MIDnet, Inc.: About Us: News:Award Announcement

About Us: News

MIDnet Announces Award for Integrated Communications Pilot

LINCOLN, Neb, February 27, 2003 - MIDnet, Inc. is pleased to announce it has awarded the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville a grant to implement a proof-of-concept project for the migration of its telephone system to packet switched technology. The new technology will support the integration of information systems for voice, data, video, and other transmissions.

"The University of Arkansas project has regional and national implications. It will provide valuable data, training and experience to organizations that have telephone systems that do not support integration of voice, data and video. Integration of communication is the future." stated MIDnet Chairman J.L. Albert.

Donald Blagg, lead investigator for the grant stated, "The project will directly benefit the University's Computing Services Help Desk and its constituency of over 15,000 students and more than 3,000 faculty and staff as well as other universities, public agencies, and private businesses. The University of Arkansas was a charter member of MIDnet and we are extremely excited about the opportunity to continue to assist MIDnet in serving its mission of regional network education and information exchange."

MIDnet became the first of the regional networks (the pre-cursor to today's Internet) to become fully operational in 1987. MIDnet's original focus was to create a regional network for accessing and exchanging information. Throughout its history, information exchange continued to be a major focus. MIDnet moved from a University of Nebraska organization to non-profit status in 1992. Two years later, MIDnet was acquired by a California start-up. The board of directors of MIDnet reorganized and has reestablished MIDnet as a quality provider of network education and information exchange.

The Arkansas General Assembly established the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1871 as the Arkansas Industrial University. In accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862, the University became the state land-grant institution and first state-assisted college in Arkansas. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System, which consists of eleven separately run four and two-year institutions, the Division of Agriculture, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and the Criminal Justice Institute. As a land-grant university, the University of Arkansas has a mission of teaching, research, and service. Their vision is to become a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world. Computing Services has been a part of the University since the mid 1960s, providing support for all aspects of the University mission.

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Contact: info@midnetinc.org

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