Contact: Jim Laird

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State has made a new investment in advanced technology infrastructure in support of its faculty, staff and students engaged in cutting-edge research.

In late September, MSU became the first university in the state to connect to the Internet at a rate of 100 gigabits per second. By comparison, it first connected to the Internet in 1988 at 56 kilobits per second.

“This enhanced connectivity is essential to our diverse and growing research enterprise, as well as the teaching and service components of the university’s mission,” said David Shaw, Mississippi State’s vice president for research and economic development.

A major upgrade of the Mississippi Optical Network (MissiON) — www.mission.mississippi.edu — by C Spire earlier this year made MSU’s new connection possible.

“Connecting to MissiON at 100 gigabits per second enables our researchers to better compete against other institutions across the country and around the world for funding awards that require high-speed connectivity. It also facilitates greater collaboration with our peers,” said Shaw, who is chairman of the MissiON Network Advisory Council.

Steve Parrott, Mississippi State’s chief information officer, and MSU Information Technology Services (MSU ITS) worked closely with C Spire and the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services to launch the university’s new connections to the Internet and to Internet2.

“Over the course of the last three decades, Mississippi State has made significant investments in technology and related resources that have fostered research and learning,” Parrott said. “Achieving this latest milestone in connection speed required a dedicated effort and countless hours of careful planning and execution, and I’m very proud of the outstanding work by the MSU ITS team members who worked so hard to make it happen.”

As the Magnolia State’s leading research university, MSU’s research expenditures totaled $239.4 million in FY 2016, including more than $10 million in computer science — an amount placing the university in the top 50 nationally for that discipline. The university is also certified as a National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence in both Information Assurance Education and Research, as well as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations. The university’s High Performance Computing Collaboratory’s newest supercomputer is the 20th fastest system in U.S. academia. Learn more at www.research.msstate.edu.

Visit www.its.msstate.edu for information about MSU Information Technology Services.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.