Ten colleges of the Minnesota Private College Council request support in the form of telecommunications equipment and leased lines in order to connect their campus networks to the Minnesota Regional Network (MRNet). The institutions involved - Augsburg College, Bethel College, Concordia College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University, Macalester College, College of St. Catherine, College of St. Mary, College of St Scholatica, and the College of St. Thomas - will develop a consistent system-wide architecture for national network access and will provide a structure for general access to the Internet. Additionally, a higher quality communications system will be fostered by providing network-wide management and information services through MRNet and the Minnesota Supercomputing Center. The proposed connections will provide reliable, relatively high- speed, and flexible access to functions such as file transfer, remote login, and teleconferencing. The links will enhance the research and personal-productivity capabilities of faculty and students and will make available significant, additional resources to supplement course work. It will also facilitate access to national networks and their services, including supercomputing resources and large database access.
