NET+ Information newsletter

[Netplus <>]

Dear Internet2 NET+ Inquirers:

It has been a very busy time since I joined Internet2 full-time over a month ago, with tremendous interest and excitement about the Internet2 NET+ portfolio. Following a great Spring 2012 Internet2 Member Meeting where we announced many new proposed NET+ offerings, I have been very impressed by the community engagement in proposing, sponsoring and helping bring services through the NET+ service development process. It is truly an honor to be leading this effort and working with you during a time of such massive change in higher education.

We are working closely with the universities and the 16 companies that made announcements at the Spring Member Meeting. Our goal is to ensure that each service has an institutional sponsor, service validation partners, and participating early adopter schools where appropriate, all with an eye toward moving these services to general availability as soon as possible. Every service deployment should result in lower prices, improved service, greater value, and lower deployment costs than campuses pursuing these individually. The Internet2 NET+ portfolio makes a real difference to campuses, when linked with the benefits our community offers through subscription to InCommon and federated identity. Here are some examples of our work to advance these services:

·      On May 18 and 22, we hosted webinars that outlined the SIP-managed, voice service describing carrier-grade services at a cost-effective price;  

·      On June 1, we began offering Duo Security to bring phone-based, two-factor authentication to the higher education community with a low-cost, site license rather than an expensive and time-consuming, individual license mode;

·      Regarding Box, we are now hosting regularly scheduled webinars to cover the most commonly asked questions, including a deep dive on security.  In the 90 days since Box went general availability, 10 universities have subscribed, 50+ are involved in active trials and more than 200 have enquired about the service; and

·      In the fall, more than 25 universities are implementing a joint Internet2-EDUCAUSE, electronic-textbook pilot to explore new business models, and terms and conditions that will enable simpler, more efficient access to digital materials.

While many of you are familiar with the new services and concepts behind NET+ Services, I want to elaborate on the overall vision for where we see NET+ fitting into the future of computing within higher education.  We are now at the next critical point of evolution of higher education collaboration, with vastly expanded network bandwidth unleashing our community’s ability to work together anywhere in the world. Internet2 member institutions will be right in the center of it – both within the US and globally. Advancements in online education, consumer and mobile technologies, and cloud services will enable us to lower the cost of delivering high quality services while enabling these new research and pedagogical models.

Internet2 was founded in 1996 by visionary technology leaders in higher education who understood that research, while unpredictable, would clearly require collaboration across institutions and across countries. Those early days of campuses working together to develop a global research and education network has enabled amazing results that otherwise would not have been possible. Today we have an even greater opportunity to work together to influence commercial providers, deploy community services, and leverage work across higher education to yield even greater benefits.  

To help, your participation in these efforts should focus on engaging as a sponsoring or participating institution in the research or service validation phase of a new service. Internet2 will assign a program manager to each effort, will work with sponsoring schools and service providers to scope the new service, and will steward the effort through until, and after, it reaches general availability.

You don’t need to participate in every NET+ service, but if every school identifies projects in their portfolios that can be implemented as part of a NET+ service validation or early adopter program, the entire community will be able to consume general availability services that much quicker. The key is to not only build individual solutions but also share your efforts with others and to leverage the work of your peers.  It’s a tall order,​ but we must work together. Otherwise our institutions will likely fall behind during a time when other campuses, researchers, faculty, and students are moving quickly ahead. 

We have done it before - thanks to the work of many members of your campuses. Internet2 has been able to support global research collaborations over the last 16 years. I firmly believe, as impressive as the history is, the next decade presents even greater opportunities and will prove even more critical for our community and Internet2.

If you are thinking about services your campus really needs, or ones you have today that could benefit from scaling up, don’t hesitate to reach out to me to schedule a discussion. 

As a reminder, you can obtain the latest information about Internet2 NET+ Services at www.internet2.edu/netplus or email us about your interest in any service at .

Again, thank you for your work to strengthen and inspire the Internet2 community.

Shelton Waggener

Sr. Vice President

Internet2