Merit Network
Encyclopedia
Merit Network, Inc., is a nonprofit member-governed organization providing high-performance computer networking and related services to education
al, government
, health care
, and nonprofit organizations
, primarily in Michigan
. Created in 1966, Merit operates the longest running regional computer network in the United States.
(MSU), the University of Michigan
(U-M), and Wayne State University
(WSU), Merit was created to investigate resource sharing by connecting the mainframe computers
at these three Michigan public
research universities. Merit's initial three node packet-switched computer network was operational in October 1972 using custom hardware based on DEC PDP-11
minicomputers and software developed by the Merit staff and the staffs at the three universities.
Over the next dozen years the initial network grew as new services such as dial-in terminal support, remote job submission, remote printing, and file transfer were added; as gateways to the national and international Tymnet
, Telenet
, and Datapac
networks were established, as support for the X.25
and TCP/IP protocols was added; as additional computers such as WSU's MVS
system and the UM's electrical engineering's VAX
running UNIX
were attached; and as new universities became Merit members.
Merit's involvement in national networking activities started in the mid-1980s with connections to the national supercomputing centers and work on the 56K bps National Science Foundation Network
(NSFNET), the forerunner of today's Internet
. From 1987 until April 1995, Merit re-engineered and managed the NSFNET backbone service.
MichNet, Merit's regional network in Michigan was attached to NSFNET and in the early 1990s Merit began extending "the Internet" throughout Michigan, offering both direct connect and dial-in services, and upgrading the state-wide network from 56 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps, and on to 45, 155, 622 Mbps, and eventually 1 and 10 gigabits/sec. In 2003 Merit began its transition to a facilities based network, using fiber optic facilities that it shares with its members, that it purchases or leases under long term agreements, or that it builds.
In addition to network connectivity services, Merit offers a number of related services within Michigan and beyond, including: Internet2
connectivity, VPN, Network monitoring
, Voice over IP
(VOIP), Cloud storage
, E-mail
, Domain Name, Network Time
, VMware
and Zimbra
software licensing, Colocation
, and professional development
seminars, workshops, classes, conferences, and meetings.
(MSU), University of Michigan
(U-M), and Wayne State University
(WSU). More often known as the Merit Computer Network or simply Merit, it was created to design and implement a computer network connecting the mainframe computer
s at the universities.
In the fall of 1969, after funding for the initial development of the network had been secured, Bertram Herzog was named director for MERIT. Eric Aupperle was hired as senior engineer, and was charged with finding hardware to make the network operational. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the State of Michigan provided the initial funding for the network.
In June 1970, the Applied Dynamics Division of Reliance Electric in Saline, Michigan
was contracted to build three Communication Computers or CCs. Each would consist of a Digital Equipment Corporation
(DEC) PDP-11
computer, dataphone interfaces, and interfaces that would attach them directly to the mainframe computers. The cost was to be slightly less than the $300,000 ($, adjusted for inflation) originally budgeted. Merit staff wrote the software that ran on the CCs, while staff at each of the universities wrote the mainframe software to interface to the CCs.
The first completed connection linked the IBM S/360-67 mainframe
computers running the Michigan Terminal System
at WSU and U-M, and was publicly demonstrated on December 14, 1971. The MSU node was completed in October 1972, adding a CDC 6500 mainframe
running Scope/Hustler. The network was officially dedicated on May 15, 1973.
Use of the all uppercase name "MERIT" was abandoned in favor of the mixed case "Merit".
The first network connections were host to host interactive connections which allowed person to remote computer or local computer to remote computer interactions. To this, terminal to host connections, batch connections
(remote job submission, remote printing, batch file transfer), and interactive file copy were added. And, in addition to connecting to host computers over custom hardware interfaces, the ability to connect to hosts or other networks over groups of asynchronous ports and via X.25
were added.
Merit interconnected with Telenet
(later SprintNet) in 1976 to give Merit users dial-in access from locations around the United States
. Dial-in access within the U.S. and internationally was further expanded via Merit's interconnections to Tymnet
, ADP's Autonet, and later still the IBM Global Network as well as Merit's own expanding network of dial-in sites in Michigan, New York City
, and Washington, D.C.
In 1978, Western Michigan University
(WMU) became the fourth member of Merit (prompting a name change, as the acronym Merit no longer made sense as the group was no longer a triad).
To expand the network, the Merit staff developed new hardware interfaces for the Digital PDP-11 based on printed circuit
technology. The new system became known as the Primary Communications Processor (PCP), with the earliest PCPs connecting a PDP-10
located at WMU and a DEC VAX
running UNIX
at U-M's Electrical Engineering
department.
A second hardware technology initiative in 1983 produced the smaller Secondary Communication Processors (SCP) based on DEC
LSI-11 processors. The first SCP was installed at the Michigan Union
in Ann Arbor, creating UMnet, which extended Merit's network connectivity deeply into the U-M campus.
In 1983 Merit's PCP and SCP software was enhanced to support TCP/IP and Merit interconnected with the ARPANET
.
, San Diego
, and NCAR
.
In 1987, Merit, IBM
and MCI
submitted a winning proposal to NSF to implement a new NSFNET
backbone network. The new NSFNET backbone network service began 1 July 1988. It interconnected supercomputing centers around the country at 1.5 megabits per second (T1
), 24 times faster than the 56 kilobits-per-second speed of the previous network. The NSFNET backbone grew to link scientists and educators on university campuses nationwide and connect them to their counterparts around the world.
