Why R&E?
In 2023, we refreshed OneNet’s logo and changed our tagline to “Oklahoma’s Research & Education Network.”
Why R&E?
Research and education networks are state, higher education or non-profit organizations that provide internet and network services to community anchor institutions, most often research organizations, higher education institutions and K-12 schools. R&E networks provide advanced services that meet the high-speed connectivity requirements of researchers and educators to transport data across states and around the world for science, discovery and learning.
Most states have a R&E network like OneNet. See a list of networks on The Quilt’s website. The Quilt is a national member association for R&E networks.
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
In Oklahoma, our network is a division of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. In 1996, OneNet was established as part of OSRHE as an expansion of OSRHE’s educational talk-back television network. We were created to expand distance learning and begin connecting higher education institutions, K-12 schools, career technology centers and libraries to the internet.
Since 1996, we have connected government agencies at all levels, primarily our state agency counterparts, to the internet. We also connect hospitals and clinics through their participation in the federal Rural Health Care Program. That’s why our mission statement states we serve research, education, health care and government institutions.
As the internet has expanded and grown, we have upgraded our network to provide the high capacity that meets the transport requirements for data-intensive, global research. We provide 100G services to Oklahoma’s research universities, and we’re in the process of upgrading those services to 400G.
Internet2
In 1999, OneNet connected to Internet2, a national R&E network. Internet2 enables Oklahoma’s global research participation through a 400G nationwide network that connects researchers and educators to the world. Internet2 serves U.S. universities, government agencies, and regional and state education networks, through them supporting more than 80,000 community anchor institutions.
OneOklahoma Friction Free Network
In 2013, Oklahoma’s research universities created the OneOklahoma Friction Free Network. Since 2020, OneNet has led many expansions of OFFN, a dedicated part of OneNet’s network that enables high-volume data transfer for high-performance scientific computing needs.
The OFFN network also provides access to Oklahoma’s supercomputing resources to the smaller colleges and universities across the state, empowering capabilities for students and faculty without geographic limitations. OneNet will soon connect a total of 30 higher education locations to the OFFN network.
OneNet continues to advance our network to improve capacity and speeds for research and education. The 400G upgrade we are currently designing will create new opportunities for Oklahoma’s scientific community and remove barriers for researchers, educators and students. Watch for more to come on this.
We’ll keep you posted!