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Network Research OverviewMerit was founded by research faculty, and research remains the wellspring of innovation at Merit today. Our statewide network,
is an ideal laboratory and testbed for
new Internet technologies and services. As described by Eric Aupperle, Merit's first president:
A myth once believed by some is that after a network is installed and working it requires no further development.
In reality network technology like computers, continues to evolve. Merit has always been committed to pushing the
networking state-of-the-art.
Merit's Networking R&D group collaborates with researchers at Michigan's public schools, colleges, and
universities; with industry, and with Internet2.
Current Projects
Some of the historically significant successes of the group have included the development and deployment of the global collection
of Internet data known as the
Routing Assets Database (RADb);
the coordination activities of
NANOG—the largest forum for information
exchange between network operators; the development of the highly successful GateD routing protocol suite, as well as pioneering
development of distributed dial-in and AAA mechanisms. Other research efforts focus on network security
(the PREDICT project),
visualization (Flamingo),
and Web-based statistical analysis tools (BGP::Inspect).
Technology Transfer
Technology transfer is an important legacy of this activity. Over the years Merit has spun off
Advanced Network & Services,
NextHop Technologies, and
Interlink Networks
as independent organizations. Merit also worked with IBM, MCI, and the State of Michigan to build
the
NSFNET Backbone Service
from 1987-1995.
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