OARnet and the State of Ohio recently finalized an agreement for OARnet to provide the network backbone for the State and its various agencies. The agreement between OARnet/Ohio Board of Regents and Department of Administrative Services will add nearly 2,300 end-sites to the network for $3.2 million per year.

Aggregating the State of Ohio’s broadband and networking needs to the existing OARnet client base benefits all stakeholders. With the recent 100 Gbps upgrade, there is ample bandwidth to meet everyone’s needs.

The state will streamline its services, which will positively affect various agencies. Meanwhile, OARnet will be able to expand current services with the added operating funds. For example, the Network Operations Center is now staffed 24x7x365.

Together, the State of Ohio, as well as K-12 and Higher Education, will benefit from the increased aggregate purchasing power to reduce Internet rates for all stakeholders in FY2015.