FALL E-NEWSLETTER 2019
Thorson on Broadband Advisory Council Infrastructure Working Group
With an historic $420 million investment in broadband infrastructure included in the Rebuild Illinois capital plan, Governor J.B. Pritzker launched a statewide strategic initiative to guide broadband expansion by naming 25 members to the Broadband Advisory Council. "Rebuild Illinois will improve our infrastructure at a historic scale, and it lays the foundation for economic progress and educational success for the decades to come," said Pritzker.

Marc Thorson, Executive Director of Regional Technology Services in NIU's Division of Information Technology, is serving on the Broadband Advisory Council's Infrastructure Working Group. Thorson also is part of the management team at NIU administering the iFiber Network.

Marc Thorson
Related Broadband Rebuild Illinois Headlines:
 
iFiber Board, Management Team Plan for the Future
Spotlight on iFiber Service Providers
iFiber works with a variety of trusted Service Provider Partners to promote high-speed network transport services to businesses and industries in the private sector. This quarterly e-newsletter will regularly feature those partners.  
 
The Aero Group   
The Aero Group has been an important Service Provider Partner with iFiber since the network's beginnings. Aero offers iFiber customers a variety of services, including: Internet and telephone, fiber optic transport services, server and workstation virtualization. Located in Freeport, IL, the company was founded as Aero Computing in 1994 by Richard Rutter and his family. Dedicated to the high standards of quality and integrity, Aero began offering computer systems and training to the Lena community. In early 1996, the Rutter family joined forces with the Heinrich family and other forward-thinking investors from the local community to bring Internet Services to the surrounding communities under the Aero Internet Services, Inc. banner. In 1998 Aero Internet Services, Inc. formed an LLC corporation called Aero Communications, Inc. with 50% of the ownership belonging to Aero Internet Services, Inc. Read the FULL STORY. 
Technical Information Security Administrator, Terry Bainter (center) and Tom Kinser, IT Service Operations Supervisor, discuss high availability configurations and services available at TriRivers Data Center, Rockford, with iFiber's Herb Kuryliw.
(Photo by Kathy Siebrasse)
TriRivers Data Center in Rockford Offers
World-Class Technology Solutions 
 
TriRivers Data Center is an important member of iFiber's growing list of regional Data Center partners throughout the region. Data Centers are vital to iFiber's mission to provide services that help customers save money on operating costs while giving access to an advanced infrastructure, greater bandwidth capacity and reduced latency.  
 
Data Centers like TriRivers offer access to managed services that keep pace with increasing business needs, while increasing uptime and reliability. Colocation facilities offer different types of space, from cages and cabinets to suites, which can meet any customer's requirements.
 
TriRivers Data Center began in 2004, forming as a joint venture between SwedishAmerican Health System in Rockford, IL, andthe FHN healthcare system, in Freeport, IL. The goal was to develop a solid, modern, and cost efficient infrastructure needed to support the complex Health IT systems that exist in today's healthcare environment.
 
"The result is a highly-skilled Health IT organization that has developed high-speed fiber optic networks, as well as a full service carrier class telecommunications facility and data center in Rockford, "said Terry Bainter, Technical Information Security Administrator at TriRivers. Read the FULL STORY.
Did You Know? 
 
   NIU's Regional Technology Services Offers Cloud Storage?  

Northern Illinois University Regional Technology Services is offering a new file storage 
offering for iFiber and DATA customers. This file storage is available to customers through a dedicated connection and  

  • Use Server Message Block (SMB) or Network File System (NFS) 
  • Pay for what you use
  • Snapshot capabilities available
  • Competitive rates compared to large cloud storage providers

For more information, e-mail us at sales@niu.edu.
E-Rate Resources
     Funding to Schools & Libraries through E-Rate 

E-Rate is a program of USAC that gives funding to schools and libraries through an open bidding process. USAC, or the Universal Services Administrative Company, is an entity designated by the Federal Communications Commission responsible for administering a roughly $10 billion fund that can be used to pay for Internet connections within impoverished regions, whether rural or urban. Eligible schools and libraries may receive discounts ranging from 20-90 percent on telecommunication services, depending on economic need and location. In Illinois, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has entered into state master contracts with vendors to support ICN customers for their E-rate category 2 purchases. The original RFP was made available via an E-rate form 470 thus allowing schools and libraries that are ICN customers to order from the state master contracts directly without having to issue an E-rate form 470. The state has already conducted a competitive bidding process and selected vendors. Additional information is available on the iFiber website.
Monitoring Center Adds Automated After-Hours Menu
  
Northern Illinois Monitoring Center (NIMC) is designed to provide wide-area support for iFiber Community Anchor Institution network administrators registered with NIMC to access services. NIMC now has an automated after-hours menu and a new after-hours Service Desk company. The NIMC number is 1-877-753-8100, where you will hear a message and asked to choose Option 3 to reach a live agent. This service introduced in July 2019 gives NIMC greater flexibility in updating emergency notification messages, as well as stronger metrics and measures to evaluate the effectiveness of this service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at sales@ifiber.org.   
Network Administrators : Register your organization's authorized administrators at 877-753-8100.    Sign up for e-mail alerts for advance notice about maintenance on the iFiber network or notification of a network down at   www.nimc.niu.edu