Oregon's Largest Tech Infrastructure Reaches Home
Corvallis Has Been Connected to Oregon's New 400-Gig Fiber Network...
You probably won’t notice it, but one of Oregon’s largest technology infrastructure upgrades has now been connected to us.
A new 400-gigabit-per-second fiber network has just been finished and connected to our city and other communities, universities, and research institutions across Oregon, with Oregon State University serving as one of the key connection points.
(Photo via Link Oregon: Oregon Statewide Research Computing Collaboration participants from OHSU, PSU, OSU, and UO convene for their first NSF grant planning meeting on the UO campus. Link Oregon's Jackie Wirz is first from right, lower row)
The project, built by Link Oregon, dramatically increases the amount of data that can move between campuses, national research networks, and high-performance computing facilities. Think Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.
Oregon State University is one of the state’s leading research institutions, conducting work in engineering, agriculture, ocean sciences, climate research, robotics, and many other fields. Those projects generate enormous amounts of data that must be shared with researchers across the country.
The new fiber backbone allows those datasets to move much faster, giving OSU researchers quicker access to collaborators and shared computing resources.
According to Link Oregon, “a statewide 400G-capable backbone is essential for enabling collaboration, supporting shared infrastructure, and ensuring Oregon’s researchers can remain competitive on the national stage for years to come.”
No, the upgrade won’t make your home internet any faster. Netflix streaming quality will be the same. Think of it more like expanding Interstate 5 from two lanes to twenty lanes, but only for scientific research, higher education, healthcare collaboration, and public institutions.
It allows universities and research organizations to work together more efficiently while creating additional capacity for the future.
The investment could also have benefits beyond the university. Strong research infrastructure helps attract federal grants, technology companies, startups, and private investment. This further strengthens the city’s reputation as one of our state’s leading centers for research and innovation.
The network was funded through a combination of state and federal grants, along with investments from participating universities and public institutions.
This article was written by Jesse Grant, a contributor to The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com
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