Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network

Celebrate 12 Years of MCNC's 12 Days of Broadband

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 28, 2022

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Nov. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the 12 Days of Broadband and MCNC gave to thee … tales of success from across the State of N.C.! For 12 consecutive years, the technology non-profit that builds, owns, and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) has hummed this tune by providing the 12 Days of Broadband annually to showcase how critical high-speed Internet and related technology services really are for businesses, intuitions of learning, and the lives of North Carolina's citizens.

Key Points: 
  • From Dec. 1 to Dec. 16, the 12 Days of Broadband returns to feature a dozen ways how broadband and high-speed connections impact communities in North Carolina as well as previewing what's to come in 2023.
  • "The 12 Days of Broadband has something for everyone," added Doaks.
  • Reflect back at the previous 11 years of the 12 Days of Broadband as MCNC continues working every day to level the digital playing field all across the state.
  • This year's custom 12 Days of Broadband image is available for public use and can be downloaded here .

MCNC names Director of Innovation

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 24, 2022

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MCNC has filled a new role aimed to drive the overall innovation strategy across the organization's businesses, services, and operations. This senior position will be a key contributor to MCNC's future, building on more than 40 years of technology leadership in North Carolina and defining a roadmap for growth and sustainability over the next decade.

Key Points: 
  • "When we bring someone like Phil into MCNC it gives us an opportunity to see things in new and exciting ways," said MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks.
  • His approach to building collaborative relationships will showcase MCNC as a vibrant hub for innovation, growing access to advanced technology across North Carolina."
  • "It's an exciting time to join the MCNC team and to help build the organization's innovation ecosystem," said Emer.
  • With over 40 years of innovation, MCNC provides high-performance services for education, research, libraries, healthcare, public safety, and other community anchor institutions throughout North Carolina.

NEW AGENDA FOR ACCELERATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING RELEASED AT C-BEN ANNUAL MEETING

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 19, 2022

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla., Oct. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report outlining the potential for scaling competencies as the currency of learning and equitable opportunity was released during Competency-Based Education Network's annual meeting. The CompetencyXChange Agenda outlines action steps to position competencies as the currency of equitable economic opportunity and boost the adoption of high-quality competency-based learning solutions.

Key Points: 
  • AMELIA ISLAND, Fla., Oct. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report outlining the potential for scaling competencies as the currency of learning and equitable opportunity was released during Competency-Based Education Network's annual meeting.
  • The CompetencyXChange Agenda outlines action steps to position competencies as the currency of equitable economic opportunity and boost the adoption of high-quality competency-based learning solutions.
  • The agenda focuses on seven core areas: policy, quality assurance, employers, providers, education technology, research, and community, and uses five different design principles.
  • "All learners need a better and more equitable path forward, and competency-based learning can enable a much broader swath of learners to tap into opportunity."

MOREnet Selects Instructure to Empower Missouri K-12 School Districts

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Instructure, the maker of Canvas, announced today that the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet) has entered into a multi-year agreement to help K-12 districts throughout Missouri streamline their data integration and analytics efforts. This statewide implementation of Instructure's Elevate Data Hub will enable districts to operate across disparate systems. Elevate K-12 Analytics will provide highly interactive visualization so educators can understand student achievement and equity and develop timely, targeted plans to improve outcomes for Missouri students. In addition, since 2016, MOREnet has made the market-leading Canvas LMS available to districts statewide. About 350,000 students and teachers currently realize cost savings with Canvas due to this partnership.

Key Points: 
  • MOREnet supports nearly 500 K-12 school districts in Missouri, serving more than 827,000 students.
  • Shortly after phase one of this project, MOREnet will offer data integration capabilities to their consortium's 58 higher education institutions.
  • "We are excited about the impact this partnership will have for Missouri students," said Natasha Angell, executive director of MOREnet.
  • With Instructure, Missouri districts will gain continuous visibility, monitoring and management of data integrations.

Zayo Launches Comprehensive Portfolio of Edge Network Solutions

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Multi-cloud network demand is the basis of Zayos Edge Network Solutions," said Frank Cittadino, SVP of Edge Services at Zayo.

Key Points: 
  • Multi-cloud network demand is the basis of Zayos Edge Network Solutions," said Frank Cittadino, SVP of Edge Services at Zayo.
  • Built on the backbone of Zayos leading network, cloud connectivity solutions, and deep edge expertise enabled through the companys recent acquisition of QOS Networks , Zayos new portfolio of Edge Network Solutions delivers one of the most robust and agile edge-to-core-to-cloud networking solutions and services in the market.
  • Zayos Edge Network Solutions allow for true wide-area network (WAN) transformation, spanning all the way from the local-area networks (LAN) to the cloud, including:
    Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE): Enhance application performance by connecting users and the cloud with a unified security posture and resilient network technology regardless of location or technology.
  • Starting with the user to the software-defined layer to the cloud, Zayo connects customers from edge to edge, edge to cloud, cloud to edge and everywhere in between.

