High-speed fiber optic network is being expanded for higher education and research in Indiana

I-Light is the State of Indiana's optical fiber network for higher education. Initially connecting Indiana University Bloomington, Purdue University in West Lafayette, and Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, I-Light has since expanded with the goal of connecting every higher education institution in the State of Indiana. I-Light is now transmitting network traffic among 26 universities and colleges across Indiana, between those campuses and the Internet as well as national research networks such as Internet2 and National LambdaRail.

I-Light's 1,000 miles of fiber reaches into all four corners of the state and is larger, per capita, than similar networks in neighboring states. I-Light dramatically improves Indiana's position as a national leader in high-speed networking in support of teaching, learning, research, technology transfer, and inter-institutional collaboration and cooperation -- activities that will help fuel Indiana's economy.

Fifteen major network connection points, called "nodes," located in Indianapolis, Anderson, Muncie, Marion, Ft. Wayne, South Bend, Gary, West Lafayette, Terre Haute, Richmond, Sellersburg, Vincennes, Evansville, Bloomington and Kokomo, support the I-Light network. Installing each of these major nodes required contracts with campuses, or private companies, for equipment, space, and power. I-Light network engineers then installed state-of-the-art optical hardware in all of the nodes in the network path. The northern ring of the I-Light network began connecting customers in October 2006. The southern spurs of the network from Indianapolis to Evansville and Sellersburg were more technically challenging. We are happy to announce that as of May 2008 the I-Light backbone has been completed. The completion of the network backbone allows the network to focus on connecting all Higher Education sites in the State of Indiana.

In December 2007, I-Light issued Requests for Proposals for 6 schools that were in need of upgrading to an optic fiber connection. Those schools are Valparaiso University, Indiana Tech, University of St Francis, Purdue North Central, Indiana University Southeast, and Indiana University Columbus. It is the goal of the network to have each of these 6 schools connected prior to the 2008/2009 school year. Once these schools have begun to connect, I-Light will work on connecting additional Tier 2 schools. It is the goal of I-Light and the higher education community to connect over 40 schools to I-Light prior to the end of the 2008/2009 school year.