Internet2 Extends Reach to Smaller Colleges and Universities
Internet2 is broadening its support to include smaller colleges and universities that are not necessarily research institutions but that nevertheless have "notable research projects and cyberinfrastructure needs."
The project — Broadening the Reach: Support of Campus Cyberinfrastructure at Non-Research-Intensive and EPSCoR Institutions — is being funded by a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It will consist of three major workshops and "up to 30 campus consulting visits" over the next two years, according to information released by Internet2.
"The three regional workshops funded by this grant from the National Science Foundation will enable Internet2 to help schools respond competitively to NSF infrastructure solicitations," said Steve Wolff, Internet2's chief technology officer and the NSF grant's principal investigator, in a prepared statement. "The consulting visits will allow Internet2 to assist, as requested, in both the technical and organizational implementation of campus networks to support campus researchers."
According to Internet2: "Each workshop will focus on technical, organizational, identity and access management and administrative aspects of upgrading and integrating cyberinfrastructure into the campus environment in support of campus based research and teaching activities. Also, each workshop will include topics that address infrastructure proposals to the NSF and the identification of research drivers within the campus environment."
The first of the regional workshops will be held Feb. 18–19 in Kansas City, MO. The other two have yet to be scheduled but are expected to be held on the West Coast and the East Coast.
For the campus consultations, preference will be given to institutions that attended the workshops or that have received NSF cyberinfrastructure awards.
"The consultants will advise and assist with the technical implementation, as well as with network administrator and CIO-level administrative issues," according to Internet2. "Areas of technical assistance may include: network security; Science DMZ; Software Defined Networking; performance monitoring infrastructure; and, tools for understanding end-to-end performance. Network Administrator and CIO-level administrative issues that may be addressed include understanding the relationship between campus IT policies and the underlying network infrastructure."
Complete details on the workshops can be found on Internet2's project portal.