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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Breaking News -
Networking:
Indiana University Acquires
Inter-City Segment Of Dark Fiber
FiberCo, a fiber holding company supporting U.S. research and higher
education, announced that Indiana University has become the first assignee of
FiberCo optical networking assets through the acquisition of a pair of dark
fiber between Indianapolis and Chicago. Internet2, a consortium of 205
universities working with government and industry to develop and deploy
advanced networking technologies, established FiberCo last year to provide a
means for acquiring, holding and assigning dark fiber assets on both the
national and the regional scales and on behalf of the higher education
community.
Indiana University intends to use this dark fiber pair to light two 10 Gbps
circuits to connect the IP-Grid, a collaboration between Indiana University
and Purdue University, to the National Science Foundation-supported Extensible
Terascale Facility (ETF) in Chicago. The fiber also will support the
universities' connection to the new National LambdaRail facility and
ultimately other connection services to Chicago. In addition, the assigned
fiber will enable additional Chicago-based peering connections for the two
Indiana research institutions.
"FiberCo is helping our institutions reach goals in support of continued
excellence in research, teaching, outreach and lifelong learning," said
Michael McRobbie, vice president for Information Technology and CIO and vice
president of Research for Indiana University. "The fiber will guarantee our
researchers, faculty and students better access to advanced networking
technologies and collaboration."
Indiana University has obtained the dark fiber from FiberCo under an
assignment agreement finalized earlier this month. This effort builds on the
existing I-Light project, which has connected the core Indiana and Purdue
research campuses via dark fiber using a hub in Indianapolis.
"We're pleased to recognize Indiana University as the first FiberCo
assignee in light of Indiana's now well established commitment to advanced
networking leadership within the research and higher education community,"
said Steve Corbato, director of backbone network infrastructure for Internet2
and the organizational lead for FiberCo. "The rapid progress made in
concluding this initial agreement gives us confidence that future assignments
will proceed as smoothly as this one, thus aiding our goal of aiding the
deployment of regional optical networks around the country."
Under an agreement with Level 3 Communications Inc, FiberCo has the ability
to
provision both from an initial allocation of over 2,600 route miles and from
future acquisitions of dark fiber on Level 3's national footprint. FiberCo's
nationally aggregated approach enabled streamlined agreements and lower costs
for acquiring the fiber as well as for ongoing costs of fiber maintenance and
equipment co-location.
"Through FiberCo, Level 3 will continue its support of the efforts the
research and education communities are making to advanced networking," said
Geoff Jordan, vice president for Level 3. "We look forward to continuing to
work with the advanced networking community to provide the critical services
needed to research and higher educational institutions across the
country."
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