Internet2, LamdaRail propose ambitious community anchor network

Internet2, National LamdaRail and other U.S. research and education networks have proposed a new role for themselves in providing high-speed connectivity to anchor institutions such as libraries, healthcare providers, and public safety agencies, as well as more of the educational institutions they already connect. After the Internet was commercialized in the 1990s, Internet2 and LambdaRail assumed the role of providing a non-commercial high-speed backbone network that supports many interesting applications, including 10 Gb/s connections that can be provisioned on the fly to access huge databases in real-time.

In reply comments about the National Broadband Plan due from the FCC later this year Inet2, National LamdaRail and 25 co-filers propose to create a “Unified Community Anchor Network” by extending their existing networks to community anchor institutions.

“A UCAN does not need to be created—it needs to be completed,” the organizations wrote in the filing, which argues that providing broadband to community anchors has been a market failure.

Recent broadband stimulus awards, also aimed at addressing market failures, have emphasized “middle-mile” projects connecting anchor institutions. But although UCAN may sound like a candidate for broadband stimulus funds, the organizations have a more ambitious funding concept. In the proposal, they ask for expansion of the e-rate program, the element of the Universal Service program that subsidizes data connectivity for schools and libraries. The proposal also asks that Congress consider a second stimulus bill or a direct appropriation for the National Broadband Plan.

Another recommendation is tax incentives for incumbent carriers to encourage them to provide more affordable prices to UCAN for fiber leases.