Aug 27 2010
Merit Network has received a federal stimulus-funding to build fiber-optic network of 1,270 miles, to provide broadband access in Michigan.
The optical fiber network will connect more than 509 community anchor institutions, 49,000 businesses, and 525,000 households, serving underserved and rural communities across 29 counties in Michigan. Once the network is built, it will initially connect 61 anchors to the backbone of Merit.
The fiber project is known as Reach-3MC II (Rural, Education, Anchor, Community, Healthcare – Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative II). It is an expansion of the 1,600-mile-plus backbone network of Merit, and it also complements the Reach-3MC project. The Reach-3MC II includes a 10 Gbps node planned to be employed at the Michigan Technological University, Houghton.
The network paths will end at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and the University of Minnesota Duluth. Hence, the Merit’s fiber network will be connected to the adjacent WiscNet networks, Northern Tier Network, and Boreas-Net. These connections will allow the project to offer direct fibre-optic connections among the community anchor institution networks from Ohio to Alaska.
After the network construction is complete, the community anchor institutions will be linked with Merit’s network. Meanwhile, the sub-recipients will link and enhance the service to businesses and homes in the rural communities in the route. The Reach-3MC II project will offer middle mile infrastructure to the service area communities, and it will work on an open access network.
Source: http://www.merit.edu/