MUS-IX Collaboration Boosts Regional Connectivity for OneNet Subscribers

OneNet is continuing to work closely with regional partners to boost connectivity and generate cost savings that can be passed on to subscribers.

The Midsouth U.S. Internet Exchange (MUS-IX) is a regional collaboration of four research and education networks—OneNet in Oklahoma, ARE-ON in Arkansas, LEARN in Texas, and LONI in Louisiana.

The principal goal of MUS-IX is to provide an opportunity for the collaborators to reduce costs, enhance services, and coordinate participation in activities of mutual interest, such as national research and education networks, and other interconnections.

The partners originally chose Dallas, Texas, as a centralized collaboration hub, because every major internet and content provider has a presence in the city, making it a nucleus for internet services for the south-central states.

Initially, the regional partners provisioned multiple high-speed 100G fiber connections and wave services into the Dallas metropolitan network that intersect at shared facilities.

Recently, MUS-IX partners agreed to expand their presence in the Equinix data center in Dallas where the four networks interconnect. Leadership at each network decided to move to a larger shared space and peer with each other to enhance exchange network routes.

“Leadership at each network renewed their commitment to working together and growing our collective operations in Dallas,” said John Hennessey, associate vice chancellor for information technology and OneNet.

The MUS-IX collaboration enables additional vital services for OneNet in Dallas. This includes a redundant connection to Internet2 at Equinix. Internet2 is a 400G nationwide research and education network that connects the regional networks across the country and around the world.

To further enhance this connectivity, OneNet plans to upgrade our 100G connection to Dallas to 400G this year as part of a regional research network upgrade. Our engineering team has already upgraded our connection to Internet2 in Tulsa to 400G. These upgrades will substantially increase network capacity for high-speed scientific data transfer for researchers at Oklahoma’s colleges and universities.

In Dallas, MUS-IX partners on connectivity to internet exchanges and multiple content partners, such as Netflix, Apple and Google. This shared connectivity provides lower latency and better redundancy to content and services for subscribers or members of each network.

The networks are also able to share in expenses to generate consortium cost savings.

“Through this collaboration, we can do more together than individually, maximizing services for our subscribers and return on investment that allows us to pass on cost savings to our subscribers,” Hennessey said.

Read about OneNet’s other research engagements.