ACADEMIA

The three largest public universities in the state - Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University – have formed a consortium to tap into 750 miles of very high speed communications networks that will let researchers transfer data at rates up to 10,000 times faster than Internet connections used today. Such network speed and capacity are necessary to support the researchers that are trying to solve the most challenging problems in the physical, social, and life sciences. Doctors can perform virtual surgery at remote locations; physicists can share large data files with colleagues anywhere in the world. Because of the existing over capacity in very high-performance networks installed in the state years ago, the added benefit of this collaboration is the three universities get very low prices. "Creating MiLR will give MSU, U-M and WSU a competitive advantage in attracting external support for research and will attract students and faculty to our campuses," said John S. Camp, chief information officer at Wayne State. "We are now members of a small and elite group of universities nationally that are investing in high-performance networks to strengthen research and facilitate collaboration." The new network, scheduled to go into operation next January, will serve as a test-bed for experimental research on networking itself. MiLR, which employs advanced optical electronics, will use more than 750 miles of fiber-optic cabling, most of it already in place, to connect the universities to each other and to national and international networking hubs in Chicago. Those hubs include the National LambdaRail, StarLight, and an emerging set of network connections that play key roles in the national cyber infrastructure supporting advanced science and research. "More than ever before, higher education institutions need to collaborate on advanced networking to keep pace with rapid change and to meet the growing demands of research and teaching," said James Hilton, associate provost for information technology at the University of Michigan. "Additionally, costs are significant and can be reduced by working together. MiLR is a perfect example of such collaboration." David A. Gift, MSU vice provost for libraries, computing and technology, agreed: "We are all very proud of this collaboration between the state's research universities, and very pleased by the progress we've made in implementing this complex, advanced networking project, which we expect will become a truly vital part of our research future.” Partnering in computer networking is nothing new for the three universities. In 1966, responding to a need to interconnect mainframe computers, they formed Merit Network and created MichNet, the first regional research and education network in the country. Based in Ann Arbor, Merit Network is now owned and operated by the founding universities and 10 other public universities in the state. Continuing their successful collaborations to create educational networks in Michigan, Merit and the three universities are planning to use MiLR for advanced research and education between the United States and Canada.