Merit Network Taps Looking Glass

Merit Network Inc., a non-profit corporation, has selected Looking Glass Networks Inc. (Booth 220) to provide dark fiber supporting Internet connectivity in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Merit Network was Americas first regional research and education network. Founded in 1966, it was a pioneer in packet-switched networking, the core technology of the Internet. From 1987 to 1995, Merit managed the NSFNET, the first national research and education network, which led to the growth of the commercial Internet.

Looking Glass is extremely pleased to be chosen by Merit to provide the secure bandwidth capacity it requires to support critical research and educational needs, says Looking Glass CEO Lynn Refer. The quick delivery and flexibility we demonstrated on this project is yet another example of our focus on our customers and evidence of our metro experience and capabilities.

Using Looking Glass DarkGLASS services in Chicago, Merit plans to expand this solution into a bigger project involving other universities.

Merit is very pleased with the interaction and coordination of Looking Glass with the numerous parties involved in this project, says Brian Cashman, Merits manager of backbone network engineering. This darkfiber solution met both our immediate and long-term requirements for Internet connectivity while allowing us to realize a significant cost savings.

Cashman notes Looking Glass delivered dark-fiber services in two weeks from initial order.