Challenging. Complex. Uncertain. Unprecedented. These words define how most people experienced 2020, when a global pandemic upended how we live, work, and learn.
The world relied upon research and education networks to provide vital information and instruction like never before. Measures to combat the novel coronavirus as well as solutions to the myriad issues it generated were delivered over research and education networks at the regional, national, and global level. IU Networks is honored and grateful to have supported its partners in serving their people during a most difficult year.
For each division of IU Networks, serving a broad community from Indiana University campuses to the state of Indiana to regional R&E networks around the U.S. to national and international research networks, each new challenge 2020 presented was met with a focus on community. IU Networks collaborated with its partners to provide COVID-19 responses at every scale. Some important new initiatives got underway as well, from recently formed partnerships to the offerings of new services to major expansions and upgrades to network infrastructure.
One positive outcome of the global pandemic has been the opportunity to reflect with gratitude on what is good and enduring in our lives and to affirm commitments to do good and enduring work. 2020 also gave all of us in R&E networking abundant sources of pride. We have shown that, despite recent exceptional changes to how we do things, our collective community stands ready to support the future of research and education, regardless of whatever twists and turns that future takes.
IU Networks welcomes you to learn more about its activity and engagement in 2020. Please read on and reach out with any questions about what we do.
Our Dedicated Team
2020 was a year like no other. For IU Networks, the greatest among the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented was how to keep our networks running smoothly during a time of unprecedented connectivity demands, while also keeping our staff safe. In March 2020, like much of the world, IU Networks teams transitioned to remote work, mostly through work-from-home (WFH) arrangements. To pull this off, we relied on our disaster recovery planning. Like much of the world, we thought this would be a temporary situation. Over a year later, we continue to operate mostly remotely, keeping the networks running smoothly.
IU Networks is extremely proud to report the results of our transition to remote operations. From our dining room tables and spare bedrooms, often accompanied by kids and pets and household rhythms, our staff exceeded our high expectations for delivering world-class, carrier-grade levels of bandwidth and services to our communities and clients, without interruption. As institutions were forced to shut down practically overnight, our staff remained responsive and adaptive to the needs of the networks we support. We helped the communities we serve face their own challenges to provide connectivity to their own communities in research and education.
2020 was a year marked by concern for and commitment to the greater good. At IU Networks, the heroes were our dedicated, highly skilled staff members. With the highest technical expertise and tremendous humanity marked by flexibility, kindness, and sometimes even a sense of humor, our staff kept the world’s R&E networks up and running when the world relied on those connections like never before.
To find out how GlobalNOC’s 24×7 network support desk quickly and seamlessly transitioned to and maintained remote operations in response to the global health crisis, click here. To find out how some IU Networks staff members managed their own work-from-home operations, read on.
NetSage and IU Networks
Accelerating science and discovery depends on exceedingly clean and fast networks. NetSage provides a mechanism to measure the performance of networks—and find ways to speed them up.
IU Networks has been a leader in the advancement and application of NetSage, a measurement, analysis, and visualization tool designed to optimize research and education (R&E) data transfers.
IU Networks Partners
Networks at IU oversees information systems that interconnect the research and education (R&E) community. As a catalyst for connection, our unifying ideals manifest in the information networks we manage. I-Light links virtually every college and university in Indiana. The Global Network Operations Center (GlobalNOC) oversees more than 20 local, national, and global projects. And International Networks at IU (IN@IU) is engaging new colleagues around the world in scientific collaboration.
Additionally the security operations centers from the Networks at IU collaboratively address the unique concerns of the research community. ResearchSOC is supporting higher education institutions as they improve information security governance, compliance, data protection, and privacy programs. OmniSOC collects cybersecurity data from partners providing cybersecurity for the nation’s greatest research.
Networks at Indiana University proudly serves as the digital crossroads of the world.