Introducing NCShare

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Davidson College, Duke University and North Carolina Central University (NCCU), in collaboration with MCNC, today announced that the newly-created North Carolina Shared Research & Education collaborative infrastructure (NCShare) has received two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants totaling approximately $1.4 million to provide high-speed research network capacity, support high-performance computing, and boost STEM education to at least eight minority-serving, smaller, or mid-sized institutions of higher education throughout North Carolina.

Key Points: 
  • "The NCShare partnership is an important step towards addressing historical IT infrastructure inequities at minority-serving institutions such as North Carolina Central University and preparing a diverse STEM/high computing workforce of the future," said Deepak Kumar, Ph.D., who also serves as interim associate provost and dean of Research and Sponsored Programs at NCCU.
  • The North Carolina Shared Research and Education (NCShare) infrastructure provides access to networking, scientific and statistical computing services to minority-serving institutions and smaller to mid-sized institutions of higher education in North Carolina, encompassing both private and public institutions.
  • NCShare is a shared, regionally-based network operating on MCNC's existing state-wide research and education network, rather than as a separate infrastructure.
  • NCShare is a joint effort established by Duke University, Davidson College, North Carolina Central University and MCNC.

Internet Society Foundation announces second round of innovation grants to address connectivity gap

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 9, 2022

RESTON, Va., Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet Society Foundation has launched a second round of grants to advance Internet access and connectivity around the world. Now in its second year, the The Building Opportunities/Leveraging Technologies (BOLT) grant program supports teams of creatives, technologists, and researchers to develop solutions to Internet connectivity, particularly among communities where current technologies are unavailable or inaccessible. US$200,000 grants will be awarded to organizations for projects lasting up to 12 months.  

Key Points: 
  • RESTON, Va., Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet Society Foundation has launched a second round of grants to advance Internet access and connectivity around the world.
  • "The Internet Society Foundation is committed to using our funding to address the challenges that prevent people from accessing the Internet, in line with our vision that the Internet is for everyone.
  • The BOLT program builds on the Internet Society Foundation's commitment to support innovative solutions to Internet connectivity.
  • About The Internet Society Foundation:
    The Internet Society Foundation was established in 2019 to support the positive difference the Internet can make to people everywhere.

Ekinops' SixSq joins 5G-EMERGE to build solutions for the satellite-enabled 5G media market

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

The 5G-EMERGE project aims at developing an integrated satellite and terrestrial system based on open standards to enable high-quality content distribution services over multi-layer IP infrastructures.

Key Points: 
  • The 5G-EMERGE project aims at developing an integrated satellite and terrestrial system based on open standards to enable high-quality content distribution services over multi-layer IP infrastructures.
  • Telecommunications satellites will efficiently deliver high-demand content, including streaming of live events, as close as possible to the end user to the 'edge'.
  • SixSq CEO Marc-Elian Bgin said, "leveraging satellite broadcast and 5G is a great opportunity to deliver the right high-density content at the right location with the right customization.
  • However, this requires fine-tuned orchestration of the entire value chain and this is what SixSq edge-to-cloud software provides.

SAFARI Montage Adds 4 EdTech Titans

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 10, 2022

SAFARI Montage welcomes K-12 edtech leaders Shannon Terry, Kate Crawford, Tricia Kennedy and Nicole O'Brien to the team.

Key Points: 
  • SAFARI Montage welcomes K-12 edtech leaders Shannon Terry, Kate Crawford, Tricia Kennedy and Nicole O'Brien to the team.
  • In her new role as Vice President of National Strategic Accounts for SAFARI Montage, Shannon Terry will work closely with school districts to provide strategic vision and direction on implementing and effectively leveraging SAFARI Montage solutions in their digital ecosystems.
  • Kate Crawford will be joining SAFARI Montage in August 2022 as the Vice President of Strategic Accounts.
  • "The addition of this fabulous foursome of edtech leaders will help SAFARI Montage strengthen our vision and commitment to advancing the possibilities for digital teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms," stated Tim Beekman, President & Co-Founder, SAFARI Montage.

Zayo Group Completes Acquisition of Education Networks of America

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 2, 2022

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (Zayo) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Education Networks of America (ENA) , a leader in providing managed network connectivity, communications and cybersecurity services to K-12 school districts participating in the federally-funded E-Rate program, as well as other public sector customers.

Key Points: 
  • Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (Zayo) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Education Networks of America (ENA) , a leader in providing managed network connectivity, communications and cybersecurity services to K-12 school districts participating in the federally-funded E-Rate program, as well as other public sector customers.
  • Together, ENA and Zayo will provide education, library, community healthcare and public sector customers with high-quality managed services and exceptional customer care.
  • The acquisition is being funded by Zayos recent sustainability-linked first lien term loan ("ESG term loan") , announced last month.
  • Zayo owns and operates a Tier 1 IP backbone spanning 134,000 miles across North America and Europe.