New Jersey REN Adds Amazon Web Services

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 03/01/18

A New Jersey research and education network (REN) has signed a deal with Amazon to offer that company's web services to its members at reduced prices. Institutions, schools and districts that are members of NJEdge will be able to connect directly through the state's fiber connections run by NJEdge or create new ones through AWS Direct Connect, putting them, "one hop away" from Amazon's web services, CEO and President Samuel Conn told a reporter.

Under the arrangement, students and researchers at NJEdge member schools will gain access to cloud computing and storage resources for educational purposes, including Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS and VMware Cloud on AWS. The expectation is that users will reduce their costs, increase their capacity and get a more consistent network experience.

"Members will now have full and direct access to many technologies that are rapidly developing, or have yet to be developed, as well as the many innovative services and products available from AWS," said Conn in a prepared statement.

By reducing the costs and increasing the availability of these services, said Steven Rose, NJEdge board chair and president of New Jersey's Passaic County Community College, the arrangement "will greatly benefit students and educators in New Jersey, particularly those from underserved and disadvantaged populations."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • illustration of a human head with a glowing neural network in the brain, connected to tech icons on a cool blue-gray background

    Meta Introduces Stand-Alone AI App

    Meta Platforms has launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

  • illustration of an open book with lines and circles around it

    Foundations in Learning Launches Fluency for All Movement

    Ed tech company Foundations in Learning, creator of the WordFlight literacy assessment and intervention for students in grades 3-8, has kicked off a new movement aimed at improving reading literacy.

  • Stylized illustration showing cybersecurity elements like shields, padlocks, and secure cloud icons on a neutral, minimalist digital background

    Microsoft Announces Host of Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major cybersecurity advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.

  • cloud icon with a padlock overlay set against a digital background featuring binary code and network nodes

    Cloud Security Auditing Tool Uses AI to Validate Providers' Security Assessments

    The Cloud Security Alliance has unveiled a new artificial intelligence-powered system that automates the validation of cloud service providers' (CSPs) security assessments, aiming to improve transparency and trust across the cloud computing landscape.