The NSFNET project caused substantial growth at Merit, nearly tripling the staff and leading to the establishment of a new 24-hour Network Operations Center
at the U-M Computer Center.
In September 1990 in anticipation of the NSFNET
T3 upgrade and the approaching end of the 5-year NSFNET cooperative agreement, Merit, IBM, and MCI formed Advanced Network and Services
(ANS), a new non-profit corporation with a more broadly based Board of Directors than the Michigan based Merit Network. Under its cooperative agreement with NSF, Merit remained ultimately responsible for the operation of NSFNET, but subcontracted much of the engineering and operations work to ANS.
In 1991 the NSFNET backbone service was expanded to additional sites and upgraded to a more robust 45 Mbps (T3
) based network. The new T3 backbone was named ANSNet and provided the physical infrastructure used by Merit to deliver the NSFNET Backbone Service.
On April 30, 1995 the NSFNET project came to an end, when the NSFNET backbone service was decommissioned and replaced by a new Internet architecture with commercial ISPs interconnected at Network Access Point
s provided by multiple providers across the country.
joining in 1985 and Central Michigan University
, Eastern Michigan University
, and Michigan Technological University
joining in 1987.
In 1990, Merit's board of directors formally changed the organization's name to Merit Network, Inc., and created the name MichNet to refer to Merit's statewide network. The board also approved a staff proposal to allow organizations other than publicly supported universities, referred to as affiliates, to be served by MichNet without prior board approval.
1992 saw major upgrades of the MichNet backbone to use Cisco
routers in addition to the PDP-11 and LSI-11 based PCPs and SCPs. This was also the start of relentless upgrades to higher and higher speeds, first from 56 kbps to T1
(1.5 Mbps) followed by multiple T1s (3.0 to 10.5 Mbps), T3
(45 Mbps), OC3c (155 Mbps), OC12c (622 Mbps), and eventually one and ten gigabits
(1000 to 10,000 Mbps).
In 1993 Merit's first Network Access Server
(NAS) using RADIUS
(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) was deployed. The NASs supported dial-in access separate from the Merit PCPs and SCPs.
In 1993 Merit started what would become an eight year phase out of its aging PCP and SCP technology. By 1998 the only PCPs still in service were supporting Wayne State University's MTS
mainframe host. During their remarkably long twenty-year life cycle the number of PCPs and SCPs in service reached a high of roughly 290 in 1991, supporting a total of about 13,000 asynchronous ports and numerous LAN
and WAN
gateways.
In 1994 the Merit Board endorsed a plan to expand the MichNet shared dial-in service, leading to a rapid expansion of the Internet dial-in service over the next several years. In 1994 there were 38 shared dial-in sites. By 1996 there were 131 shared dial-in sites and more than 92% of Michigan residents could reach the Internet with a local phone call. And by the end of 2001 there were 10,733 MichNet shared dial-in lines in over 200 Michigan cities plus New York City
, Washington, D.C.
, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada
. As an outgrowth of this work, in 1997, Merit created the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) Consortium
.
During 1994 an expanded K-12 outreach program at Merit helped lead the formation of six regional K-12 groups known as Hubs. The Hubs and Merit applied for and were awarded funding from the Ratepayer fund, which as part of a settlement of an earlier Ameritech of Michigan
ratepayer overcharge, had been established by Michigan Public Service Commission
to further the K-12 community’s network connectivity.
During the 1990s, Merit added Grand Valley State University
(1994), Northern Michigan University
(1994), Lake Superior State University
(1997), and Ferris State University
(1998) as members. By 1999, Merit had 163 affiliate members, with 401 attachments from 353 separate locations.
Merit was involved in a number of projects in cooperation with organizations throughout Michigan, including:
"Regional-Techs" meetings, where technical staff from the regional networks met to discuss operational issues of common concern with each other and with the Merit engineering staff. At the February 1994 regional techs meeting in San Diego, the group revised its charter to include a broader base of network service providers, and subsequently adopted NANOG as its new name.
Also starting in 1994, Merit developed the Routing Assets Database
(RADb) as part of the NSF-funded Routing Arbiter Project.
MichNet obtained its initial commodity Internet access, a T3 (45 Mbps), from the commercial ISP, internetMCI.
In 1996 Merit became an affiliate member of Internet2
, in 1997 established its first connection to the NSF very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), and in February 1999 began serving as Michigan's GigaPOP
for Internet2 service.
Following the NSFNET project Merit lead a number of activities with a national or international scope, including:
In 2000, Merit spun off two for-profit
companies: NextHop Technologies, which developed and marketed GateD routing software, and Interlink Networks, which specialized in authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) software.
Eric Aupperle retired as president in 2001, after 27 years at Merit. He was appointed President Emeritus by the Merit board. Hunt Williams became Merit's new president.
In January 2005 Merit and Internet2 moved into the new Michigan Information Technology Center (MITC) in Ann Arbor.
In 2006, Dr. Donald J. Welch was named president and CEO of Merit Network, Inc.
In December 2006 Merit and OSTN partner to provide IPTV
to Michigan institutions. OSTN is a global television network devoted to student-produced programming.
In July 2007, Merit decommissioned its dial-up services.
