Network Status
FLR News Updates
A compilation of Important Information and links related to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak
As Florida's universities and colleges transitioned to on-line learning in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, we at Florida LambdaRail renewed our commitment to providing the same excellent service our members and affiliates have come to expect from us. We understand doing our job, and doing it well, is essential to ensuring college and university operations continue with no disruptions.
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding how FLR may help your institution during the on-going Covid-19 response, do not hesitate to reach out to us. As always, we make it our mission to ensure your needs are met.
The FLR team
Covid-19 Information from FLR’s Partner Institutions
Read More
Deployed over 1,540 miles of dark fiber, the FLR network infrastructure provides for a dedicated statewide communications facility linking major nodes located in Pensacola, Crestview, Tallahassee, Tampa, Winter Haven, Miami, Orlando, Gainesville, Melbourne, Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville.
The foundation of the infrastructure is a dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)-based optical footprint using Cisco Systems’ NCS 2000 optical electronic systems with a capacity of 40 wavelengths per fiber pair. Each wavelength can support transmission up to 100 billion bits per second (100 Gbps).
On top of the optical infrastructure is built an Ethernet based MPLS transport facility which provides for Internet, Internet2 and high speed IPv4 and IPv6 transit between participants. Additionally, private layer 2 or layer 3 services (VPN) may be provisioned.
Each Equity Partner is provided a primary 10 Gbps and a secondary 1 Gbps connection to the MPLS backbone. Through advanced technologies, multiple waves are available along the optical backbone in support of primary and secondary access for each partner institution, as well as dedicated waves for research activities across institutional boundaries.
The network operations center is hosted at the University of Florida. For more information, see the FLR NOC website.
Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation
Utilizing dedicated and shared 100 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet or 1 Gigabit Ethernet high-performance data circuits, FLR participants are provided with additional capacity “on demand” to accommodate bursts in data-traffic, videoconference, or other special requirements.
ISP Connectivity
Connectivity to Commercial Internet Service Providers is available in order to provide economical and reliable Internet service to FLR participants.
National and International Research Connectivity
Connectivity to advanced production regional and national networks, such as Internet2, the GLIF, and Energy Sciences Network supports new applications and services.
High Speed IP transit
High Speed IP transit paths between participants, supporting both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. FLR is designed to allow growth in terms of the number of hosts connected as well as the amount of data transmitted.
Peering
Arrangements with other networks and traffic exchange points allow FLR to route and exchange network traffic, resulting in fewer hops and faster access to user destinations.
Dedicated Wavelengths
For research applications needing a dedicated wavelength service, FLR offers participants point to point 1.0, 2.5, 10 or 100 gigabits per second optical lambdas as a complement to the FLR optical-based backbone services.
Two new patents awarded to Florida Tech computer engineering and sciences professor Syed Murshid may help further boost the data-carrying capacity of optical fibers
The University of North Florida’s College of Arts & Sciences and College of Education & Human Services recently received a VOYA Foundation grant for their Quantum Physics Secondary Professional Development project, a collaboration with Duval County Public Schools (DCPS).
For its ranking of top Florida colleges and universities, the site assessed 150 public and private Sunshine State institutions, evaluating them on the basis of flexibility, faculty, course strength, cost and reputation. That process produced an “Intelligent Score” from zero to 100.
Florida Tech earned a 98.06, good for No. 4 among the 49 schools that made the cut.
UF will likely be the nation’s first comprehensive research institution to integrate AI across the curriculum and make it a ubiquitous part of its academic enterprise.
A new study from the University of South Florida (USF) is the first to provide direct evidence that light pollution is driving infectious disease patterns in nature.
The Spring 2021 symposium, open to everyone in the UF community, along with state and national constituents, will feature presentations from UF’s Artificial Intelligence Research Catalyst Fund awardees who are pursuing multidisciplinary applications of AI across the university. An overview of AI training and support services provided by UFIT’s Research Computing staff will also be presented.
The University of North Florida has been awarded a $200,000 federal grant from the NASA Human Research Program to support Dr. Candice Tahimic, assistant professor of physiology, in a two-year innovative research project to monitor cardiovascular health in spaceflight.
U.S. News & World Report has once again named Florida the top state in the country for higher education. Florida’s higher education system has held the top ranking for the last five years.
“The Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence is a revolutionary effort that combines our expertise in artificial intelligence, supercomputing, sensing solutions, big data analytics and autonomous technologies,” said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., dean, College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Using the organic polymer lignin — a compound in the cell walls of plants that makes them rigid — the FSU team was able to create battery electrolytes. Their research was published as the cover article in the journal Macromolecular Rapid Communications.
A research partnership formed just last year by Memorial Healthcare System and Florida Atlantic University is already being recognized for quality care, results, and advances in research, and that’s great news for patients fighting cancer in South Florida. The alliance between Memorial’s Cancer Institute and FAU (MCIFAU) has been recognized by the state’s Department of Health as a “Florida Cancer Center of Excellence.”
Building on South Florida’s momentum around technology and entrepreneurship, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has made a $10 million gift to FIU’s School of Computing and Information Sciences to develop technical talent at scale to meet the demands of industry and Miamians seeking to advance their tech skills.