Fiber-optic network
Universities need Lambda Rail access.

Published: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - 2:00 am

South Carolina's research universities should have access to an ultra-high speed Internet backbone that allows researchers across the nation to rapidly share information and advanced computer models. The longer the state goes without access to the so-called National Lambda Rail, the further it could fall behind.

The fiber optic line is painfully close, running through Anderson County on its way from Charlotte to Atlanta. And without access to the line, South Carolina's universities can't compete for -- or even apply for -- some federal grants, including some from the National Science Foundation, Jim Bottum, Clemson's chief information officer told Greenville News writer Anna Simon.

Help may be on the way. As part of the state House budget proposal, the House Ways and Means Committee has approved $1.5 million each for Clemson, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina to use toward creating a state system, dubbed the "South Carolina Light Rail," that would connect the state's research universities to each other and to the national network.

This is a statewide Internet project that deserves support. Research universities increasingly rely on the ability to rapidly exchange large volumes of data over great distances. Preventing the state's schools from doing this puts them at a disadvantage. And that only inhibits the state's ability to promote a high-tech, knowledge-based economy fueled by university research.