New Jersey's first statewide high-speed Internet network for colleges is scheduled to start operating by September. The $100-million project, called NJEDge.Net, will deliver data and video via dedicated broadband connections to 37 two- and four-year institutions.
The project is intended to guarantee high-quality video and data transmission among the member institutions through a private network backbone. New Jersey is following the example of other states, such as Missouri, Michigan, and California, that have set up their own high-speed networks dedicated to higher education. George G. Laskaris, the project's executive director, said he expects all the members to be on the network by June and that the network will be running at full capacity by September.
The dedicated network will improve the ability of member institutions, especially community colleges, to offer distance education, said Edward J. Yaw, president of the County College of Morris. For example, the telecourses that his institution offers will have much clearer video signals than they do now, he said.
The backbone will also enable more students to take more courses from the New Jersey Virtual University, a portal that lists distance-education courses offered by institutions in the state, and the New Jersey Virtual Community College Consortium, which allows students at participating colleges to take courses at other member colleges, Mr. Laskaris said. Both services currently run on the commercial Internet. NJEDge.Net will move some of their resources to the new network and enhance or add features to them, he said.
The colleges participating in the network include institutions of all sizes. But smaller ones, such as community colleges and small private colleges, stand to benefit the most in the short term, said Saul K. Fenster, president of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, one of the member institutions. Colleges that haven't had access to high-speed Internet connections, or couldn't afford them, will now have opportunities that otherwise would have been out of their reach, he said.
Members will also save money on Internet service because they can pay a flat fee for their dedicated network instead of paying time and distance charges on commercial Internet connections, said Edward V. Chapel, associate vice president for information technology at Montclair State University. He is also chairman of the board of directors for NJEDge.Net.
Five of the participating institutions are also Internet2 members, Mr. Laskaris said, so NJEDge.Net will also serve as a way for all its members to reach Internet2's national high-speed academic network, called Abilene.
The members will be able to share research and scarce resources and equipment, Mr. Laskaris said. For example, a researcher at a participating institution could remotely operate equipment at another university, instead of traveling there to use the equipment in person.
Another goal of the project is to foster tighter relationships with primary and secondary schools, says Jeanne M. Oswald, who is deputy executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and one of the original architects of the project. The NJEDge.Net members hope that giving elementary- and high-school students access will improve the quality of teaching in their classrooms and better prepare children for college.
The network is also intended to boost the state economy, Mr. Laskaris said. Workers will be able to upgrade their skills or acquire new ones through distance-education programs that the network will facilitate. Corporations will be able to join the network to take advantage of research and academic programs tailored to their industries. The corporate partners will not be full voting members because the network will be dedicated to higher education, he said.
Of the $100-million cost, $90-million is going to improve infrastructures on member campuses, and $10-million is paying for the intercampus connections, Mr. Laskaris said. Half the money for the project came from the institutions and the other half from a matching grant from the state Higher Education Technology Infrastructure Fund, which Christie Whitman, then governor, authorized in 1997 to help higher-education institutions plan their future use of technology and distance education.