Internet2 Industry Partners and Affiliates

In this section, I want to talk about the mutual benefits of industry and affiliate participation in the Internet2 project.

Participation in Internet2 is initiated through membership in the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, or UCAID. In another section of this Virtual Seminar, Doug Van Houweling, president and CEO of UCAID, provides more information about the creation of UCAID. Don't let the name mislead you, though. UCAID membership and Internet2 participation is open to a variety of organizations -- not just universities, but also corporations and non-profit organizations.

The reason for this is simple. We all know it would be difficult for higher education to successfully implement a project as far-reaching as Internet2 without collaborating with others. If you think about it, one of the things that made the first Internet so successful and exciting was the collaborative spirit established between higher education, the corporate sector, and government. One of our goals for Internet2 is to encourage this sort of inter-organizational participation -- both in the developmental stage of our project and in the subsequent phase of integrating the project technology into the commercial Internet.

Affiliate membership in Internet2 is open to public, private and not-for-profit organizations. Many of these groups already have interest and experience in advanced Internet applications and in the development of network-based services. For example, the mission of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, or SURA, is to support research and scholarly activities in the southeastern United States.

Many of the affiliate members are applying their expertise in networking to help develop the gigaPoPs -- a key architectural component of the Internet2 to which university members are connecting. Organizations such as Merit in Michigan, NYSERNET in New York, and MCNC in North Carolina have all been involved in developing the current Internet. They are now taking an active role in developing the networking capabilities of the future.

If you'd like to see a list of other UCAID affiliate members currently active in the Internet2 project, link to the Internet2 website shown on the graphic.

We know that the support of for-profit corporations is essential to the success of Internet2. Corporations in the computing, networking, media, and telecommunications industries have extensive experience with networking technology.

Our corporate partners are also experts at moving new technology into the marketplace, and this supports the Internet2 goal of making advanced networking services available to everyone. Corporate participation enables the smooth exchange of technological innovations from university laboratories to the marketplace, as well as from corporate laboratories to Internet2. We feel that early corporate participation will help ensure that Internet2 technology will be compatible with the widest range of applications possible.

We also can't forget that our corporate members provide various types of support to the organizations working on Internet2. Through the Internet2 project, corporate partners like Cisco contribute equipment to university members and to the regional gigaPoP consortia. Other corporate partners, like IBM and 3Com, are providing grants to universities involved in the research and development that supports the types of engineering and technical challenges that face Internet2.

There are three levels of corporate participation in Internet2: partners, sponsors and members. Each level corresponds to a different contribution amount. Partners, for example, pledge to contribute over one million dollars in goods or services over the life of the project.

Our corporate members also contribute equipment, services, grants and staff funding. The intention is that corporate participation in Internet2 will enhance rather than replace relationships that universities and consortia might already have with individual companies.

A complete list of partners, sponsors and members can be found on the Internet2 website.

As members of the Internet2 community, corporate and affiliate members participate in the ongoing project activities. Representatives from each category of membership participate in our advisory councils, working groups, member meetings, and mailing lists. They also provide extensive support for special events and seminars. The demonstration of advanced Internet2 applications at the Internet2 General Member meetings, for example, wouldn't be possible without the support of our corporate members.

If you'd like to learn more about how affiliate members and corporate partners are already working with university members, please visit our Internet2 website at the URL displayed on the graphic.

About CREN

© CREN, 1999

Contact Us