Federal grant to benefit UW-Madison, state networks

The University of Wisconsin–Madison, in partnership with a group of national research and education networking organizations, could see a 10-fold increase in research computing capacity, thanks to a new federal stimulus grant.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration today awarded more than $62.5 million in federal stimulus funding through its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to a group of national research and education networking organizations including Internet2, also known as University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development; National LambdaRail; Indiana University, and the Northern Tier Network Consortium.

In collaboration with technology companies Ciena, Cisco, Infinera, and Juniper Networks, the group proposes the construction of the United States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN), an advanced 100-gigabit-per-second network backbone that will link regional networks across the nation, including other projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The grant will be supplemented with an additional $34.3 million in contributions from the proposal partners and suppliers.

One partner, the Northern Tier Network Consortium (NTNC), includes UW–Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, UW System, WiscNet and other organizations on the Northern Tier path between Chicago and Seattle.

Ron Kraemer, UW‐Madison CIO and a member of the NTNC executive committee says, “The U.S. UCAN effort will put UW–Madison directly on the path of one of the fastest research networks in the world. This upgrade makes UW–Madison researchers an even more appealing choice for research projects and grants that require state-of-the-art networking.”

Madison and its peers follow a 10-GB standard for research network connectivity. The current leading edge for experimental networks is 40 GB.

According to Patrick Christian, the UW’s network liaison with the Northern Tier, the grant helps move network technology out of the lab. “It is very expensive to go to 40 GB, or to even think about moving to 100 GB initially,” he says. “By adding 100 GB, the government is able to help bring down the cost of adopting it for other institutions that hope to upgrade.”

Research, education and library organizations throughout the state will also benefit from the grant, through the university’s participation in the NTNC. Two-thirds of the grant must be spent within two years of award. It is unknown how much of the grant will be used for Wisconsin-based upgrades.

U.S. UCAN proposes a large-scale, public-private partnership and will connect more than 30 existing research and educational networks, creating a nation-wide high-capacity network that will enable advanced networking features for more than 200,000 essential community anchor institutions.

U.S. UCAN estimates that this project will directly create hundreds of jobs upfront and help drive economic development in communities across the country.