I’m writing this blog in recognition of the 60th anniversary of Merit, a non-profit network operating in Michigan. There aren’t many network entities that can trace their beginning back to 1966 when Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University formed the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad (MERIT) with the goal of networking the universities together. Through a grant from the National Science Foundation that was matched by the Michigan Legislature, Merit successfully networked the mainframe computers at the three universities in 1971.
Merit played a role in the early development of the commercial Internet. In 1987, Merit partnered with IBM, MCI, and the Michigan Strategic Fund to create and manage NSFNet, a venture funded by the National Science Foundation to connect universities to a series of five supercomputers. That network was founded in 1986 and quickly bogged down due to the network speed of 56 kilobits per second. By 1988, Merit had connected 13 nodes on the network to operate at the blazing speed of 1.5 Mbps. From 1987 to 1994, Merit organized a series of Regional-Tech meetings around the country to add 170 other universities and networks to NSFNet. In 1996, Merit joined numerous other universities to create the Internet2 fiber network.
Merit established an early goal to connect all educational entities in Michigan to an interconnected network. This work got a huge boost in 2010 with two federal grants that helped to build 2,287 miles of middle-mile fiber across Michigan. The Merit network today reaches throughout the state, including 70 new miles of fiber funded by a federal grant in 2022 to reach the Upper Peninsula.
This blog refers to Merit as a quiet success, which I think is an apt description. While well-known in the education and government sectors in Michigan, Merit is like other middle-mile networks and is not well-known to the public. This is partially because Merit, like other middle-mile networks, doesn’t seek publicity, but also because it operates quietly behind the scenes. People recognize that their local school, library, or community college has fast gigabit broadband, but don’t know that Merit brought that broadband and manages the underlying network.
Currently, Merit is connected to 3,041 member locations in Michigan, which includes 863 higher ed locations, 633 K-12 locations, 526 government locations, 325 non-profits, 235 healthcare locations, and 212 libraries. Merit is also connected to 247 meetpoints with for-profit ISPs and carriers that use the middle-mile network to spread last-mile broadband throughout the state.
Merit’s reach is huge. The network now brings faster broadband to 1 million K-12 students and 250,000 college and university students. There is still room for growth and expansion. While Merit reaches 100% of public 4-year colleges and universities, it reaches 45% of private colleges and universities, 93% of community colleges, 14% of K-12 schools, and 8% of libraries.
Merit is not just a middle-mile fiber provider. A few years ago, Merit launched the Michigan Moonshot initiative, which aims to benefit communities through data and mapping analysis, infrastructure planning, and digital inclusion research and programs. Merit participates in Eduroam, the worldwide initiative to provide WiFi access by allowing visiting students and faculty to log on with their home-campus credentials from any other participating institution. Merit participates in the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp sponsored by the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe, which brings hands-on experience working with fiber technology.
There are other non-profit networks around the country that connect schools, universities, and libraries. But none have been around as long as Merit, and few have have the reach and impact in their state that Merit has achieved in Michigan.