Recovery Act grant to create advanced national anchor network

A collaboration between IU and a group of national research and education networking organizations will bring about the construction of the United States Unified Community Anchor Network, an advanced 100 gigabit-per-second national network backbone that will connect regional and state research and education across the country.

To link the networks, IU, Internet2, National LambdaRail and the Northern Tier Network Consortium will collaborate with technology companies Ciena, Cisco, Infinera and Juniper Networks.

A National Telecommunications and Information Administration award of more than $62.5 million in federal stimulus funding made the collaboration possible. The proposal partners and suppliers will also provide an additional $34.4 million in contributions.

According to an IU press release, “For Indiana institutions connected to I-Light, the new network will mean expanded educational opportunities and even greater access to cross-institutional collaboration for research and education.”

IU will provide network management and engineering services through its premier Global Research Network with the $600,000 in new funding created by the award.

“This project will play a critical role in expanding high-performance network access to thousands of additional sites, especially in rural and underserved areas,” said Indiana University Associate Vice President for Networks Dave Jent in a press release. “These new capabilities will be key in our country’s economic recovery and sustainability, and will allow us a greater competitive advantage on a global scale. IU is pleased to bring to this initiative more than 10 years of experience in managing national and international networks.”

— Bailey Loosemore