The FLR connects into the national Lambda Rail, and is the first regional network of its kind owned and operated by universities. The project, two years in the making, will significantly increase both the types and the speed of research at Florida Tech and the other member universities. This next generation internet has 100 times the capacity of what was available to Florida Tech and the other universities previously.
"We're now able to double our capacity to the internet from 45 mbs to more than 100 mbs," said Dr. Richard Newman, Associate Provost for Information Technology. "This new network will make Florida Tech competitive for a wide variety of research grants." Florida Tech Provost Dwayne McCay notes that current research at Florida Tech will also benefit from utilizing the FLR.
"We have physicists who are working on projects at the particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland, meteorologists who retrieve data in real time from NOAA and the National Weather Service, and astronomers running telescopes at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona," said McCay. "All of these faculty members, and more, will be able to transfer large amounts of data very quickly over the FLR. This network will facilitate continued dynamic growth in our faculty and student research."
Florida Tech's information technology department was heavily involved in the creation of the FLR. Newman singled out Director of Information Technology Jason Ball and network manager Eric Kledzik for their service to the university.
Other universities involved in FLR include the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of Miami.