SHSU Researchers to Benefit from New Network
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James A. Stevens |
If you’re going to hang with the big dogs of research
you’d better have a top notch communications and data network,
which Sam Houston State University and 32 other Texas institutions
now have.
Sam Houston State is a member of the Lonestar Education & Research
Network, which has announced that a state-of-the art fiber optic
national network has been deployed in support of research and
education.
The improvement consists of a connection to National Lambda
Rail, a consortium of leading U. S. research universities, state/regional
consortia like the Lonestar network, and private technology companies.
“Sam Houston State University’s participation in
LEARN and NLR will provide our researchers a huge increase in
network resources,” said Jim Stevens, associate vice president
for information services at SHSU.
“Our campus will begin to realize the benefits when our
new one Gbps (gigabits per second) circuit is connected to the
LEARN access point in Houston this month.”
The Houston interconnect supports optical wavelength (lambda),
Ethernet, and internet protocol services, as well as secondary “touch
points” in Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso. The Lonestar
network is building a 2,100 mile network that will provide connection
points for its member universities in 13 cities across the state.
“Through the collaborative efforts of the 33 LEARN member
organizations, Texas scholars and researchers will have access
to advanced networked resources across the nation and globe,” said
Jim Williams, the Lonestar network executive director.
“Once we complete our initial network later this year,
we’ll have it as good as it gets.”
Stevens said that getting the connection will help SHSU qualify
for grants and position the university in the research tier of
institutions.
The national network is the result of more than three years
of work and almost $100 million in funding by members. Universities
in the Lonestar network committed $5 million over five years,
with the assistance of $7.3 million from the Texas Enterprise
Fund.
Sam Houston State University contributes $20,000 per year to
the Lonestar network and $11,000 per year to National Lambda
Rail.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
March 2, 2006
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