among many others,” said Bill Mitchell, GPN Executive  
Director. “Through our newly enhanced connectivity to the Internet2  
Network – we can assure our scientists the bandwidth they need to  
conduct transformative research”.

“Internet2 has been working with our Network Members and Connector  
community for some time to develop a new connectivity fee model that  
would provide a better pathway for enabling enhanced hybrid network  
capabilities at a substantially lower cost per-bit,” said Rob Vietzke,  
Internet2 Executive Director of Network Services, “We are pleased to  
partner with GPN to enable this additional connection under our new  
offering. We look forward to working with their members to take  
advantage of this added capacity which holds the promise of supporting  
a new generation of scientific, educational and medical applications  
across the GPN region.”

In February 2010, Internet2 introduced new network connection fee  
options allowing its network connectors to cost effectively choose a  
2x5G or 2x10G connection to the Internet2 Network. In doing so,  
members can more easily take advantage of any combination of network  
services including IP, Internet2’s dynamic network service called ION  
or Internet2 CPS.

GPN was the first to sign an agreement with Internet2 to benefit from  
the new 2010 network fee options, designed to significantly enhance  
the research and education national infrastructure.  GPN was also the  
very first regional connector to connect to the original Internet2  
network – called Abilene- in 1998.

About the Great Plains Network
The Great Plains Network develops and maintains a high-performance  
network that meets the needs of the membership's research community;  
is a resource for cyberinfrastructure to the membership; and supports  
multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research and education  
initiatives that require advanced cyberinfrastructure. GPN members  
includes 24 research institutions in nine states and also connects  
most other higher education institutions, school districts and public  
libraries in those states to Internet2.

About Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and  
education community. An exceptional partnership spanning U.S. and  
international institutions who are leaders in the worlds of research,  
academia, industry and government, Internet2 is developing  
breakthrough cyberinfrastructure technologies that support the most  
exacting applications of today—and spark the most essential  
innovations of tomorrow. Led by its members and focused on their  
current and future networking needs since 1996, Internet2 blends its  
human, IP and optical networks to develop and deploy revolutionary  
Internet technologies. Activating the same partnerships that produced  
today’s Internet, our community is forging the Internet of the future.  
For more information, see http://www.internet2.edu

Contacts:
GPN:
Bill Mitchell
Executive Director, Great Plains Network


Internet2:
Lauren Rotman

202 331 5345