NevadaNet Background and Services

NevadaNet is the wide area telecommunications network utilized to support the research, distance educational, clinical, and administrative needs of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), the K-12 educational community, and other participating state and federal agencies. The System Computing Services (SCS) branch of NSHE manages NevadaNet.

From its modest beginning in 1970, NevadaNet has developed into a robust statewide backbone network. NevadaNet currently provides data connectivity and video conferencing services to approximately 200 predominately rural Nevada locations. These sites include NSHE college campuses, K-12 schools, hospitals, Native American communities, and a limited number of state and federal governmental entities. The NevadaNet network consists of a backbone connecting four major hub sites – Las Vegas, Elko, Reno, and Carson City. From these major hub sites, radial spurs consisting of primarily full or fractional T1 leased circuits extend to the individual rural site locations. NevadaNet also provides limited dialup telephone access via remotely located modem banks.

Intra-network data as well as commodity Internet connectivity is available to the majority of NevadaNet participants. Current NevadaNet initiatives focus on the following: increasing the bandwidth available for Internet connectivity, increasing the capacity and reliability of the NevadaNet backbone, and providing improved connectivity for urban campuses.
NevadaNet's interactive video network provides video conferencing connectivity for approximately 200 video sites throughout the state. Centralized scheduling, operational switching, and off-net multipoint conferencing are all services provided to NevadaNet participants.

SCS Network Services personnel, as a service to NevadaNet participants, provide planning and engineering services to assist various customers in attaching their LANs and WANs to NevadaNet in conformance with established standards. Assistance with equipment specifications, material acquisition, and equipment installation can also be provided.

SCS is not responsible for customer LANs or WANs, but can offer limited consulting and review of customer designs and operational problems. Additionally, if requested, SCS can assist in the selection of qualified vendors and/or consultants to identify and solve customer internal network problems.