A broad coalition of colleges and universities, healthcare organizations and economic development entities across Pennsylvania is seeking nearly $100 million in federal funding to build and maintain a broadband network that would greatly expand educational opportunities and healthcare services to millions of residents and thousands of businesses throughout the Commonwealth.

The Pennsylvania Research and Education Network (PennREN) has applied for funding through the American Recovery and Revitalization Act for the historic project. Another $29 million in private funds would support the proposed $128 million initiative.

Pennsylvania is among only a handful of states without an extensive broadband network, which has prevented the expansion of distance learning and other educational opportunities, has delayed the universal availability of telemedicine and has limited the ability of many of the state’s leading research universities to access and share critical information throughout the United States and the world.

The proposed network would reach every region of the Commonwealth, providing access and services to more than 5 million individuals in more than 2 million households and to 200,000 businesses. It would include 13 primary switching centers and approximately 50 secondary facilities within a 10-mile radius of designated anchor institutions. The system would rival any in the United States, and would provide the capability to connect regional networks across the Commonwealth.

PennREN’s founding members include the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Mid-Atlantic Gigapop for Internet 2 (MAGPI) at the University of Pennsylvania, Bucknell University, Drexel University, Lehigh University, Three Rivers Optical Exchange (3ROX), the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges, the Association for Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania and EINetworks, a collaboration of the Allegheny Library Association and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Coalition members offered the following comments about the project:

“This project is essential to the continued growth of PASSHE,” said PASSHE Chancellor John C. Cavanaugh. “It would expand our ability to offer distance learning and collaborative programs among our member universities while greatly benefitting the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

“The Pennsylvania State University will be able to use the expanded services available through this network on the first day it is operational,” said Penn State President Graham Spanier. “We expect significant cost avoidance and improved performance by using this network to connect all Penn State locations across the Commonwealth.”

“Our member community colleges are experiencing historic demand and PennREN will assure that we can respond to this need, not only in a traditional campus setting, but also through newer, innovative means to deliver courses,” said Diane Bosak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.

“It is critical that our hospitals and other healthcare providers have the advanced technologies available through this network to assure they can offer the finest care possible at the most reasonable cost,” said Martin Ciccocioppo, vice president and director of research for the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania and chair of the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative.

“This network would have great import for Bucknell University, providing better linkages between our university and other academic and research institutions,” said President Brian Mitchell. “It is also very important to help create the telecommunications infrastructure in regions of the state that have been historically underserved.”

“Improved access to high quality care can be made available through innovative telemedicine and online care opportunities, and this relies on a robust broadband and telecommunications infrastructure in the state,” said Diane Holder, executive vice president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and president and CEO of UPMC Health Plan.

“For many years, the private colleges of Pennsylvania have been deploying collaborative strategies to control operating expenses. The PennREN project promises to provide high-speed bandwidth for virtually every educational and cultural institution in the Commonwealth and in doing so promises to enhance collaboration among these institutions in areas where high-speed bandwidth has been the major constraint,” Said Tim Alexander, vice president for finance for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

The statewide network would provide Pennsylvania’s “world class” research institutions the capability to access to the leading edge technologies needed to share their work with partners, not only in the Commonwealth but throughout the United States, something they don’t have now, according to Gregory Palmer of MAGPI at the University of Pennsylvania and Wendy Huntoon of 3ROX.

The PennREN proposal was submitted by an independent, non-profit corporation to ensure the needs of all of the members and affiliates are addressed. The proposal has been endorsed by more than 25 state and regional organizations, all of which recognize that PennREN has the ability to transform education and healthcare in the Commonwealth for decades to come.