Link Oregon Year in Review (2024): A Sharper Focus on Oregon Research Innovation

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by

Supriya Venkat
A collage of four images depicting: a man in a white shirt lookeing at advanced computer screens; two robotics lab students; medical lab researchers, and an illustration of computing nodes over a picture of rural Oregon.

In 2024, we continued to deliver on our core mission of broadband connectivity for Oregon’s public and non-profit sectors with a persistent focus on member service and delight. In a world where connectivity is a premium yet mostly invisible “utility”, we firmly believe that operators of Research and Education Networks (RENs) will continue to move up the value stack as trusted technical integrators and advisors to their members on all matters related to networking. This year, our small but mighty team did exactly that – implementing network upgrades and new services, planning for a future backbone at 400 Gbps, and facilitating impactful inter-institutional research collaborations.

Strengthening our Portfolio

This year, we bolstered our services portfolio with new services and additional capabilities and upgrades.

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  • Bundled Connectivity Service for Oregon K-12 and Public Libraries: Working with K-12 partners, we implemented a connectivity model for Oregon’s Educational Service Districts (ESDs) that will support a statewide K-12 network. Subsequently, we introduced our first bundled connectivity service for ESDs. A similar offering is also now available for Oregon public libraries.
  • Enhanced DDoS Mitigation Services: In addition to volumetric mitigation, we now offer add-on capabilities for network analytics, automatic DDoS detection and diversion, and web application security.
  • Network Updates: We upgraded our connection to the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX) to 100 Gbps. We continue hardening our network, with particular focus in 2024 in southern Oregon and around Corvallis.

Supporting Oregon’s Innovation Ecosystem

Link Oregon increased our efforts to foster meaningful collaborations across Oregon’s research innovation ecosystem in 2024. This year, we partnered with university members on the following initiatives:

  • NSF Regional Innovation Engine (RIE) Projects: Link Oregon is supporting two of our founding member institutions that have advanced to the second round in the current NSF RIE competition with invitations to submit full proposals in early 2025.
    • Frontiers of Advanced Semiconductor Technology (FAST): Led by Oregon State University (OSU), FAST is a consortium of over 60 organizations, including the University of Oregon (UO), focused on revolutionizing integrated circuit manufacturing in Oregon. This RIE will expand the geographic footprint of the semiconductor ecosystem and advance technologies to benefit the Oregon economy.
    • Powerize NW: Led by Portland State University (PSU) and joined by OSU, this initiative focuses on a regional strategy that advances “front of the meter” energy storage technologies and products to facilitate renewable energy sources’ integration into the utility grid.
  • NSF Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) Proposals: This year Link Oregon partnered with several member institutions on three NSF CC* proposals:
    • OMIC Connection: We partnered with the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) on OIT’s proposal to address a critical gap in Oregon’s cyberinfrastructure and establish a high-speed fiber-optic connection between the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center (OMIC) in Scappoose and the Link Oregon backbone. The proposed infrastructure will support OIT’s Center of Excellence in Applied Computing (CEAC) and enable seamless, high-speed access to OMIC’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, such as AI-driven production and digital twin technologies.
    • Cyberinfrastructure Alliance for Oregon (CIAO): This proposal, led by Christy Long, Associate Chief Information Officer for Technology Infrastructure at the UO, is a collaboration between Link Oregon and Oregon’s eight public universities to: facilitate strategic planning for, and broader participation in, world-class research; address acute inequities in cyberinfrastructure resources and services, especially at smaller and under-resourced institutions; and support educational programs to build a skilled workforce for Oregon.
    • Hybrid quantum-classical network operations proposal: Led by UO professor and Link Oregon Chief Scientist Prof. Ram Durairajan, this CC* project envisions a next-generation Network Operations Center to democratize access to hybrid quantum-classical networking capabilities in campus and REN settings.

SC24 Debut

Multiple people standing in front of Link Oregon's booth at the Supercomputing 2024 convention.

Link Oregon partnered with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), OSU, PSU, and the UO to host our first-ever presence at SC24 in Atlanta, the annual high-performance computing conference, showcasing the growing body of exceptional, network-enabled research under the banner of “Oregon Innovates”.

The Road to a 400-Gbps Backbone

Network Map Updated 2023

In preparation for the next bandwidth upgrade to our backbone, we continued extensive testing this year to evaluate 400G-ZR+ technology as a future alternative to traditional optical transponders. The use cases, including the supercomputing capabilities in the forthcoming Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex at OSU, are emerging from Oregon’s research institutions as they take on more computationally intensive work that involves rapid and secure data sharing across institutions, both within Oregon and externally. Our current evaluations are focused on an initial set of network nodes in Portland, Salem, Corvallis, Eugene, and Bend. Stay tuned for more updates in 2025!

Tribal Engagement

Two recent federal funding award announcements brought good news to the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians (CTSI) in Oregon. Tribal nations disproportionately lack access to high-speed reliable Internet services and federal funding opportunities addressing this need are often highly oversubscribed. The awards are welcome news for this critical constituency in Oregon to meaningfully bridge the digital divide. Building on our track record of facilitating Oregon Tribal Broadband Summits, the NSF CC* regional strategy (CIAO) proposal includes a proposed Tribal Cyberinfrastructure Summit. We look forward to continue engaging with Oregon’s Tribes in 2025 as they enhance their digital sovereignty through advanced broadband.

Leadership Transition

Our executive director, Steve Corbató, who has led our organization since its inception, announced earlier this year his plans to retire early next year after seven years of service. Steve brought considerable prior experience with similar networks in two other Western states and the national Internet2 network. Under the direction of our Board of Directors, an executive search committee that includes Board members, IT leaders from several member institutions, and other technology leaders across Oregon is actively working to identify Steve’s successor and to prepare for a seamless transition.

As always, we wish to extend our deepest thanks to all our members, partners, and collaborators across Oregon’s Internet ecosystem who keep us grounded in our mission and inspire our culture of continuous improvement. A very Happy “Connected” New Year to all!

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