Networking & Wireless

Arizona Speeds Up Sun Corridor Network Connections to Internet2

• By Leila Meyer
• 04/13/15

Arizona's high-speed research and education (R&E) network, Sun Corridor Network , now offers two 100 gigabit per second (100G) connections to the nationwide R&E network, Internet2. The connection hubs are located in Phoenix and Tucson and will serve researchers at Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the University of Arizona (UA).

Prior to the upgrade, the Sun Corridor Network offered two 5-gigabit connections to Internet2. The upgraded Internet2 connections will support data intensive research and collaboration with peers at universities across the country by enabling scalable, resilient and flexible access to advanced computing, storage and science instruments with low latency, according to information from Sun Corridor Network.

Arizona research and education projects that benefit from the high-speed connection include:

• Collection of huge datasets from public streaming sources to build prediction models for health care and other industries for INSITE Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics;
• Collaboration with research partners through the International Consortium for Technology in Biomedicine;
• Participation in larger collaborative models for conformant cloud solutions with the National Institutes of Health;
• Pilot projects with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Cloud Genomics;
• Participation in programs such as NCI’s Genomics Data Commons and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Human Genome Research Institute Human Microbiome Cloud;
• Tri-university research collaborations between ASU, NAU and UA, such as the Arizona Environmental Grid Infrastructure Service; and
• The LiveData initiative to streamline administrative compliance and provide a common platform for researchers from Arizona’s public universities to share and store data.

"The Sun Corridor Network represents a tremendous opportunity for the advancement of the State of Arizona's research and education objectives by using cutting-edge broadband technology to advance scientific breakthroughs," said Gordon Wishon, chief information officer at ASU and chair of the Sun Corridor Network Governing Board, in a prepared statement. "The high-speed network is also an instrument that Arizona's K-12 schools and community colleges can use to collaborate with other schools, libraries and museums to expose students to real-world information and discoveries beyond the classroom."

The Sun Corridor Network is sponsored by the Arizona Board of Regents, the governing board for the state's three public universities, and the state's public schools, colleges, state universities, libraries and museums are eligible to subscribe to the service.