The 8.8Tbps optical network will be used by member institutions to support education, research, industry and innovation.
“We are excited about officially launching the new capabilities of the nation’s first 100G open, national-scale, software defined network through massive collaboration with our partners in government and business that will be used by Internet2 members to help solve practical, far-reaching problems that benefit society,” said David Lambert, president and CEO of Internet2.
The SDN will supply the higher education community with enhanced capabilities for science, medicine and education. These include specially designed cloud computing programmes, HD and multi-cast video distance learning and telemedicine.
It will also support hundreds of thousands of community institutions through partnerships with regional networks and Internet2’s United States Unified Community Anchor Network (US UCAN).
The project was predominantly funded by the US Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Programme.