During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Merit operated what is known as a "value-added network
" where individual data circuits were leased on a relatively short term basis (one to three or sometimes five years) from traditional telecommunications providers such as Ameritech
, GTE
, Sprint
, and MCI
and assembled into a larger network by adding routers and other equipment. This worked well for many years, but as data rates continued to increase from kilobits, to megabits, to gigabits the cost of leasing the higher speed data circuits became significant. As a result, the alternative of building its network using "dark fiber
" that Merit owned or leased on a relatively longer term basis (10, 20, or more years) under what are known as "Indefeasible Rights of Use
" (IRU) as well as using or sharing fiber that is owned by its members became attractive.
Merit's statewide fiber-optic network strategy began to take shape when:
In July 2008, Merit began upgrading its core backbone network to 10 gigabits and installing five new Juniper MX480 routers. This upgrade was completed in May 2009 with seven backbone nodes in Grand Rapids, East Lansing, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, and Chicago (2) all operating at 10 Gbps. Also during May 2009 Merit replaced its four 1 Gbps links to the commodity Internet with two 10 Gbps links over diverse paths to two different Teir 1 providers. And in October 2009 the links from Ann Arbor to Jackson and from Jackson and East Lansing were upgraded to 10 Gbps.
In January 2010 Merit and its partners, ACD.net
; LYNX Network Group, LLC; and TC3Net; learned that their REACH-3MC (Rural, Education, Anchor, Community and Healthcare - Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative) proposal had been awarded ~$33.3M in grants and loans from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), part of the federal stimulus package
. REACH-3MC will build a 1,017-mile optical fiber extension into rural and underserved communities in 32 counties in Michigan's lower peninsula.
In August 2010 Merit and its REACH-3MC partners were selected to receive $69.6M in a second round of federal stimulus funding to build an additional 1,270 miles of optical fiber in the northern lower peninsula and upper peninsula of Michigan and extending into Wisconsin
.
At NANOG
's 50th meeting in Atlanta in October 2010, members of the NANOG community supported a charter amendment to transition the hosting of NANOG following the February 2011 NANOG meeting to NewNOG, a newly formed non-profit.
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, and nonprofit organizations
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, primarily in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Created in 1966, Merit operates the longest running regional computer network in the United States.
Organization
Created in 1966 as the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad by Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
(MSU), the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(U-M), and Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
(WSU), Merit was created to investigate resource sharing by connecting the mainframe computers
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
at these three Michigan public
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
research universities. Merit's initial three node packet-switched computer network was operational in October 1972 using custom hardware based on DEC PDP-11
PDP-11
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
minicomputers and software developed by the Merit staff and the staffs at the three universities.
Over the next dozen years the initial network grew as new services such as dial-in terminal support, remote job submission, remote printing, and file transfer were added; as gateways to the national and international Tymnet
Tymnet
Tymnet was an international data communications network headquartered in San Jose, California that used virtual call packet switched technology and X.25, SNA/SDLC, ASCII and BSC interfaces to connect host computers at thousands of large companies, educational institutions, and government agencies....
, Telenet
Telenet
Telenet was a commercial packet switched network which went into service in 1974. It was the first packet-switched network service that was available to the general public. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines connecting their computers and local...
, and Datapac
DATAPAC
DATAPAC was Canada's packet switched X.25-equivalent data network. Operated first by Trans-Canada Telephone System, then Telecom Canada, then the Stentor Alliance, it finally reverted to Bell Canada when the Stentor Alliance was dissolved.-Use:...
networks were established, as support for the X.25
X.25
X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet switched wide area network communication. An X.25 WAN consists of packet-switching exchange nodes as the networking hardware, and leased lines, Plain old telephone service connections or ISDN connections as physical links...
and TCP/IP protocols was added; as additional computers such as WSU's MVS
MVS
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers...
system and the UM's electrical engineering's VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
running UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
were attached; and as new universities became Merit members.
Merit's involvement in national networking activities started in the mid-1980s with connections to the national supercomputing centers and work on the 56K bps National Science Foundation Network
National Science Foundation Network
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
(NSFNET), the forerunner of today's Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. From 1987 until April 1995, Merit re-engineered and managed the NSFNET backbone service.
MichNet, Merit's regional network in Michigan was attached to NSFNET and in the early 1990s Merit began extending "the Internet" throughout Michigan, offering both direct connect and dial-in services, and upgrading the state-wide network from 56 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps, and on to 45, 155, 622 Mbps, and eventually 1 and 10 gigabits/sec. In 2003 Merit began its transition to a facilities based network, using fiber optic facilities that it shares with its members, that it purchases or leases under long term agreements, or that it builds.
In addition to network connectivity services, Merit offers a number of related services within Michigan and beyond, including: Internet2
Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced not-for-profit US networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government....
connectivity, VPN, Network monitoring
Network monitoring
The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
, Voice over IP
Voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
(VOIP), Cloud storage
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, Domain Name, Network Time
Network Time Protocol
The Network Time Protocol is a protocol and software implementation for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Originally designed by David L...
, VMware
VMware
VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
and Zimbra
Zimbra
Zimbra Collaboration Suite is a groupware product created by Zimbra, Inc., located in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was purchased by Yahoo! in September 2007, and subsequently purchased by VMware on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. The software consists of both client and server components...
software licensing, Colocation
Colocation centre
A colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
, and professional development
Professional development
Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning...
seminars, workshops, classes, conferences, and meetings.
Creating the network: 1966 to 1973
The Michigan Educational Research Information Triad (MERIT) was formed in the fall of 1966 by Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
(MSU), University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(U-M), and Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
(WSU). More often known as the Merit Computer Network or simply Merit, it was created to design and implement a computer network connecting the mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s at the universities.
