ACADEMIA

The Louisiana Legislature convenes today for the 2010 session, and the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative is providing Louisiana schools with a front row seat for the action through advanced networking connections.

LONI is a high-speed, fiber optic network that connects supercomputing resources among six universities and the two LSU health sciences centers in state. LONI connects Louisiana to the major national research networks, including Internet2 and National LambdaRail, and is one of 11 resource providers on TeraGrid , the backbone of national cyberinfrastructure. Approximately 80 schools in Louisiana are connected to LONI for high-speed Internet access.

The 2010 Legislative Session begins at noon today, and Gov. Bobby Jindal will give an opening address to the House and Senate at 2 p.m. Central Time. Louisiana Public Broadcasting, in partnership with LONI, will provide live coverage of the Governor’s address. In addition to the television broadcast, schools that have access to LONI can watch the Governor’s address on the Internet in real time. 

Schools can access the legislative Web stream at the IP address  Multicast -  233.126.184.12, with Legislative coverage on channel 7. LONI will provide daily Web streaming coverage of the session every day from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., beginning today and continuing through the session’s adjournment June 21.

School faculty and staff should consult with their technical support staff for assistance in gaining access to this live stream.

More information about LONI is available at http://www.loni.org.