LSUS FASTER LONI CONNECTION- Louisiana State University Shreveport held a celebration yesterday in connecting the high speed Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure known as LONI. Officials and guests gathered at the campus Technology Center in what will become the Cyber-Collaboratory, which will benefit from the increased bandwidth for research and instruction. Dr. Julie Lassiter, vice chancellor of Student Initiatives explains more.
"In the Cyber Collaboratory we're going to have cyber-security, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics; and that's just the start," said Lassiter.
Technically, LSUS has been a member of the LONI network since 2007, back when it joined the necessary fiber and services had not previously been available which limited connection speeds to around 1 Gbps..but now with the newer connection. LSUS is making the leap to 10 times the speed to 10Gbps and eventually hopes to reach even faster speeds in the future. LSUS Chancellor Larry Clarks says the increased bandwidth will make for better collaboration with other institutions and enhance online learning.
"The phenomenal speed that we will have is just incredible," explained Clark."That gives the opportunities that we can collaborate with any other university within in the state but beyond. We have now some 4, 000 students online of our 7,400 students. And that kind of connectivity we ahve with them is amazing. So speed matters."
A special guest and at yesterday’s LONI announcement was Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, Louisiana Board of Regents Commissioner of Higher Education. She is enthusiastic about the potential of LSUS’s Cyber Collaboratory connection with LONI and what it means both locally and statewide.
"At the end of the day for us to advance research, for us to advance instruction, and for us to advance economic development, we need to have that speed and that connectivity for those collaborations," explained Reed. "So I am looking forward to what this will mean to LSUS and for what it means to the students, so this is phenomenal."
The LSUS Cyber-collaboratory is currently under construction, it is expected to become operational sometime in March. Funding for the initiative was spurred by a $300,000 grant from the American Electric Power (AEP) Foundation. LSUS TECHNOLOGY CENTER