In the fall of 1969, after funding for the initial development of the network had been secured, Bertram Herzog was named director for MERIT. Eric Aupperle was hired as senior engineer, and was charged with finding hardware to make the network operational. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the State of Michigan provided the initial funding for the network.
In June 1970, the Applied Dynamics Division of Reliance Electric in Saline, Michigan
Saline, Michigan
Saline is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,810.The city is popular for its annual Celtic Festival, which attracts people from all over the United States and its sister cities Brecon, Wales and Lindenberg, Germany...
was contracted to build three Communication Computers or CCs. Each would consist of a Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
(DEC) PDP-11
PDP-11
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
computer, dataphone interfaces, and interfaces that would attach them directly to the mainframe computers. The cost was to be slightly less than the $300,000 ($, adjusted for inflation) originally budgeted. Merit staff wrote the software that ran on the CCs, while staff at each of the universities wrote the mainframe software to interface to the CCs.
The first completed connection linked the IBM S/360-67 mainframe
IBM System/360 Model 67
The IBM System/360 Model 67 was an important IBM mainframe model in the late 1960s. Unlike the rest of the S/360 series, it included features to facilitate time-sharing applications, notably a DAT box to support virtual memory and 32-bit addressing...
computers running the Michigan Terminal System
Michigan Terminal System
The Michigan Terminal System is one of the first time-sharing computer operating systems. Initially developed in 1967 at the University of Michigan for use on IBM S/360-67, S/370 and compatible mainframe computers, it was developed and used by a consortium of eight universities in the United...
at WSU and U-M, and was publicly demonstrated on December 14, 1971. The MSU node was completed in October 1972, adding a CDC 6500 mainframe
CDC 6000 series
The CDC 6000 series was a family of mainframe computers manufactured by Control Data Corporation in the 1960s. It consisted of CDC 6400, CDC 6500, CDC 6600 and CDC 6700 computers, which all were extremely rapid and efficient for their time...
running Scope/Hustler. The network was officially dedicated on May 15, 1973.
Expanding the network: 1974 to 1985
In 1974, Herzog returned to teaching in the University of Michigan's Industrial Engineering Department, and Aupperle was appointed as director.Use of the all uppercase name "MERIT" was abandoned in favor of the mixed case "Merit".
The first network connections were host to host interactive connections which allowed person to remote computer or local computer to remote computer interactions. To this, terminal to host connections, batch connections
Batch processing
Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...
(remote job submission, remote printing, batch file transfer), and interactive file copy were added. And, in addition to connecting to host computers over custom hardware interfaces, the ability to connect to hosts or other networks over groups of asynchronous ports and via X.25
X.25
X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet switched wide area network communication. An X.25 WAN consists of packet-switching exchange nodes as the networking hardware, and leased lines, Plain old telephone service connections or ISDN connections as physical links...
were added.
Merit interconnected with Telenet
Telenet
Telenet was a commercial packet switched network which went into service in 1974. It was the first packet-switched network service that was available to the general public. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines connecting their computers and local...
(later SprintNet) in 1976 to give Merit users dial-in access from locations around the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Dial-in access within the U.S. and internationally was further expanded via Merit's interconnections to Tymnet
Tymnet
Tymnet was an international data communications network headquartered in San Jose, California that used virtual call packet switched technology and X.25, SNA/SDLC, ASCII and BSC interfaces to connect host computers at thousands of large companies, educational institutions, and government agencies....
, ADP's Autonet, and later still the IBM Global Network as well as Merit's own expanding network of dial-in sites in Michigan, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In 1978, Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
(WMU) became the fourth member of Merit (prompting a name change, as the acronym Merit no longer made sense as the group was no longer a triad).
To expand the network, the Merit staff developed new hardware interfaces for the Digital PDP-11 based on printed circuit
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
technology. The new system became known as the Primary Communications Processor (PCP), with the earliest PCPs connecting a PDP-10
PDP-10
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
located at WMU and a DEC VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
running UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
at U-M's Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
department.
A second hardware technology initiative in 1983 produced the smaller Secondary Communication Processors (SCP) based on DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
LSI-11 processors. The first SCP was installed at the Michigan Union
Michigan Union
The Michigan Union is a student union at the University of Michigan. It is located at the intersection of South State Street and South University Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan....
in Ann Arbor, creating UMnet, which extended Merit's network connectivity deeply into the U-M campus.
In 1983 Merit's PCP and SCP software was enhanced to support TCP/IP and Merit interconnected with the ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
.
National networking, NSFNET, and the Internet: 1986 to 1995
In 1986 Merit engineered and operated leased lines and satellite links that allowed the University of Michigan to access the supercomputing facilities at PittsburghPittsburgh Supercomputing Center
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is a high performance computing and networking center. PSC is a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh together with Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1986 by...
, San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
The San Diego Supercomputer Center is an organized research unit of the University of California, San Diego . Physically, SDSC is located on the east end of Eleanor Roosevelt College on the campus of UCSD....
, and NCAR
National Center for Atmospheric Research
The National Center for Atmospheric Research has multiple facilities, including the I. M. Pei-designed Mesa Laboratory headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and sponsored by the National Science Foundation...
.
In 1987, Merit, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and MCI
MCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
submitted a winning proposal to NSF to implement a new NSFNET
NSFNet
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
backbone network. The new NSFNET backbone network service began 1 July 1988. It interconnected supercomputing centers around the country at 1.5 megabits per second (T1
Digital Signal 1
Digital signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea...
