The University as a
Technology and Information Broker

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is located in an area of continued expansion in technology development. Beginning with the focus provided by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Army’s Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) and Space and Strategic Defense Command (SSDC), UAH has continued to increase both its educational and research missions. In 1996, UAH was awarded 33.3 million dollars in externally sponsored research and 2.6 million dollars in state funded research. This accounted for 38.8% of the total university budget. In concert with these activities, the Huntsville area has become a commercial technology center led by corporations such as ADTRAN, SCI, and Intergraph.

The development and expansion of information technology is an essential part of and a major motivator in the continued growth and prosperity of the University, the region, and the state. UAH, an Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) institution, is situated as a technology and information broker in an otherwise mostly rural state. The combination of externally sponsored research, collaboration with other educational institutions, cooperation with industry, and the University’s graduate and undergraduate instruction provides a central source for research and information dissemination. UAH also serves as a central point of network communication with access to several different network systems. UAH is connected to the standard Internet through the Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN), the NASA Internet (NI), and is in the process of establishing its High Speed Network Service (vBNS) connection and an intra-city supporting network. Since our researchers anticipate the need to access the NASA Research and Education Network (NREN) and the Defense Research and Education Network (DREN), we have founded and sponsored the Hunsville High Performance Network Group with representatives of the federal, state and local government.