MOREnet Upgrades Internet Connections in Kansas City, St. Louis

On Aug. 10, the Missouri Research & Education Network (MOREnet) completed the upgrade of the network's connections to the Internet in both St. Louis and Kansas City from OC-12 to OC-48 connections. The new service, delivered by AT&T and Qwest, will provide a new capacity of 3260 Mbps. This upgrade provides sufficient redundant capacity in both St. Louis and Kansas City to handle all member Internet traffic even if one of the Internet connections experiences an outage.

"This increased bandwidth allows MOREnet to meet growing member demand, which increased 34 percent last year and is expected to continue at a similar rate," said Hank Niederhelm, MOREnet Director of Infrastructure. "It also minimizes potential Internet congestion and enables the members to take advantage of more Internet-related services and tools, such as online student information systems and online resources."

The upgrade will benefit all MOREnet members: 517 K-12 school districts, 67 higher education institutions and 253 public libraries statewide.

Bill Giddings, MOREnet's Director of Education and Library Programs adds, "Members are constantly asking for more bandwidth to support the innovative applications of technology they use in schools, colleges and libraries around the state. This upgrade is essential to providing the quality of service they have come to expect from MOREnet."

MOREnet began the upgrade process in November 2006, and will complete the upgrade on time, before members have returned to school. The upgrade will not cause any disruption in service to members.