FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas and all of the state’s four-year public universities will soon be connected to the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, ARE-ON, a high-speed fiber-optic-based Internet communications network. ARE-ON will expand research, academic, health care and emergency preparedness capabilities throughout the state by providing the universities access to national and international high-speed Internet networks such as the National LambdaRail and Internet 2.

Access to these networks has many benefits. For example, it allows researchers to send and receive large files; gives classrooms access to ultra-high-definition video conferencing; and expands opportunities in telemedicine for the state’s health care providers.

“This is a huge economic development initiative for Arkansas,” said Mike Abbiatti, executive director of ARE-ON, who participated in the founding and construction of a similar network in Louisiana before coming to Arkansas. “University researchers already fuel investment in the private sector through the development of new products and services. ARE-ON will only expand economic development opportunities and create additional high-paying jobs in the state. This network will bring Arkansas to a new level in terms of research and technology, giving us opportunities we’ve never seen before.”

ARE-ON is a supporting and unifying initiative that does not compete with existing resources. The network will give Arkansas campuses unique access to research and academic resources and allow for sharing among the universities’ current and future supercomputers.

The connection to LambdaRail also brings Arkansas into a national network of other research institutions and universities. The connection will provide more opportunities for collaboration among researchers, academics and health care professionals.

“The high-tech capabilities and potentials of the new system are much more than simply a fast Internet connection,” said Abbiatti. “Technologies such as virtual learning environments, data sharing and multi-media access will be readily available to Arkansas’ campus communities through this network.”

The University of Arkansas was the first to be linked to the ARE-ON network in December 2006, and it’s been put to a variety of uses since then. For example, professors at the university’s School of Law are using the network to hold regular video conferencing sessions with students, colleagues and government officials in Ukraine to exchange ideas about ways to strengthen legal systems and enhance the rule of law. ARE-ON also provides a way to connect the university’s two supercomputers to other supercomputers around the country, enabling researchers to share information and work together on complex problems.

ARE-ON officials have been working for the past two years to connect Arkansas’s public four-year universities, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture to the network through new and pre-existing fiber-optic cables running throughout the state. Information technology representatives from each campus are working together as members of the ARE-ON steering committee.

• Arkansas State University, Jonesboro

• Arkansas Tech University

• Henderson State University

• Southern Arkansas University

• University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

• University of Arkansas

• University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

• University of Arkansas at Little Rock

• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

• University of Arkansas at Monticello

• University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

• University of Central Arkansas

For more information on ARE-ON visit www.areon.net.