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State to get faster Internet

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11:06 PM Sunday, February 12, 2012

By Kelli Wynn

Staff Writer

State officials are still determining how much they will charge individual institutions to have full access to Ohio’s soon-to-be improved broadband network .

“We don’t have our cost breakdowns yet,” said John Conley, chief of educational technology for the state Board of Regents.

Most universities and research institutions in the state have access to Internet2, a high speed nationwide network designed for researchers that can move high volumes of data quickly. However, that access is limited due to the fact that the state’st broadband network speed is limited to 10 gigabits per second.

Gov. John Kasich announced last week the state would invest more than $10 million to boost that speed to 100 gigabits per second. The underground fiber-optic network was designed so that it could one day be upgraded, Conley said.

Hamilton and Middletown will benefit from their proximity to the Dayton and Cincinnati access points, said Kim Norris, a state Board of Regents spokeswoman.

The state could take one of two options when determining how much each individual institution will pay for use of the upgraded network, according to Terry Rapoch, chief technologist for the Wright State Research Institute.

One option would be for the state to have a subscription fee.

The other option could be for the state to charge by volume of use.

“When you buy capacity on networks, generally speaking, you can get a discount for the more you buy,” Rapoch said. “The more folks I can get to subscribe and the more they use, the less it will cost per unit of use. ”

The goal of the upgrade is to boost research and job growth in Ohio. Fields that will directly benefit include medical research, higher education, manufacturing, engineering and technology networking.

For example, 8.5 million electronic medical records could be transmitted in one minute on the upgraded network, according to state officials. Also, smartphone data could be sent at 50,000 times faster than current average speeds.

“This type of investment is crucial as Ohio moves into an information-based economy,” Rapoch said. “Without adequate bandwidth and speed, there are certain things you simply cannot do. You are blocked from participating in certain types of research and commercial activities.”

“For those research institutions who are members of Internet2, the Ohio Network that we’re proposing to build will give them a much higher capacity access to that national and international Internet2 network,” said Tom Skill, University of Dayton’s associate provost and chief Information officer.

“It speaks to the ability of our research institutions to collaborate and compete nationally for those kind of contracts and grants that can really advance both the business and academic climate of Ohio,” Skill said.

Like UD, most of Ohio’s universities are members of Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), which is a member of the state Board of Regents Ohio Technology Consortium. OARnet members pay for use of bandwith, Conley said.Last year, the state saw a 68 percent increase in the purchase of bandwidth from OARnet. “This year we have already seen a 35 percent increase of bandwidth,” Conley said.

Broadband continued on A4

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