), 24 times faster than the 56 kilobits-per-second speed of the previous network. The NSFNET backbone grew to link scientists and educators on university campuses nationwide and connect them to their counterparts around the world.
The NSFNET project caused substantial growth at Merit, nearly tripling the staff and leading to the establishment of a new 24-hour Network Operations Center
Network Operations Center
A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....
at the U-M Computer Center.
In September 1990 in anticipation of the NSFNET
NSFNet
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
T3 upgrade and the approaching end of the 5-year NSFNET cooperative agreement, Merit, IBM, and MCI formed Advanced Network and Services
Advanced Network and Services
Advanced Network and Services was a United States non-profit organization formed in September 1990 by the NSFNET partners to run the network infrastructure for the soon to be upgraded NSFNET Backbone Service.-ANSNet:...
(ANS), a new non-profit corporation with a more broadly based Board of Directors than the Michigan based Merit Network. Under its cooperative agreement with NSF, Merit remained ultimately responsible for the operation of NSFNET, but subcontracted much of the engineering and operations work to ANS.
In 1991 the NSFNET backbone service was expanded to additional sites and upgraded to a more robust 45 Mbps (T3
Digital Signal 3
A Digital Signal 3 is a digital signal level 3 T-carrier. It may also be referred to as a T3 line.*The data rate for this type of signal is 44.736 Mbit/s.*This level of carrier can transport 28 DS1 level signals within its payload....
) based network. The new T3 backbone was named ANSNet and provided the physical infrastructure used by Merit to deliver the NSFNET Backbone Service.
On April 30, 1995 the NSFNET project came to an end, when the NSFNET backbone service was decommissioned and replaced by a new Internet architecture with commercial ISPs interconnected at Network Access Point
Network access point
A Network Access Point was a public network exchange facility where Internet Service Providers connected with one another in peering arrangements. The NAPs were a key component in the transition from the NSFNET era when many networks were government sponsored and commercial traffic was prohibited...
s provided by multiple providers across the country.
Bringing the Internet to Michigan: 1985 to 2001
During the 1980s, Merit Network grew to serve eight member universities, with Oakland UniversityOakland University
Oakland University is a public university co-founded by Matilda Dodge Wilson and John A. Hannah whose campus is located in central Oakland County, Michigan, United States in the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills. It is the only major research university in Oakland County, from which OU...
joining in 1985 and Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University is a public research university located in Mount Pleasant in the U.S. state of Michigan...
, Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
, and Michigan Technological University
Michigan Technological University
Michigan Technological University is a public research university located in Houghton, Michigan, United States. Its main campus sits on on a bluff overlooking Portage Lake...
joining in 1987.
In 1990, Merit's board of directors formally changed the organization's name to Merit Network, Inc., and created the name MichNet to refer to Merit's statewide network. The board also approved a staff proposal to allow organizations other than publicly supported universities, referred to as affiliates, to be served by MichNet without prior board approval.
1992 saw major upgrades of the MichNet backbone to use Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
routers in addition to the PDP-11 and LSI-11 based PCPs and SCPs. This was also the start of relentless upgrades to higher and higher speeds, first from 56 kbps to T1
Digital Signal 1
Digital signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea...
(1.5 Mbps) followed by multiple T1s (3.0 to 10.5 Mbps), T3
Digital Signal 3
A Digital Signal 3 is a digital signal level 3 T-carrier. It may also be referred to as a T3 line.*The data rate for this type of signal is 44.736 Mbit/s.*This level of carrier can transport 28 DS1 level signals within its payload....
(45 Mbps), OC3c (155 Mbps), OC12c (622 Mbps), and eventually one and ten gigabits
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
(1000 to 10,000 Mbps).
In 1993 Merit's first Network Access Server
Terminal server
A terminal server enables organizations to connect devices with an RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 serial interface to a local area network . Products marketed as terminal servers can be very simple devices that do not offer any security functionality, such as data encryption and user authentication...
(NAS) using RADIUS
RADIUS
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management for computers to connect and use a network service...
(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) was deployed. The NASs supported dial-in access separate from the Merit PCPs and SCPs.
In 1993 Merit started what would become an eight year phase out of its aging PCP and SCP technology. By 1998 the only PCPs still in service were supporting Wayne State University's MTS
Michigan Terminal System
The Michigan Terminal System is one of the first time-sharing computer operating systems. Initially developed in 1967 at the University of Michigan for use on IBM S/360-67, S/370 and compatible mainframe computers, it was developed and used by a consortium of eight universities in the United...
mainframe host. During their remarkably long twenty-year life cycle the number of PCPs and SCPs in service reached a high of roughly 290 in 1991, supporting a total of about 13,000 asynchronous ports and numerous LAN
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
and WAN
Wide area network
A wide area network is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area . Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations...
gateways.
In 1994 the Merit Board endorsed a plan to expand the MichNet shared dial-in service, leading to a rapid expansion of the Internet dial-in service over the next several years. In 1994 there were 38 shared dial-in sites. By 1996 there were 131 shared dial-in sites and more than 92% of Michigan residents could reach the Internet with a local phone call. And by the end of 2001 there were 10,733 MichNet shared dial-in lines in over 200 Michigan cities plus New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
. As an outgrowth of this work, in 1997, Merit created the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) Consortium
AAA protocol
In computer security, AAA commonly stands for authentication, authorization and accounting.- Authentication :Authentication refers to the process where an entity's identity is authenticated, typically by providing evidence that it holds a specific digital identity such as an identifier and the...
