ITEC-Ohio (Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center) is a consortium of Ohio universities, government agencies, and corporate partners whose purpose is to examine critical new applications, infrastructure problems and emerging technologies in order to meet future academic, engineering and industrial needs in research, education, government and commerce. ITEC-Ohio was created in December 1999 by UCAID (University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development) and is chartered by Internet2 to serve as a national network-testing laboratory for the Internet2 community. ITEC-Ohio is one of only two ITEC testing laboratories in the United States. The other ITEC facility is located in North Carolina.
As a regional center of advanced communications and engineering within the Internet2 community, the ITEC-Ohio consortium takes advantage of the concentration of universities in the state that are conducting research in telemedicine, virtual laboratories, remote shared resources, distance learning, digital libraries, multi-media, distributed computing and much more. This unique association provides a natural bridge between the fundamental research developed in the laboratory, and Ohio's technology commercialization enterprises. The technologies that ITEC-Ohio helps develop will soon become available to the general public including university faculty and students, the health care industry, business community, media outlets, entertainment industry, public libraries and individual homes. These technologies address important issues that are barriers to the development and commercialization of broadband network applications, and include Quality of Service, Voice and Video over IP, network management, engineering, security, hardware components, and interoperability.
ITEC-Ohio partners with corporations, academic institutions and other government agencies. (See Partners tab for more details.) ITEC-Ohio is always actively seeking new corporate participation.
Higher education requires advanced Internet technology, not just for research into grand scientific challenges, but to accomplish 21st century educational missions. Internet2 is an effort to meet those needs. The Internet2 project focuses on the development and implementation of new network capabilities that will enable its member institutions to support reliable operation of advanced applications years before such capabilities will be available in the global public Internet. Through Internet2, researchers distributed throughout the world can collaborate on a variety of scientific activities such as tele-immersion, in which engineers can share "virtual products" during development, simulations, and evaluation. In virtual laboratories, researchers distributed throughout the country and around the world can share software, databases, satellites, microscopes, and telescopes to study the evolution of galaxies, forecast weather patterns, and study pollution models. Internet2 is a consortium led by over 180 universities working in partnership with industry and government.
UCAID acts essentially as an enabling organization by providing the leadership and direction for advanced networking development. UCAID serves as a neutral territory where all members can interact with one another; it coordinates federal and academic research efforts, encourages participation by university presidents in networking issues and builds a foundation for continuing participating of the academic community in Internet research and development.
OARnet leads ITEC-Ohio. OARnet provides Internet access to the majority of Ohio's colleges, universities, libraries, state and local government agencies, and related technology-based organizations. More than a million Ohioans are connected daily to a vast array of resource through OARnet.
ITEC-Ohio Objectives
- To act as an evaluation center for technologies, components, and services being considered for Internet2.
- To promote the continued development of high-performance communications infrastructure in Ohio and throughout the nation.
- To accelerate the diffusion of advanced Internet Technologies into the commercial sector.
- To sustain U.S. leadership in networking technology.
- To make new technologies available to the educational, governmental, and corporate communities.
For more information about ITEC-Ohio, please review the other links and pages within this website. If you have a specific question about ITEC-Ohio, you may contact one of us at the organization through the contact link.
