Menu
The Ecosystem for Research Networking (ERN, formerly the Eastern Regional Network) was formed to simplify multi-campus collaborations and partnerships in the Northeast, in order to advance the frontiers of research, pedagogy, and innovation. The ERN is first and foremost a network of people interested in pursuing this goal, and who use and manage the campus and regional research computing, data, storage and network resources that can make it happen.
The vision and mission of the ERN reflect the reality that multi-institutional collaborations are on the rise, but the data sets that support them are getting too large to transfer easily, the computing resources that they require often exceed the capacity of a single institution, and the expertise needed to support compute intensive research is scarce. To address these challenges, the ERN leverages the special relationship between researchers and the people who build and support research cyberinfrastructure in the region that it serves.
Our work is grounded in the research and education that occurs at nearly 2,000 public and private academic and research institutions in the Northeast. It starts with identifying opportunities, followed by proof of concept trials, then scaling up for successful ideas. Regional cooperation allows frequent face to face interaction at all levels, and accommodates the unique characteristics of the Northeast.
To simplify multi-campus collaborations and partnerships that advance the frontiers of research and innovation.
Through a partnership of educational institutions, research facilities, regional network providers, and Internet2, the ERN is committed to providing layered and transparent access to shared data, computing, and other core facilities for research projects located at partner sites to address the growing need for a regional research platform designed to support a diverse set of science drivers and education needs. The resulting layered approach offers the research community across the region access to a broad range of services and resources that are not available on any one campus alone.