.
During 1994 an expanded K-12 outreach program at Merit helped lead the formation of six regional K-12 groups known as Hubs. The Hubs and Merit applied for and were awarded funding from the Ratepayer fund, which as part of a settlement of an earlier Ameritech of Michigan
Ameritech
AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation , was a U.S. telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies that was created following the breakup of the Bell System...
ratepayer overcharge, had been established by Michigan Public Service Commission
Michigan Public Service Commission
The Michigan Public Service Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Michigan. There are currently three members of the commission....
to further the K-12 community’s network connectivity.
During the 1990s, Merit added Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...
(1994), Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University is a four-year college public university established in 1899 located in Marquette, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With a population of nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Northern Michigan University is the Upper Peninsula's largest...
(1994), Lake Superior State University
Lake Superior State University
Lake Superior State University is a small public university in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment around 3,000 students. Due to its proximity to the border, notably the twin city of Sault Ste...
(1997), and Ferris State University
Ferris State University
Ferris State University is a public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1884 as the Big Rapids Industrial School by Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, an educator from New England who later served as governor of the State of Michigan and finally in the US Senate where...
(1998) as members. By 1999, Merit had 163 affiliate members, with 401 attachments from 353 separate locations.
Merit was involved in a number of projects in cooperation with organizations throughout Michigan, including:
- Project Connect, a 1992 cooperative effort among Merit, NovellNovellNovell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
, and GTEGTEGTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System....
, that equipped five southeastern Michigan schools with Novell Local Area Networks with connections to MichNet; - GoMLink, an early virtual library reference service operated by the University of Michigan;
- the Michigan Electronic LibraryMichigan eLibraryThe Michigan eLibrary, or MeL, is a project of the Library of Michigan. It is partially funded by the Library of Michigan as well as by the Institute of Museum and Library Services....
(MEL), a networked virtual library service of the Library of MichiganLibrary of MichiganThe Library of Michigan and Historical Center is a state-run library and historical center located in Lansing, Michigan. The current building opened in 1989....
and the University of Michigan; - the Michigan Library Association'sMichigan Library AssociationThe Michigan Library Association is headquartered in Lansing, Michigan, United States. It publishes a library science journal, MLA Forum.-History:...
"Action Plan for Michigan Libraries"; Internet dial-in access for libraries sponsored by the Library of MichiganLibrary of MichiganThe Library of Michigan and Historical Center is a state-run library and historical center located in Lansing, Michigan. The current building opened in 1989....
; - development of the "Michigan Information Network (MIN) Plan";
- in cooperation with MiCTA, providing assistance to the K-12, library, and rural healthcare communities in understanding the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) E-Rate programE-rateE-Rate is the commonly used name for the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission .-Function:...
; and - the Society of Manufacturing EngineersSociety of Manufacturing EngineersThe Society of Manufacturing Engineers is a non-profit organization.-History of the Society:Founded in 1932 with 33 members, the organization was originally named The Society of Tool Engineers . A year later, it was renamed the American Society of Tool Engineers...
CoNDUIT project, funded by the United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
to train staff of small manufacturing businesses in the use of modern technology.
Transition to the commercial Internet, Internet2 and the vBNS: 1994 to 2005
In 1994, as the NSFNET project was drawing to a close, Merit organized the meetings for the North American Network Operators' Group (NANOG). NANOG evolved from the NSFNETNSFNet
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
"Regional-Techs" meetings, where technical staff from the regional networks met to discuss operational issues of common concern with each other and with the Merit engineering staff. At the February 1994 regional techs meeting in San Diego, the group revised its charter to include a broader base of network service providers, and subsequently adopted NANOG as its new name.
Also starting in 1994, Merit developed the Routing Assets Database
Routing Assets Database
Routing Assets Database , run by Merit Network, is a lookup database designed to make fundamental information about networks available. The RADb is a public registry of routing information for networks in the Internet...
(RADb) as part of the NSF-funded Routing Arbiter Project.
MichNet obtained its initial commodity Internet access, a T3 (45 Mbps), from the commercial ISP, internetMCI.
In 1996 Merit became an affiliate member of Internet2
Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced not-for-profit US networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government....
, in 1997 established its first connection to the NSF very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), and in February 1999 began serving as Michigan's GigaPOP
Point of presence
A point of presence is an artificial demarcation point or interface point between communications entities. It may include a meet-me-room.In the US, this term became important during the court-ordered breakup of the Bell Telephone system...
for Internet2 service.
Following the NSFNET project Merit lead a number of activities with a national or international scope, including:
- the GateD Consortium (1995);
- the 1997 NSF funded Multi-threaded Routing Toolkit project;
- the 1997 NSF funded Internet Performance Measurement and Analysis (IPMA) project, a joint project with U-M's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science;
- the 1996 NETSCARF network statistics collection and analysis project, funded by the ANS Resource Allocation Committee; and
- the 1999 DARPA funded Lighthouse project focusing on large scale network attack recognition, remediation and survivable network infrastructure lead by the University of Michigan College of EngineeringUniversity of Michigan College of EngineeringThe University of Michigan College of Engineering is the engineering unit of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. With an enrollment of 5,514 undergraduate and 2,646 graduate students as of 2009, the College of Engineering is one of the premier engineering schools in the United States...
