Reliable and affordable high-speed internet is an all-important cornerstone to community engagement, learning, and research. Enterprise Technology & Services manages iBeamNH, a state-wide, high-speed internet network that provides connectivity to 70 sites in all 10 counties across New Hampshire, including all six University System of New Hampshire (USNH) institutions, the Community College System of New Hampshire, and many nonprofits. This robust, comprehensive network allows USNH to provide critical internet services to many communities across the state while allowing the System to collaborate with peer institutions across New England, in the areas of technical expertise and the ability to create a large buyers group that allows for affordable, reliable internet.
ET&S first established the USNH Wide Area Network in 1995 to exclusively serve USNH institutions. Two years later, USNH hired a dedicated network engineer. In 2011, USNH secured a major government grant, and iBeamNH was born in 2013.
Brent Ruggles is a former IT Manager for Grafton County in New Hampshire. “USNH introduced a whole new way to think about networking services,” Ruggles said. “We see this as a partnership that we’re happy to be a part of because the USNH team truly cares about our internal network, not just their own.”
iBeamNH quickly grew into a multiservice organization, serving over 50,000 users in New Hampshire with significant fiber and equipment resources to help serve education, government, public safety, public health, and other vital public-serving institutions. Building its own fiber network allowed USNH to take advantage of running its own equipment and allows USNH to determine how much bandwidth it can provide to all our sites. Instead of paying high fees to independent internet service providers for compromised bandwidth, USNH invested in its equipment and has enough extra bandwidth to provide services to other non-profits throughout the state. iBeamNH
Josh Olstad is the IT Director for the Oyster River Cooperative School District. “No internet service provided has this level of service,” Olstad said. “Outages are rare, but when we need support, it is important that we can get on the phone with a real person - one whom we know and who knows us.”
iBeamNH is built on collaborative relationships within USNH and beyond. USNH built these reciprocal partnerships with sister institutions across six New England states and New York, enabling all partners to leverage collective buying power for equipment and services and widely distribute infrastructure footprints for enhanced diversity and reliability. The volume provided by these partnerships allows USNH to purchase internet directly from Tier One providers in Boston and New York at a reduced rate and access Internet 2 and Internet 2IPX, which connects research institutions and several cloud service providers.
Within the state, iBeamNH directly connects Keene State College, Plymouth State University, and the University of New Hampshire with unlimited internet bandwidth. Without the iBeamNH network, purchasing these services and the impressive service levels and uptime would not be possible.
Kevin Bresland is the former Director of Network and Security Services for Keene State College. “With (iBeamNH), I never have to think about my internet service provided because I know they’re handling everything – a completely different experience than my last job where I needed to be on my providers all the time,” Bresland said. “Their deep experience informs their network design of what works and what does not work, and their service approach is based on their experience as a customer.”
iBeam reflects the USNH vision, mission, and values to provide learning, research, and engagement for the greater New Hampshire community. This network is dedicated explicitly to solid partnerships with all it serves by providing personal and transparent attention to our partners, high technical performance, and high reliability, which is essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.
For more information, go to https://usnh.edu/ibeamnh.
