MCNC Assigned Fiber from Raleigh to Charlotte through FiberCo
ANN ARBOR, MI – June 16, 2004 – FiberCo(TM), a fiber holding company
supporting U.S. research and higher education, today announced that MCNC Grid
Computing & Networking Services was assigned a pair of dark fiber between
Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina. MCNC will use this asset in support of
providing North Carolina universities access to the National LambdaRail (NLR)
optical infrastructure and the Abilene Network. The fiber also gives the MCNC
the opportunity to enhance their production network to 10 Gigabits per second
as well as conduct optical network research on a broader scale than currently
possible.
MCNC Grid Computing & Networking Services is an independent, non-profit,
advanced information technology research and service center that develops, tests
and deploys grid computing and advanced networking solutions.
"This is an exciting opportunity for North Carolina," said Mark Johnson, director
of the Advanced Technology Group at the MCNC. "We chose to work through FiberCo
because of the national-scale pricing structure and streamlined fiber acquisition
process that it has developed."
Established by Internet2(R), a consortium of 206 universities working with government
and industry to develop and deploy advanced networking technologies, FiberCo
provides a means for acquiring, holding, and assigning dark fiber assets on both
the national and the regional scales and on behalf of the higher education community.
Under an agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT), FiberCo
has the ability to provision both from an initial allocation of more than 2,600
route miles and from future acquisitions of dark fiber on Level 3’s national
footprint.
"MCNC, in close partnership with the research universities in North Carolina,
has been a leader in optical networking research and advanced implementation
efforts for some time now," said Steve Corbató, director of network infrastructure
for Internet2. "We anticipate that this fiber assignment will represent a key
step towards extending the deployment of leading-edge optical networking capabilities
throughout North Carolina."
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About MCNC
MCNC is a private, independent, non-profit corporation established in 1980 to
advance technology-led economic development and job creation throughout North
Carolina. MCNC Grid Computing & Networking Services is building one of the
country’s first statewide grid computing networks for research and education,
and it delivers advanced communications resources throughout North Carolina to
more than 180 public and private institutions, including universities, community
colleges, K-12 schools, libraries, state government, private research institutions
and commercial businesses. MCNC Research & Development Institute develops
new technologies through its own initiatives and as a research partner for businesses
and the U.S. government, conducting advanced and applied research across a broad
technology spectrum, including microsystems, flexible electronics, sensor development,
signal electronics, wireless systems, microfabrication, high-speed secure networks
and grid computing. MCNC Ventures provides early-stage funding and assistance
to entrepreneurial start-up companies. The MCNC family of companies is located
in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. For more information, please
visit www.mcnc.org.
About FiberCo(TM)
FiberCo provides a means for acquiring, holding, and assigning fiber optic network
assets in support of the Internet2 community’s goals of developing and
deploying advanced network applications and technologies. FiberCo facilitates
the ongoing development of regional optical networking initiatives around the
country to complement existing Internet2 network infrastructure while providing
a strategic fiber acquisition capability on the national scale. For more information,
visit: www.fiberco.org.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 (Nasdaq:LVLT) is an international communications and information services
company. The company operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world,
is one of the largest providers of wholesale dial-up service to ISPs in North
America and is the primary provider of Internet connectivity for millions of
broadband subscribers, through its cable and DSL partners. The company offers
a wide range of communications services over its 22,500-mile broadband fiber
optic network including Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport
and infrastructure services, collocation services, and patented Softswitch managed
modem and voice services. Its Web address is www.Level3.com
Contact:
Greg Wood
Internet2
(202) 331-5360
ghwood@internet2.edu
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