INDUSTRY

ANN ARBOR, MI -- Internet2 today announced that university membership in the advanced networking research and development consortium has reached a new milestone of 200 institutions. Internet2 was established in 1996 by 34 universities to foster the creation and deployment of advanced network applications for research and higher education. "The continued growth of university membership underscores the enduring importance and relevance to higher education of Internet2's mission and goals," said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the University of North Carolina and chair of the Internet2 Board of Trustees. "Internet2 promotes a unique, long-range view of the potential and benefits that partnership among academia, industry and government holds for technology development." "Over the past five years, the Internet2 community has demonstrated that a group of institutions committed to common objectives can accomplish things that would be difficult or impossible for them to accomplish individually," said Douglas Van Houweling, president and CEO of Internet2. "As the Internet2 community expands, we continue to focus on facilitating and supporting collaboration among Internet2 members in an increasingly wide range of areas related to advanced networking." There are Internet2 universities in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Internet2 community also includes over 60 corporate members and more than 40 affiliate members, which include government laboratories, research institutes and other organizations working on high-performance networking. Efforts by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies complement and provide significant support for the work of the Internet2 community. Internet2 membership is open to any organization that commits to investing the resources needed to actively collaborate with other Internet2 members on advanced networking development. A primary goal of Internet2 is to facilitate the transfer of new technologies and capabilities to the broader educational community and the global Internet. Towards this goal, Internet2 member universities and companies work together on the development and deployment of new network technologies and applications. Internet2 university members also may sponsor non-member educational and research institutions, such as museums and libraries, as well as statewide research and education networks to access Abilene, an Internet2 backbone network. In addition, Internet2 has established partnerships with over 30 similar organizations in other countries. For a complete list of Internet2 member universities, see: http://www.internet2.edu/members/html/universities.html