Texas A&M University System Picks Ribbon to Drive Private 5G

Ribbon Communications Inc., a global provider of real time communications technology and IP optical networking solutions to many of the world’s largest service providers, enterprises, and critical infrastructure operators to modernize and protect their networks, today announced that Texas A&M University (TAMU) has selected Ribbon’s NPT IP Routing for wireless backhaul on its private 5G research network.

Designed specifically for the TAMU research community, the network connects the labs at the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) with Engineering and Computer Science labs on TAMU’s main campus, the public safety training area at Disaster City, and the labs and testbeds at the RELLIS Campus.

“As one of the world’s most advanced research centers, we require a state-of-the-art network to conduct testing in areas such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, advanced manufacturing, smart grids, software-defined networking, next generation wireless networks, and more," said Michael Fox, Interim Executive Director, ITEC, TAMU. “Working with Ribbon ensures that we benefit from the highest guaranteed performance for these mission critical communications.”

The network leverages Ribbon’s advanced NPT 1800 multi service aggregation router and NPT 2100 access edge and pre aggregation router, part of Ribbon’s comprehensive IP Wave portfolio, for increased performance and availability. Architected to help providers build and operate multi-layer data and optical networks, IP Wave solutions seamlessly fuse optimized hardware and automation software with an open architecture, and deliver the agility required to rapidly create and implement innovative new services.

“TAMU is a world-class university with unparalleled research capabilities, and we’re proud to support them with solutions that enable continued innovation across an extensive range of disciplines,” said Branon Kane, N. American Enterprise Sales Lead, Ribbon. “Our state of the art offers are designed to provide higher education institutions with the capacity, security, and agility they require in today’s connected learning environment. We look forward to a fruitful relationship.”

Ribbon Communications delivers communications software, IP and optical networking solutions to service providers, enterprises, and critical infrastructure sectors globally.

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, and the RELLIS Campus, the Texas A&M System educates more than 152,000 students and makes more than 24 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year.

Since 2004, ITEC has focused on evaluating emerging technologies and their real-world applications for critical communications, infrastructure, and data interconnectedness.

As an applied research center, ITEC has been instrumental in the development of Next Generation 911 (NG 911), public safety broadband technologies, advanced regional networks, and industry collaboration events and exercises aimed at proving next generation interoperable communications.

Texas A&M ITEC convenes government, industry, practitioners, and academia, creating collaborative teams to identify problems, define solutions, and get technologies in the hands of first responders and other front-line professionals for test and evaluation.

The aim of every effort is to advance the practical use of communications technologies to benefit communities, public safety, and national security.