ENGINEERING

Advisory Council to Provide Guidance on Internet2 NET+ SIP Program

Internet2 has announced today the formation of the SIP Steering Committee to participate in setting the direction and priorities for the Internet2 NET+ SIP Program and the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) at Texas A&M. The steering committee will include representatives from Internet2 member institutions and ACUTA, the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education.

The Internet2 NET+ SIP Program was introduced at the Spring 2012 Internet2 Member Meeting. The SIP Services are offered to members under the Internet2 NET+ portfolio and are comprised of a Hosted PBX Solution from Aastra, and SIP Trunking Services from Level 3 Communications, delivered across the Internet2 Network.

The SIP Steering Committee member institutions include:

The ITEC at Texas A&M allows researchers to collaborate on the advancement and deployment of Internet technologies with special expertise in areas associated with Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1), Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), and Information Assurance. 

The role of the Steering Committee is twofold: from a strategic standpoint, the Committee will analyze the future needs of the research and education community, and provide advice on the technology roadmap; while at an operational level, they will evaluate and prioritize requests for ITEC projects and research.

“I’m privileged to be working with such a strong group,” said Ric Simmons, steering committee chair and deputy chief information officer at Louisiana State University. “The members of the steering committee represent a broad range of institutions and bring a wealth of expertise and insight to this advisory group.” 

“It is exciting to see the community-driven service model in action,“ said Shelton Waggener, Internet2 senior vice president. “The SIP Program and the Steering Committee are great examples of research and education’s ability to influence services, providers, and markets to create tailored, better-yielding services through the Internet2 NET+ initiative. This approach is exactly what created Internet2, its first network and service offerings, and we’re excited to see these same kinds of effects for cloud services.”

Several members of the Steering Committee recently participated in a panel discussion at the Internet2 2013 Annual Meeting. To hear four early adopters of the SIP Program discuss their experiences, visit http://bit.ly/139MYzH. For additional information on the Internet2 NET+ SIP Program, visit www.internet2.edu/sip or email sip@internet2.edu.