newsletter one

As 2016 comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to wish you Happy Holidays and give you an update on the busy year we've had at the Capital Area Advanced Research and Education Network (CAAREN). Now in its fourth year, CAAREN has added a new member to the network (The World Bank Group) and received an award from the NSF for the grant "Substrate for Cybersecurity Education; a Platform for Training, Research and Experimentation (SCEPTRE)" to extend the Michigan Cyber Range over Internet2 to GW's Virginia Science and Technology Campus. This effort provides a regional high performance software defined network exchange (MSX) that is currently being used for research and education in cybersecurity, Internet of things, and smart city strategies. The MSX portal will be available over CAAREN to member institutions interested in connections with community based public-private partnerships in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC.

CAAREN staff continues to improve and expand our 100 Gig optical network infrastructure, and collaborative research opportunities for our members are more abundant than ever through participation in the MetroLab Network, Global Cities Team Challenge, Smarter DC, Gramercy District and SCEPTRE Initiatives. We are looking forward to another active year as we add new staff and services, and establish the cyber range hub as a regional cybersecurity education and training center. Next year will provide new opportunities for CAAREN members; please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist your institutes' participation in any of the regional network R&E programs described below.

Best wishes for 2017,

Donald DuRousseau
Director, CAAREN