CEN is Connecticut’s regional connector to Internet2 for advanced network services on a national scale. The CEN-Internet2 partnership is integral in helping our members tackle the most complex and pressing IT challenges, and help shape the course of innovative and transformative solutions in support of research, teaching, learning, government administration, telehealth, anchor institutions (CAI), access to the most advanced technical network infrastructure operating at a national scale, connectivity to other regional R&E networks, support for research facilitation and collaboration, cloud services and applications, trust and identity, and performance analytics.
Connectivity
CEN offers access to the Internet2 backbone and can connect to other Internet2 research and educational organizations through direct Layer 2/3 connections. CEN maintains resilient connections to Internet2 through our primary 100Gig backbone connection in Hartford, CT and via a partnership with the Northern Crossroads (NoX) in Boston, MA. In addition to access to Internet2 connectivity and route tables, advanced services such as IP multicast and IP version 6 (IPv6) are available, as well as dedicated private circuits to other Internet2 members or resources. CEN also has connections to commercial Tier1 providers in Stamford and West Haven, CT and is in the process of extending our access to include more commodity Internet providers and connectivity within the NYC and Boston market places.
NET+
Benefits of Internet2
Internet2’s NET+ program works with commercial cloud solution providers to utilize offerings designed to meet shared Research and Education needs. Each service undergoes rigorous, peer driven security, accessibility and performance reviews. Standard business and legal agreements are leveraged for each solution, along with optimal terms for swift deployment. Up until now, the Net+ program has only been available directly to Internet2 members. Recently, this has been extended to a Nonmember program that CEN is able to extend out to its members (YOU) to access these services and savings.
CEN, by working with Internet2 and cloud service providers, have identified offerings that maximize deployment efficiencies and minimize the business and legal challenges, financial costs, and technology risks of migrating from on campus to cloud based solutions. After deployment, providers partner with the community to develop technology roadmaps and enhancements to meet evolving user and enterprise needs. This allows CEN to pass along savings to our members on services they value.
Leveraging the collective technical and functional expertise of Internet2 members, combined with the collaborative scale of the R&E community, ensures that Internet2 NET+ services are high value, collegially vetted, ready to use cloud solutions, simple to access and administer, and tailored to the unique needs of R&E.
At present, these savings are currently available to higher education institutions (in 2016) and opening to the wider CEN membership in 2017. While not all Net+ services are available to participants of the Nonmember Program, the list is growing! Net+ services that can be leveraged include: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and eduroam. More information on additional eligible services. For specific questions, please contact: info@cteducation.net.
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WHY CEN?
QUALITY
CEN’s scalable, resilient network design offers an unmatched combination of performance attributes for speed, latency, reliability, and security.
VALUE
CEN’s cost recovery model provides competitive pricing, custom tailored services, and larger feature sets as compared to other for-profit ISPs.
SERVICE
CEN’s Connecticut based team backs its members with a 24/7/365 Network Operations Center (NOC) and access to senior technical staff for the most consistent, local, expert service available.