A Member-centric Business Model
As a 501c(3) non-profit, we have a singular focus to serve Oregon’s public sector and non-profit organizations. Our customers are our “members”, and we value our ability to partner with them in a high-touch, advisory capacity while delivering best-in-class broadband connectivity services.
Deep Roots in Research & Education
As Oregon’s research & education network (REN), we draw from the deep expertise of our founding member universities, partnering to advance innovation in research. Our deep connections across the national REN ecosystem, including organizations such as CENIC, Pacific Northwest Gigapop, and The Quilt (to name a few), help us learn and deploy best practices in the development of state-of-the-art fiber optic infrastructure across Oregon. We also collaborate on broader inter-state broadband initiatives, specifically related to middle mile infrastructure deployments.
A Collaborative Partner to the State of Oregon
With the State of Oregon’s Enterprise Information Systems as a founding member, Link Oregon is a collaborative partner to meet the State’s advanced connectivity and cybersecurity needs. Additionally, we advocate for strategic and sustainable broadband infrastructure expansion, such as our advocacy efforts in the Oregon Legislature and role in the Broadband Working Group in 2022 which led to the passage of the Broadband Bill HB 3201.
Networking Innovation
As Oregon’s Research and Education Network, we are focused on implementing state-of-the-art networking best practices in the technologies/services we provide our members. We host a statewide strategic planning effort for research computing collaboratively led by Oregon State University and University of Oregon representatives. We also work with our founding member universities and faculty to understand the evolving networking requirements of workloads such as AI/HPC and cybersecurity, AI-based prediction models for networking performance, and also emergent technologies such as quantum computing. We are actively working on a plan to deploy our first 400 Gbps network testbed in summer of 2024.
Commitment to Digital Equity
From Oregon’s Tribes to unserved remote rural communities in our state to underserved populations in Oregon’s metropolitan areas, we are passionate about championing broadband access as an accelerant of Digital Equity. As a non-profit, this focus uniquely differentiates us from commercial ISPs and allows us to effectively advocate for connectivity to these communities. We support and advocate for Tribal broadband and related Digital Equity initiatives across the ecosystem and are proud to serve as a founding member – along with Oregon State University and Rural Prosperity partners – of the Oregon Broadband Equity Coalition (OBEC), a statewide group of community organizations, Tribal Nations, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and business and government representatives working together to promote access to broadband.
Public-Private Partnerships
As the operator of a middle mile broadband network, we believe that the strongest outcomes in delivering “Internet for All” come from strategic alliances between us and the broader telecommunications ecosystem. We work with an ecosystem of community and commercial collaborators to build and maintain our systems and services. We have engaged with local and national telecommunications companies to access approximately 2,500 route miles of dark fiber-optic cable across the state of Oregon.
Championing a K-20 Network for Oregon
Link Oregon is working in partnership with technology leaders at several of Oregon’s Educational Service Districts (ESDs) to envision and implement a dedicated first-of-its-kind K-20 network for Oregon’s schools which are connected via our newly launched K-12 ESD Bundled Service, offering high-speed, resilient Ethernet Transport and Internet Transit with security and cloud connectivity. Please contact us if you are an ESD interested in partnering with us on this effort.