At the University of Montana (UM), the Advancing Research through Network Improvements (ARNI) project provides dedicated high speed desktop and building level connections for several key sites housing active research requiring large bandwidth. This project removes an identified bottleneck and allows researchers to take advantage of the Northern Tier Network (NTN), a 10Gb network path spanning Seattle to Minneapolis. ARNI is a key component of a 10 year UM Information Technology Office (ITO) cyberinfrastructure improvement effort which developed a high-speed, high availability network path from the campus edge to the national information superhighway, and a resilient campus core network. ARNI greatly extends the ability of UM researchers to participate in their sphere of science, work in collaboration with other partners and disciplines at national and international levels, and extends the impact of these research efforts to students and to a broader research community. ITO, in collaboration with the Social Science Research Laboratory (SSRL) and researchers from the Division of Biological Sciences, Geography, and Geosciences, identified multiple scientific research projects that benefit directly from ARNI. These include projects that employ genomics methods in biological sciences, geodynamics research on earthquakes in East Africa and Central Asia, and a prototype system for predicting insect and climate-induced impacts on fire hazards in the western United States. A special aspect of this project is the direct association between IT professionals and the campus scientific research community which is providing sound IT solutions that are critical for future competitiveness in grant funding and academic contribution.
