UPDATE: Connectivity restored by 5 a.m.; hardware or software issue to blame

LANSING, MI -- The Internet service provider for several Michigan universities was offline early morning Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Merit Network, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit member-governed organization that handles computer networking services, was reported down about midnight. A representative from the organization told MLive.com technicians were aware of an issue and were working to rectify it.

Merit Network provides Internet service to Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Western Michigan University, Oakland University, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan Technological University, Grand Valley State University, Northern Michigan University, Lake Superior State University and Ferris State University, among other institutions and organizations.

Internet outages were reported at many of Michigan's universities late Tuesday evening as a winter storm moved across the state.

The representative from Merit Network declined to comment further.

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