Juniper Networks has announced it will make a $2.5 million cash donation to Internet2, an advanced networking consortium led by the research and education community, in support of the development of a new, nationwide 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) network serving U.S. community institutions.

Internet2, with partners National LambdaRail, Northern Tier Network Consortium and Indiana University were recently awarded a federal stimulus grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to create a nationwide high-capacity network that will enable advanced networking features for more than 200,000 essential community anchor institutions.

This new network infrastructure, the United States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN), will be a coast-to-coast, advanced network infrastructure that, together with state and regional network partners, will enable the connection of America's community anchor institutions—schools, libraries, community colleges, health centers and public safety organizations—to support advanced applications not possible with today's typical Internet service. The network will be built on the collective national network assets of the U.S. UCAN partners and will also include the construction of new facilities across the country.

Juniper Networks has been an Internet2 corporate partner and a principal provider of IP networking equipment to Internet2’s national backbone since 2002. As part of the U.S. UCAN infrastructure, Internet2 will deploy Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers,
T Series Routers and supporting services. Juniper introduced the industry's first 100 Gigabit Ethernet router interface card on the T Series T1600 core router in June, 2009. 

“Juniper Networks is pleased to extend its long-term partnership with Internet2 for the U.S. UCAN project,” said Andy Zupsic, senior vice president, Americas Enterprise Sales, Juniper Networks. “U.S. UCAN, whose advanced broadband network will be built by Internet2 and its partners, will include a Juniper Networks 100 Gigabit per second Ethernet router backbone. The U.S. UCAN infrastructure will connect 200,000 community anchor institutions and 35 million individuals across the U.S., as well as encourage the adoption of next-generation Internet applications. This network will have the power to support high-bandwidth applications in such life-changing fields as telemedicine, public safety, and distance education.”

U.S. UCAN will expand Internet2’s capabilities with increased resiliency and capacity. The overall network includes acquisition of nearly 12,000 miles of newly-lit fiber and creates a resilient set of fiber paths through the middle of the country where there is the highest demand, with added capabilities for the Northern Tier and throughout the south and east.

“We are grateful for the commitment Juniper Networks demonstrates year in and year out in helping us build breakthrough cyber infrastructures that link communities across America,” said Rob Vietzke, Internet2 executive director of network services. “Juniper’s partnership in U.S. UCAN will ensure that advanced network services are available to everyone, even those who reside in remote or economically depressed areas of the country. Juniper Networks routers will enable us to provide state-of-the-art services based on IPv6 and multicast services which require abundant capacity and the fastest connection speeds for high-bandwidth, rich media applications in medicine and distance learning.”