University officials hope to join the latest wave of Internet research technology by Oct. 1, but they have yet to secure any of the $12 million needed to fund the venture.
The University has been waiting for approval from Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst's office of $7.5 million in state funding before it can go ahead with plans to buy thousands of miles of underground high-speed fiber optic cables and use them to create a statewide data network for research.
Thirty other Texas colleges and universities are working with the University to build and operate the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN), which would become part of a national plan to create an information highway exclusively for higher education.
The colleges are negotiating to share the burden of the additional $5 million cost that will not come from state funds.
"The lack of state funding is stymying our efforts," said Dan Updegrove, the UT Vice President for Information Technology Services.
Updegrove said the University has been waiting since September for a signature from Dewhurst to release $7.5 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund to fund LEARN.
This fund was created by Gov. Rick Perry to promote job growth in Texas. A specific portion of it is dedicated to supporting technology research at the university level.
"The lieutenant governor is reviewing the proposal and will make a deicison very soon," said Mark Miner, a Dewhurst spokesman.
Updegrove said the proposed LEARN network will hook onto a similar national network, called the National Lambda Rail, that is being constructed between universities in Northern and Western states. Under the LEARN plan, the networks would connect in Dallas.
The networks will allow advanced research capabilities that are currently impossible because of the slower speed of the existing Internet.
"We want to be sure the University has researching capabilities equal to everywhere else," Updegrove said. "Texas can't afford to fall far behind."
Updegrove said because of the funding problems, he has had to look elsewhere for financial support.
In a worst-case scenario, the University may be able to use funds provided by the National Science Foundation to purchase underground cables needed for LEARN, Updegrove said.
The NSF granted the University $3.2 million to enable it to become a site with access to yet another computing network, known as the Teragrid.
National and state networks such as LEARN and NLR will give University researchers access to Teragrid.
Jay Boisseau, the director of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), the office coordinating the University's connection to Teragrid, said his office could use the proposed LEARN network to connect to the Teragrid system and thus allow LEARN a portion of the funding.
"[Updegrove is] trying to get me to use my funding," Boisseau said. "I haven't committed to doing that."
Boisseau said he has an obligation to connect the University to Teragrid by Oct. 1 but hasn't decided how he will make the connection.
Boisseau said Updegrove was "having trouble getting the money together" to build the network and that made him uneasy about agreeing to use LEARN. He said he questioned whether the network would be ready by his Oct. 1 deadline.
Be the first to comment on this article!