The WiscNet Vision - "The strength and resources of the members are WiscNet." This
is the philosophy that brought education folks together in the effort to get high-speed
Internet access in 1989. That effort began with 24 charter members, including the
University of Wisconsin institutions and eight private colleges and universities, and
began operation in January of 1991 under a grant from the National Science
Foundation. Today, WiscNet has a member community more than 500, strong
including all of the universities and technical colleges, most of Wisconsin's K-12
schools and private colleges, many hospitals, libraries, and city and county
governments, as well as a number of non-profit organizations. The focus has
always been to give members state-of-the-art network services that join members
inside the state, as well as connecting members to colleagues around the nation and
world - not just connecting locations, but connecting people. Additionally, WiscNet
works with our members to shape and create services that are good for the members
and leverage the strength of the cooperative.

WiscNet Collaboration - WiscNet member collaborations include:

o Efforts with videoconferencing leaders in our community (WI Technical Colleges,
CESAs, and several UW System institutions: UW-Colleges, UW-Extension, and
UW-Madison) investigating the development of full feature videoconferencing over
the WiscNet IP network.

o WiscNet & StateNets. There are at least 40 public and non-profit organizations like
WiscNet whose professionals operate statewide education networks that serve a
substantial portion of a state's K-20 education and library institutions. During the last
two years, several WiscNet staff have worked steadily to develop our interstate
relationships and compare and contrast the services each provide.

o WiscNet is partnering with several other educational networks in the upper Midwest
to begin the Great Lakes Light Rail (GLLR) initiative that will interconnect and
coordinate educational networking in our area. These efforts will result in new
opportunities to reduce interstate circuit costs and, more importantly, provide higher
quality connectivity for WiscNet members.

o Through a WiscNet web-based learning pilot, K-12 teachers are learning how to
use Blackboard as a teaching tool for the classroom and for professional
development.

WiscNet Opportunities - In addition to developing the network that joins our members,
we also provide opportunities for face to face networking within the WiscNet community
with our regional briefings and annual Future Technologies conference. The goal of our
briefings is to talk about emerging issues pertinent to education and public service,
identify existing resources in the WiscNet cooperative, and present examples of how
other members are addressing these issues.

The Future Technologies Conference offers our members a preview of emerging
technologies and their potential applications for education. Past topics have included
Internet2, e-Learning, IP video and new network technologies. The 2003 conference
will be held May 5-6 at Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin.

Other WiscNet Services - WiscNet also provides services such as web hosting, email,
Internet content filtering, Blackboard, and technical support. To facilitate technical
support efforts, WiscNet developed the WiscNet Toolbox, providing members with
tools that will assist them in performing self-directed network troubleshooting.

WiscNet Future - Looking to the future, we are developing new services to help the
members. 2-way Video, Blackboard services, United Streaming, and Content Brokering
are all items on our radar that, along with members, we hope to develop.

(Author and contact: Andrea Deau - adeau@wiscnet.net; Website - www.wiscnet.net)