Articles

Great Plains Network becomes UM Consortium managed by MOREnet

The advancement of life sciences and other research initiatives is a strategic priority for Missouri and its higher education research institutions. Numerous bills introduced in both the Missouri House and Senate, including HB688 (Life Sciences Trust Fund), accentuates the importance of this area to the state. A robust and high-performance advanced networking infrastructure is critical to these research efforts. To this end, the University of Missouri and MOREnet have made significant investments, including early participation in Internet2, the deployment of a statewide research network supported by MOREnet and the build-out of campus infrastructure in support of advanced networking.

Earlier this year, UM and MOREnet were asked by the Great Plains Network Consortium (GPN) Executive Council to prepare a proposal outlining support of network operations and administrative services on behalf of the GPN. In June 2003, the GPN Executive Council approved moving its Consortium from KUCR (research arm of Kansas University) to the University of Missouri. The GPN Council also approved proposals by MOREnet to provide administrative and technical services for the operation of its network on a full cost recovery basis.

Ensuring that GPN remains operationally, financially and administratively viable is critical to ensuring that Missouri maintains a robust and reliable connection to Internet2. MOREnet is viewed as a leader in the higher education networking community and providing operational and administrative support for the GPN is another opportunity to demonstrate this leadership.

The Great Plains Network Consortium was created in September 1997 to connect researchers at universities in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Its creation was funded for nearly $1.5 million from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program of the National Science Foundation. GPN was the first regional network to connect to the new Internet2 network. The University of Missouri joined GPN in 1999 to provide access to Internet2 for its researchers.

MOREnet was one of the first state education networks to receive designation as a Sponsored Educational Group Participant (SEGP) for Internet2. As a SEGP, Missouri became one of the first five states to connect higher education, elementary and secondary education and public libraries to the advanced, network-based applications and network services offered by Internet2 via its GPN connection.

Great Plains Network website
MOREnet and Internet2 website