National Data Network Completes Installation of Phase One

WASHINGTON
National LambdaRail Inc. (NLR), a consortium of U.S. research universities and private sector technology companies has announced that it has made operational the optical-network path between Washington and Atlanta, giving the D.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Atlanta regions access to the national NLR network infrastructure. The lighting completes the route between Atlanta, D.C., Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. The deployment began in January.
"This is an important milestone for our region and represents the next phase in a tradition of collaborating in support of advanced networking capabilities. Since the establishment of the Research Triangle Park 45 years ago, the area has been an important site for innovation and collaboration between higher education and industry," said Tracy Futhey, vice president of Information and CIO of Duke University, representing a coalition of North Carolina universities participating in NLR. "Over the past several years, the North Carolina GigaPOP has been an active node in Internet2's development, including an early test site for new technologies in partnership with vendors within the networking industry. Participation in NLR reinforces a regional commitment to advanced networking and moves us into the optical networking realm."
National LambdaRail Inc. (NLR) is a major initiative of U.S. research universities and private sector technology companies to provide a national scale infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and applications. NLR puts the control, the power and the promise of experimental network infrastructure in the hands of scientists and researchers, according to officials.
"Completion of this segment is the first and critical step to bring the power of NLR to scientists and researchers at Georgia Tech and in the rest of the Southeast," said Dr. Ron Hutchins, associate vice provost for research and technology and chief technology officer at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
 Phase one installation is complete with the path between Chicago to Atlanta fully operational. The paths from Seattle to Sunnyvale, Calif., were scheduled to be operational last month. The remaining paths are in final testing, with roll-outs scheduled on the paths from Denver to Chicago by the end of this month; Atlanta to Jacksonville, Fla., by mid-July; and Seattle to Denver by late August. All of phase one will be fully operational by the start of the next academic school year.