ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Merit Network and the Connecticut Education Network (CEN) announced today a strategic partnership that provides CEN members discounted pricing on Merit’s Professional Learning and cyber security certification courses. Merit, a Michigan-based non-profit corporation that operates America’s longest-running regional research and education network, and CEN, the nation’s first all-optical research and education network, have a common goal of delivering valuable resources for their Members.
Through this collaboration CEN Members, comprised of educators (K-12 and higher education), municipalities, libraries, local businesses and State of Connecticut agencies, will have access to cyber security courseware and certifications, utilizing the infrastructure of the Michigan Cyber Range. Hosted by Merit, the Michigan Cyber Range is a virtual environment used to teach, train and test the security of strategic systems in the safety of an isolated world. Cyber security courses offered include penetration testing, ethical hacking, information security, digital forensics and more.
Both of the research and education networks have a common mission of providing Internet connectivity to the non-profit community and fostering collaboration between their member organizations, which include higher education institutions, K-12, libraries, municipal governments and healthcare organizations. CEN currently provides a fiber-optic connection to every K-12 school district in the state of Connecticut.
“We are very excited about our partnership with CEN and the State of Connecticut. Our classes and the Michigan Cyber Range will nicely complement the great value that CEN provides their members,” said Don Welch, president and CEO of Merit.
Merit also provides a catalog of in-person and live-online learning courses for IT professionals. These courses are designed to advance technology skills, such as networking, Linux security, business continuity, IPv6, project management and virtualization.
CEN’s Member organizations now have the opportunity to advance their information technology capabilities and cyber security skills at a special discounted price, utilizing Merit’s Professional Learning calendar. View Merit’s schedule of courses and events at www.merit.edu/learning.
This partnership is the first of its kind for CEN. Merit currently has Professional Learning partnerships with other research and education networks, including Great Plains Network, KINBER, NCREN, NJEDge.Net, NYSERNet and WiscNet.
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 on 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.
About CEN
Connecticut Education Network (CEN), the nation’s first all-optical research and education network, delivers reliable, high-speed Internet access, data transport, and value added services to its members throughout Connecticut. CEN helps deliver on the promise of equality in education by providing access to technology that schools and libraries would not be able to afford on their own. This investment is supported by private schools and institutions of higher education that are committed to the idea of overall improvement in education and broad support for access to technology.
For more information: www.cen.ct.gov/cen
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