The Quilt, a national coalition of advanced regional networks for research and education across the country, today released a request for proposals (RFP) for the 2016 Commodity Internet Services (CIS) program. This will mark The Quilt’s 8th RFP effort for the CIS.

One of the goals of The Quilt is to provide advanced network services at a lower cost. Toward this goal, the coalition of Quilt members and Authorized Quilt Buyers purchase Commodity Internet Services (CIS) through several approved CIS providers who participate in the program.

The Quilt leverages the collective purchasing power of its participants to purchase advanced network services at a lower cost.  The Quilt then works to screen and qualify CIS vendors who meet the community’s requirements through a Quilt RFP process and then negotiate favorable pricing with Quilt-approved CIS vendors.

The Quilt Community collectively purchases 447 Gbps of committed commodity bandwidth from Quilt-approved providers established through the CIS.

Through the RFP process, our goal is to identify those providers who, through their IP transit Internet service offerings, are willing and able to be partners in the delivery and development of our research and education networks through the United States. We will look to our approved commodity Internet services providers for pricing discounts appropriate to our levels of bandwidth consumption. We seek provider partners who are able to provide the best value, be at the forefront of technology, and are willing to work closely with Quilt members to develop and expand technology beyond that of a standard provider-customer relationship.

To learn more, visit The Quilt’s 2016 Community Internet Services RFP Process Overview and Schedule. For any additional questions, please contact Jen Leasure at jen@thequilt.net.