April 24, 2012
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Merit Network, Inc. announced today that it will provide hosted, managed services as part of Internet2’s NET+ Services to Internet2 member organizations and InCommon subscribers. As part of a new agreement, services from two major product lines of Merit’s services portfolio, Merit Hosted Applications and Merit Hosted Infrastructure, are now also offerings under the Internet2 NET+ Service portfolio. The services are cost effective, easy to administer, leverage both organizations networks, and do not incur additional input/output (I/O) costs.
“As the longest running Regional Optical Network (RON) in America, Merit Network has built a successful track record through collaboration. Merit will continue to support our Members and fellow RONs across the country with opportunities for direct collaboration and service offerings that support the strategic goals of Research and Education,” said Merit President and CEO, Don Welch.
“I am pleased to announce enhanced collaboration between Merit Network and Internet 2. The hosted, managed services Merit will offer as part of Internet2’s NET+ Service Portfolio will provide more organizations in the greater educational community with the same opportunities for cost savings and operational efficiencies that Merit Members and other RONs currently benefit from,” Welch said.
The MeritMail Collaboration Suite (MeritMail) will be the first Merit Hosted Application service offered to Internet2 members. Powered by Zimbra, MeritMail is a collaboration suite that includes email, calendaring, and document sharing—all accessible from a dynamic web interface. Merit currently manages over 400,000 MeritMail accounts and is the largest Zimbra hosted email provider for .edu.
Two additional hosted applications that Merit will offer through Internet2 NET+ Services are MeritList Manager, allowing Members to manage large distribution lists and send email to many subscribers at once, and Merit WebConnect, an enterprise-level web conferencing solution.
Internet2 and InCommon members, along with Merit Members, are now able to purchase Merit Hosted Infrastructure to meet their individual needs. Three Merit Cloud Storage offerings are available: Archive Storage, Remote Backup Storage and Merit VirtualDataCenters.
“Key benefits of these Merit Hosted Applications and Hosted Infrastructure services include retaining complete ownership and integrity of user data, assurance that Members’ data resides in Merit’s Community Cloud, 24/7/365 support from the Merit Support Center and no I/O costs,” said Leslie Williamson, director of Merit Services.
“We’re excited about providing these benefits to institutions in the broader R&E community in support of their strategic objectives.”
About Merit Network
Merit Network Inc., is a nonprofit corporation owned and governed by Michigan’s public universities. Merit owns and operates America’s longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan’s public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained at the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking and IT solutions to Michigan’s public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations.
For more information: www.merit.edu
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