.
In 2000, Merit spun off two for-profit
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
companies: NextHop Technologies, which developed and marketed GateD routing software, and Interlink Networks, which specialized in authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) software.
Eric Aupperle retired as president in 2001, after 27 years at Merit. He was appointed President Emeritus by the Merit board. Hunt Williams became Merit's new president.
Creating a facilities based network, adding new services: 2003 to the present
In 2004 Michael R. McPherson was named Merit's interim president and CEO.In January 2005 Merit and Internet2 moved into the new Michigan Information Technology Center (MITC) in Ann Arbor.
In 2006, Dr. Donald J. Welch was named president and CEO of Merit Network, Inc.
In December 2006 Merit and OSTN partner to provide IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
to Michigan institutions. OSTN is a global television network devoted to student-produced programming.
In July 2007, Merit decommissioned its dial-up services.
During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Merit operated what is known as a "value-added network
Value-added network
A Value-added Network is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared Business Processes...
" where individual data circuits were leased on a relatively short term basis (one to three or sometimes five years) from traditional telecommunications providers such as Ameritech
Ameritech
AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation , was a U.S. telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies that was created following the breakup of the Bell System...
, GTE
GTE
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System....
, Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
, and MCI
MCI
MCI may refer to:* 1101 in Roman numerals*mCi, millicurie, 1/1000 of a curie, a non-SI unit of radioactivity*MCi, megacurie, 1,000,000 times a curie-Company:...
and assembled into a larger network by adding routers and other equipment. This worked well for many years, but as data rates continued to increase from kilobits, to megabits, to gigabits the cost of leasing the higher speed data circuits became significant. As a result, the alternative of building its network using "dark fiber
Dark fiber
A dark fiber or unlit fiber is an unused Optical fiber, available for use in fiber-optic communication.The term dark fiber was originally used when referring to the potential network capacity of telecommunication infrastructure, but now also refers to the increasingly common practice of leasing...
" that Merit owned or leased on a relatively longer term basis (10, 20, or more years) under what are known as "Indefeasible Rights of Use
Indefeasible rights of use
Indefeasible right of use is a contractual agreement between the operators of a communications cable, such as submarine communications cable or a fiber optic network and a client.The IRU:...
" (IRU) as well as using or sharing fiber that is owned by its members became attractive.
Merit's statewide fiber-optic network strategy began to take shape when:
- in 2003 a fiber ring was deployed in LansingLansing, MichiganLansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
; - in 2003 Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University launched the Michigan LambdaRail NetworkNational LambdaRailNational LambdaRail is a , high-speed national network infrastructure owned and operated by the U.S. research and education community that runs over fiber-optic lines, and is the first transcontinental 10-Gigabit Ethernet network...
(MiLR) project to link the campuses to each other and to Chicago using privately-owned fiber, with Merit to operate MiLR on behalf of the three universities and using some of the MiLR fiber for its own network; - in 2004 fiber rings were added in Grand RapidsGrand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
and ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
; - in August 2005 Merit was utilizing dark fiber from Michigan Lambda Rail (MiLR) between Detroit and Chicago to support the southern portion of its network backbone;
- in July 2006 Merit began to use optical fiber that had been installed by a consortium of government and community organizations in the AlpenaAlpena, MichiganAlpena is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alpena County. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the city. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census...
area; - in February 2006 Merit and the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) were linked using fiber optic cable across the US-Canada border through the Detroit–Windsor TunnelDetroit–Windsor TunnelThe Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is an underwater highway tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario in Canada. It was completed in 1930....
, later in September 2008, a wireless connection across the Soo LocksSoo LocksThe Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks which enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario...
between Sault Ste. Marie, MichiganSault Ste. Marie, MichiganSault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...
and Sault Ste. Marie, OntarioSault Ste. Marie, OntarioSault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...
provided a second link between Merit and ORION; - in September 2007 Merit created the first high-speed network connection between Michigan's two peninsulas with fiber optic cable across the Mackinac BridgeMackinac BridgeThe Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the non-contiguous Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the bridge is the third longest in total suspension in the world and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages...
; - in November 2007 Merit completed Phase I of its fiber network expansion into the Upper Peninsula of MichiganUpper Peninsula of MichiganThe Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
, connecting Lake Superior State UniversityLake Superior State UniversityLake Superior State University is a small public university in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is Michigan's smallest public university with an enrollment around 3,000 students. Due to its proximity to the border, notably the twin city of Sault Ste...
(LSSU), Michigan Technological UniversityMichigan Technological UniversityMichigan Technological University is a public research university located in Houghton, Michigan, United States. Its main campus sits on on a bluff overlooking Portage Lake...
(MTU), and Northern Michigan UniversityNorthern Michigan UniversityNorthern Michigan University is a four-year college public university established in 1899 located in Marquette, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With a population of nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Northern Michigan University is the Upper Peninsula's largest...
