vBNS Connections for Iowa

June 8, 1998: Iowa State University and the University of Iowa announced a joint DS3 (45 Mbps) connection to the national research network called the Very High Speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) and the establishment of the Iowa Research POP (Point of Presence) which serves to interconnect the University of Iowa and Iowa State University to this exciting national research network. This Iowa Research POP provides access to the most advanced Internet capacities that exist and supports advanced use of Internet technology in research and education. This effort was supported in part by a grant award from the National Science Foundation.

Iowa State University and the University of Iowa connect to the Iowa Research POP using advanced networking capacity. The Iowa Research POP, located on the Iowa campus, is connected to the Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN) in Chicago. Through MREN both Iowa universities participated in the very High Speed Backbone Network (vBNS) sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Internet2 project of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). The vBNS used an OC48 (2.4 Gbps) backbone. This internetworking enables collaborative research education activities that utilize high speed networks connecting Iowa's research universities with other universities and research institutions.

This collaborative work by the research universities of the Iowa Board of Regents serves to support the state of the art in advanced applications in research and education using the Internet at the cutting edge. This joint endeavor provides for the continuance of use of information technology at some of the most advanced levels in the world.

This collaborative effort, which also involves the Iowa Communication Network for the interconnection within Iowa, keeps higher education in the State of Iowa at the forefront of national Internet developments and among the best in the nation in research and education.

Maintained by grpjl@iastate.edu. Last changed 18-Jun-2007.