Gov. Mark R. Warner unveiled a third generation broadband fiber-optic network connecting all of Virginia's university's to national and international research networks in the Dome Room of the Rotunda yesterday.
The new network was hailed for its significance in increasing the competitiveness of Virginia universities in conducting ground-breaking research and receiving federal research grants.
"If the Commonwealth is to be competitive, we must make our universities our intellectual capacity creators," Warner said. "We can create the knowledge that drives not just our economy but the way we lead our lives."
Such technology is essential to the competitiveness of the University as it strives to compete with schools like the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Maryland, which receive federal research funds that dwarf those of the University, University President John T. Casteen, III said.
"If we didn't do it, we were out of the game,"he said. "It's not so much if we do or if we don't get involved. Not to be involved is to give up on high-speed computing."
In his remarks, Casteen cited the value expanded bandwidth might have for the research of University Environmental Science Prof. Bruce Hayden as one example of a University research initiative that will benefit from the newfangled technology.
"Some of the projects have to do with transmitting massive quantities of data, others have to do with the capacity to pull together data," Casteen said.
The high-speed fiber-optic network within Virginia, called Vortex, will connect the Commonwealth to LambdaRail, a national-scale research network. The project is unique in that it will rely heavily on collaboration of universities within Virginia.
"I'm particularly proud that this collaboration is taking place between Virginia's universities," Warner said. "What we've done by choice is spread the technology across the [Commonwealth's] university system, so that there is no single flagship university."
The significance of technology and its ability to improve economic conditions in Virginia was a recurring theme for Warner, who mentioned the issue when he addressed Politics Prof. Larry Sabato's introductory American Politics class after his Rotunda appearance.
"If you get left behind in a knowledge economy, that's going to be more prejudicial than race, sex or anything else," he said.
Warner said he is particularly qualified to take a leadership role on technology issues for Virginia and the entire Southeast. He was elected to the governorship -- a position Virginia caps at one term -- after a lucrative career in business as a venture capitalist and the co-founder of Nextel, a large cellular phone company. As governor, Warner has been elected chairman of the National Governors Association.
"He's finishing up a very successful governorship," Sabato said.
Presidents of various Commonwealth research universities were present, and some spoke at the announcement. At the conclusion of Warner's remarks, Sabato presented the governor with a book about presidents, a tool he speculated Warner might find useful in the near future.
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