(NMU) via fiber-optic cable at gigabit EthernetGigabit EthernetGigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
speeds; - in May 2008 Merit completes a new fiber optic link from SouthfieldSouthfield, MichiganAccording to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which 0.04% is water. The main branch of the River Rouge runs through Southfield. The city is bounded to the south by Eight Mile Road, its western border is Inkster Road, and to the east it is bounded by Greenfield Road...
to ToledoToledo, OhioToledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
providing a 10 Mbps link to OSCnet, Ohio's regional research and education network, and a second path between Merit and the Internet2 network; - in March 2009 a partnership between the City of Hillsdale, Hillsdale College, Hillsdale County Intermediate School District (ISD), and Merit, completed a fiber-optic ring to improve connectivity in the city and reduce network costs for the Hillsdale-area organizations; and
- in December 2009 Merit began to use a new fiber optic link between Mt. Pleasant and Big Rapids. This completed the 500 mile "Blue-Line" fiber optic network that links 16 cities in the lower half of Michigan's lower peninsula (Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Big Rapids, Mt. Pleasant, Midland, Saginaw, Flint, Pontiac, Rochester, Southfield, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, East Lansing, and Battle Creek).
In July 2008, Merit began upgrading its core backbone network to 10 gigabits and installing five new Juniper MX480 routers. This upgrade was completed in May 2009 with seven backbone nodes in Grand Rapids, East Lansing, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, and Chicago (2) all operating at 10 Gbps. Also during May 2009 Merit replaced its four 1 Gbps links to the commodity Internet with two 10 Gbps links over diverse paths to two different Teir 1 providers. And in October 2009 the links from Ann Arbor to Jackson and from Jackson and East Lansing were upgraded to 10 Gbps.
In January 2010 Merit and its partners, ACD.net
ACD.net
ACD.net is a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier and Internet Service Provider, headquartered in Lansing, Michigan.- History :ACD.net was founded as ACD Computers in 1986 by Kevin Schoen. ACD built and sold their own computer systems through the 1990s. In 1994 ACD became and Internet Service...
; LYNX Network Group, LLC; and TC3Net; learned that their REACH-3MC (Rural, Education, Anchor, Community and Healthcare - Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative) proposal had been awarded ~$33.3M in grants and loans from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), part of the federal stimulus package
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. REACH-3MC will build a 1,017-mile optical fiber extension into rural and underserved communities in 32 counties in Michigan's lower peninsula.
In August 2010 Merit and its REACH-3MC partners were selected to receive $69.6M in a second round of federal stimulus funding to build an additional 1,270 miles of optical fiber in the northern lower peninsula and upper peninsula of Michigan and extending into Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
At NANOG
NANOG
The North American Network Operators' Group is an educational and operational forum for the coordination and dissemination of technical information related to backbone/enterprise networking technologies and operational practices. It runs meetings, talks, surveys, and an influential mailing list...
's 50th meeting in Atlanta in October 2010, members of the NANOG community supported a charter amendment to transition the hosting of NANOG following the February 2011 NANOG meeting to NewNOG, a newly formed non-profit.
Merit today
Today, in addition to network connectivity, Merit offers:- Internet2Internet2Internet2 is an advanced not-for-profit US networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government....
connectivity - Virtual Private NetworkVirtual private networkA virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....
(VPN) services - Network monitoringNetwork monitoringThe term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
- Voice over IPVoice over IPVoice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
(VOIP) services - Cloud storage servicesCloud storageCloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...
- E-mail hosting serviceE-mail hosting serviceAn email hosting service is an Internet hosting service that runs email servers.Email hosting services usually offer premium email at a cost as opposed to advertisement-supported free email or free webmail. Email hosting services thus differ from typical end-user email providers such as webmail sites...
s - Domain Name services
- Network Time ServicesNetwork Time ProtocolThe Network Time Protocol is a protocol and software implementation for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Originally designed by David L...
- VMwareVMwareVMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
and ZimbraZimbraZimbra Collaboration Suite is a groupware product created by Zimbra, Inc., located in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was purchased by Yahoo! in September 2007, and subsequently purchased by VMware on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. The software consists of both client and server components...
software licensing - Colocation servicesColocation centreA colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
, including business continuityBusiness continuityBusiness continuity is the activity performed by an organization to ensure that critical business functions will be available to customers, suppliers, regulators, and other entities that must have access to those functions. These activities include many daily chores such as project management,...
and disaster recoveryDisaster recoveryDisaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity... - Routing Assets DatabaseRouting Assets DatabaseRouting Assets Database , run by Merit Network, is a lookup database designed to make fundamental information about networks available. The RADb is a public registry of routing information for networks in the Internet...
(RADb) public registry
- Professional developmentProfessional developmentProfessional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning...
seminars, workshops, classes, conferences, and meetings - Michigan Information Technology Executive Forum
- Merit Joint Technical Staff (MJTS) meetings and e-mail
- Discussion communities, including:
- E-rateE-rateE-Rate is the commonly used name for the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission .-Function:...
- Network SecurityNetwork securityIn the field of networking, the area of network security consists of the provisions and policies adopted by the network administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of the computer network and network-accessible resources...
- Network NeutralityNetwork neutralityNetwork neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...
- Stimulus Legislation InformationAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
- Business ContinuityBusiness continuityBusiness continuity is the activity performed by an organization to ensure that critical business functions will be available to customers, suppliers, regulators, and other entities that must have access to those functions. These activities include many daily chores such as project management,...
- IT Developments
- E-rate
External links
- Merit Network, Inc., web site
- Merit History, web page
- A Glimpse at Past Merit Projects, web page
- NSFNET: The Partnership That Changed The World, web site for an event held to celebrate the NSFNET, November 2007
- North American Network Operators' Group (NANOG), web site
- RADB.net Routing Assets Database (RADb), web site
- Merit Computer Network public collection, Hathi Trust Digital Library
- "Merit Network, Inc. records 1966-2002", Finding Aid, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor