Merit Network, Inc. deployed more than 1,040 miles of fiber through June 2013 as part of its REACH-3MC project, a fiber-optic network funded by two BTOP grants that will provide rural Michigan communities with access to high-quality and high-speed Internet service. Part of this network includes fiber-optic cable crossing the Mackinaw Bridge that will connect Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and its more remote Upper Peninsula. Michigan’s public universities originally created Merit as a shared resource to help educational institutions meet their common need for state-of-the-art networking expertise and services. Merit has since implemented a 10 Gbps backbone to support the research and education needs of Michigan’s public university campuses.

Roger Rehm, chair of the Merit Board of Directors and Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Central Michigan University, said, “These are exciting times in higher education, and… Merit continues to position itself in the forefront of state research and educational networks and to underscore the competitiveness of higher education in the state of Michigan. These faster connections will more easily enable research partnerships and teaching collaborations… while the expanded bandwidth will provide the Michigan educational community with faster and more transparent access to educational programs and resources.”