9417579 Courter The NC-REN, the North Carolina Research and Education Network is a mid-level network that serves the State of North Carolina. NC-REN is connected directly to the NSFNET Backbone Network. It is the intention of NC-REN to offer NSFNET connections to all higher education institutions in North Carolina. This proposal requests support to establish ten new connections for eight small private colleges and two community college located throughout the state: Barber Scotia College, Haywood Community College, Livingstone College, Methodist College, Montreat-Anderson College, NC Wesleyan College, Peace College, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Wilkes Community College, and Wingate College. A primary goal of NC-REN is to facilitate collaborative projects and sharing of resources between institution, including those outside the state. NC-REN will provide operations management and information services as well as provide appropriate dedicated connections to the ten institutions listed above. The colleges need greater functionality and network speed to be able to access supercomputers, libraries, and make file transfers along with being able to implement a more reliable mail system. Students and faculty research will benefit from the link. This is also a unique opportunity for the schools to explore innovative educational resources.
