Five Colleges, Incorporated: Five Colleges Complete $3.6M Fiber Network

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The Five Colleges Complete $3.6 Million Fiber Network; Teaching, Research and Local Communities to Benefit

The Five Colleges and local officials today celebrated completion of a 53-mile, $3.6 million fiber optic network that will provide virtually unlimited bandwidth for teaching and research to its member institutions while creating new economic development opportunities for seven Pioneer Valley communities.

The Five College Fiber Optic Network, owned by the consortium, is an initiative of the board of directors of the Five Colleges, composed of the presidents of the four colleges -- Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith -- as well as the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the executive director of Five Colleges. The celebration was held at the Campus Center of UMass Amherst, attended by state and local officials, collaborators and technicians who helped to develop the network, and Five College representatives.

The network connects the five campuses in a ring and connects that ring to Springfield, where it joins carrier services, Internet backbones and other regional research and education consortia. The fiber runs through seven municipalities: Northampton, Amherst, Hadley, South Hadley, Granby, Chicopee and Springfield. Through currently unconnected or "dark" fiber donated to the communities, these cities and towns will have an opportunity to gain access to much-needed infrastructure that can boost regional economic development and education.

"Some 40 years ago, the Five Colleges understood the need to provide transportation from campus to campus," said Lorna M. Peterson, executive director of Five Colleges, Inc., "and today they understand the importance of linking our campuses to each other and the rest of the world through an electronic highway that gives faculty and students ease of access to 21st-century communications."

Gov. Deval Patrick, in a letter to the consortium, said, "I commend the Five Colleges and their business partners for taking the initiative to bring fiber optic Internet to Western Massachusetts. This partnership is an excellent example of the great strides communities and educational institutions can take together to improve their neighborhoods."

The impetus to build the network grew out of the ever-growing demand for high-speed connectivity to the Internet and the anticipated increases associated with the four colleges leasing copper circuits to accommodate the need. UMass Amherst, as a national research university, had already installed fiber and was leasing a high-speed connection to Springfield when the project was first discussed in 2001. The university joined the project because it provided a backup path of fiber to Springfield, ensuring that its network would stay online if its current connection was disrupted.

Donna Baron, director of information technology for the Five Colleges, observed, "Five years ago when we began to envision solutions for our networking needs, we never imagined we would be donning construction hats and building a network ourselves. But given the economic downturn in the telecommunications industry, and the lack of existing infrastructure in our rural area, it proved financially more favorable for us to build the infrastructure."

The cost of the entire project is $3.6 million, but the network is expected to pay for itself within approximately seven years. The consortium will be able to dramatically increase its bandwidth and bring the four colleges up on Internet2 at a greatly reduced cost. From the carrier-neutral facility in Springfield where the network terminates, the schools will also have the ability to purchase data, voice, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and video services directly from providers and connect to other Internet backbones and research networks.

Installation of the fiber optic cable is complete, and Amherst, Smith and Mount Holyoke colleges are using some of its capabilities, with Hampshire expected to follow shortly. Detailed tests of the network are under way, and Baron said she expects the network to be fully operational this summer. The Five Colleges will work with the cities and towns in the coming months as they decide how to make best use of the donated fiber.

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