Upstate to Benefit from University Center's New Internet2 Connection

Greenville, S.C. (March 10, 2010) – The University Center of Greenville (UCG) is now connected to the national high-speed research community of Internet2, thanks to Clemson University’s expansion of its direct fiber connection through Greenville.

UCG pursued access to the Internet2 research community to expand its capability and participation in the Carolinas Virtual World Consortium (CVWC), into which UCG was inducted in fall 2009. The CVWC is a group of universities, school districts, and corporate partners dedicated to investigating three-dimensional virtual worlds to enhance teaching, training, and learning at all educational levels.

UCG President & CEO Dr. Fred Baus said that combining the resources of Internet2 with the CVWC will exponentially increase the quantity and quality of research possibilities at UCG, and “allow the University Center to remain at the forefront of technologies for teaching and learning, and advance new models for immersive learning in virtual environments.” All onsite faculty and students from UCG’s member institutions will benefit from and have access to these resources. Baus adds, “this level of high-speed connectivity and research opportunity can also greatly benefit businesses and industries,” increasing economic growth potential.

This cooperative effort now provides the onsite researchers and faculty at UCG with leading-edge capabilities using direct fiber connectivity to high-capacity networks and resources that will enable research, academic and economic advancements and opportunities. The connection is also the first of several steps that UCG is taking towards the development of an Immersive Technology Center onsite.

For more information about the University Center, visit www.ucgreenville.org.

About Internet 2:

Internet2 provides the U.S. research and education community with a dynamic, innovative and cost-effective hybrid optical and packet network. The Internet2 Network was designed to provide next-generation production services as well as a platform for the development of new networking ideas and protocols. With community control of the fundamental networking infrastructure, the Internet2 Network provides the necessary scalability for member institutions to efficiently provision resources to address bandwidth-intensive requirements of their campuses such as, collaborative applications, distributed research experiments, grid-based data analysis and social networking.

University Center of Greenville

The University Center of Greenville is a consortium of higher education institutions dedicated to increasing access to educational opportunities for the citizens of the Upstate of South Carolina. UCG offers more than 75 undergraduate and graduate degrees through Clemson, Furman, Lander, Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State, University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina Upstate. For more information, please call 864.250.1111 or visit www.ucgreenville.org.

Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium

The Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium was founded in 2007 to explore the role of three-dimensional virtual worlds and immersive technologies for teaching, training and learning. The founding institutions, Clemson University in South Carolina and Appalachian State University in North Carolina, have been joined by the North Carolina Virtual Public School District and now the University Center. In 2008, the consortium received $1.5 million in federal funding from the National Science Foundation’s “Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers” (ITEST) to help fund its research and outreach activities. For more information on the Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium, visit the website, http://www.cvwconline.org/, and for more information on the ITEST program, visit the project’s website at http://www.stem-ict-3d.org/.

More Information:
About Internet2
Internet2 FAQ
Member List for Internet2