Link Oregon – Advancing middle mile connectivity for a future-ready Oregon

Feature

In collaboration with our founding member universities, Link Oregon showcased leading-edge research and computational science initiatives from our state’s largest research universities at SC24, the international conference for high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis. Our debut presence at this industry-leading event illuminated Oregon as a hub for inter-institutional innovation and collaboration across a range of domains, spanning biomedical research, multidisciplinary science, ocean and earth sciences, robotics and AI, and cyberinfrastructure. The SC conference brings together the world’s leading scientists, engineers, and researchers in the field of high-performance computing, along with government agencies and national labs.

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A photo illustration of netowk nodes connected by lines overlaying an aerial photo of a rural landscape.

Feature

Exploring new technologies for advanced networking security and performance is critical to Link Oregon’s mission of providing state-of-the-art broadband services to all its members, and especially for research computing. This summer, Ram Durairajan, Associate Professor, School of Computer and Data Sciences at the University of Oregon, joins us on his sabbatical year as our Chief Scientist. We spoke to him about the opportunities to use data analysis to better understand gaps in broadband coverage across Oregon, the use of self-supervised learning models to improve network security and the critical urgency to improve resiliency and redundancy of the global Internet.

Student working with Genome research machinery

Member Feature

Oregon State University (OSU), one of Link Oregon’s founding members, is emerging as a premier national interdisciplinary research hub for supercomputing and AI, across diverse domains such as robotics, climate science, materials science and sustainability. Andrea Ballinger, OSU CIO and Link Oregon Board Member, is leading digital transformation initiatives across the university. She talked to us about how AI technologies could help personalize learning experiences for students and why high-speed broadband connectivity across Oregon is critical for the land grant institution to execute on its mission to democratize access to higher ed.

Image source: Oregon State University

Who We Are

Link Oregon is a federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) Oregon non-profit organization and the Research and Education Network (REN) for the state of Oregon, serving the public and non-profit sectors. We operate a statewide middle mile fiber optic infrastructure spanning over 2500 miles that delivers state-of-the-art broadband services to our member organizations. We collaborate with a vast network of ecosystem partners, spanning commercial telecom providers, legislators, broadband policy leaders, digital equity advocates and non-profit affiliates who are vital to our mission to expand high-speed broadband connectivity across the state for a future-ready Oregon.

Link Oregon Founding Members

“Link Oregon’s broadband services for Internet transit have provided rock-solid connectivity to our employees and over 21,000 students at Portland State University. Their high-speed networking is critical for research at our institution that relies on computationally dense data workloads, such as cybersecurity, geohazard simulation and atmospheric modeling. Link Oregon’s network will also support our newest high performance computing (HPC) cluster funded by the National Science Foundation’s Campus Cybersecurity Program. We look forward to ongoing collaborations with their amazing team of network engineers on strategic initiatives that go beyond basic Internet connectivity.”
– Ryan Bass, Chief Information Officer, Portland State University

Who We Serve

Our services are available to all public and non-profit entities in Oregon, including K-12 schools and Educational Service Districts (ESDs), community colleges and universities, public and non-profit hospitals and clinics, city and county government, Tribes, libraries and community anchor institutions.

K-12

Higher Ed

Libraries

Public Sector / Government

Healthcare

Community Anchor Institutions

Tribes

What We Offer

Members benefit from our seasoned leadership, deep domain experience in networking, telecommunications partnerships and understanding of Oregon’s broadband ecosystem. Learn more about the services we provide to our member institutions.

Ethernet Transport Service

Premium Transit Service

Cloud Connectivity

eduroam for secure, roaming wi-fi

INTERESTED IN OUR SERVICES?

A group of students are indoors in their classroom. One woman is using a tablet and a man is using a tablet.

Bridging the Digital Divide with eduroam

Secure wi-fi roaming access for Oregon’s K-12 schools, libraries and museums

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Students walk along a sidewalk past banners that read Portland Community College

Member SPOTLIGHT

Moving the Needle on Digital Equity

The Digital Navigators Program at Portland Community College

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Link Oregon Blog

2024 Annual Member Meeting Highlights June 27, 2024 – The full recording is available here. Link Oregon’s annual member meeting for 2024, held on June 24th via Zoom, brought together a diverse community of members and partners in the broadband ecosystem from Oregon and across the country to share insights about broadband and digital equity efforts. Panelists included local, statewide and regional leaders from […]
Strategic Middle Mile Investments Can Minimize Last Mile Islands but Choosing Right Fiber is Key June 1, 2024 – In 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded a grant to Zayo Group, LLC for $48 million to address a long-standing set of middle mile needs in Oregon as well as parts of California and Nevad.. The grant was part of NTIA’s Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, a $980 million program which […]
With Artificial Intelligence, Fiber Optic Broadband Finds Its Ultimate App April 19, 2024 – Last week, one of Link Oregon’s founding members—Oregon State University—celebrated the groundbreaking of the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, which will be home to one of the world’s fastest university supercomputers capable of training very large artificial intelligence (AI) models and advancing research in other computationally-intensive domains such as materials science, […]
2023 In Review: Laying The Groundwork For Broadband & Digital Equity For All Oregonians December 29, 2023 – As we prepare to see 2023 in our rear-view mirrors, what stands out the most is the significant body of activity undertaken this year by the State of Oregon (led by the Oregon Broadband Office or the “OBO”) to lay the groundwork for anticipated historic levels of broadband investment by the National Telecommunications and Information […]
Legislative Session Successes: Broadband & Cybersecurity July 27, 2023 – The 83rd Oregon Legislature declared “sine die” (the conclusion of the legislative session) on June 25, just hours before the constitutional deadline to conduct business on the Senate floor and vote on bills and budgets. The six-week walkout by some Senators threatened to prevent votes on key state investment and policy bills that would help […]
Link Oregon Strategic Plan June 26, 2023 – The Board of Directors adopted Link Oregon’s first strategic plan in April 2023. The plan was developed in consultation with staff and members from all sectors. Read our strategic plan here.
On Internet Exchange Points and Local Peering in the Time of COVID-19 April 27, 2020 – One lesson that the COVID-19 pandemic has already taught us is the importance of getting engaged and responding quickly in the face of the unexpected. And while it’s not clear exactly what impact working from home while sheltering in place will have on our networks over the long haul, we do know that network traffic […]