Rhode Island higher education agencies are getting faster and less expensive access to the latest Internet channel -Internet2–thanks to Qwest Communications. OSHEAN (Ocean State Higher Education, Economic development and Administrative Network) — via a switching office recently located in Providence by Qwest Communications – now has affordable access to the fiber that carries its data to Internet2. At 155 Megabytes per second, OSHEAN connects to Internet2 at a rate 100 times faster than a T1 connection to the Internet.
Internet2, a partnership between 170 U.S. universities, industry, and government, (the same collaborators who developed the current Internet) strives to create and ensure the rapid transfer of new network services to the national research community. Internet2 is operated by the University Corporation for Advancement of Internet Development (UCAID). Qwest Communications, a corporate partner in the Internet2 project, offers UCAID access to its fiber optic cables throughout the country.
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The fact that Qwest already had fiber optic facilities in Providence greatly reduces the project’s operation costs. OSHEAN Executive Director George Loftus estimates an annual savings of up to $30,000.
By acting as the initial consumer of Internet2’s high-speed services, OSHEAN hopes to attract competition among Rhode Island’s other Internet service providers (ISPs), thus making these services available to more Rhode Island businesses.
”One of the strategic priorities of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council is to ensure that Rhode Island institutions, businesses, and consumers have access to high-speed communications,” said EPC Executive Director Kip Bergstrom. “The Policy Council provided $100,000 to create a high-speed telecommunications market in Rhode Island. The Qwest relationship is early evidence of the success of OSHEAN’s initiative.”
