Community Day preview: People are ‘networking the network’ at MCNC

Network. Teamwork. Make Ideas Work.

MCNC annually has offered a face-to-face networking event for its constituents through the annual NCREN Community Day. This year’s event celebrating the power of the North Carolina Research and Education Network, better known as NCREN, will be on Thursday and Friday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Raleigh Brownstone-University.

Today, MCNC serves the public good by creating unprecedented opportunities for all North Carolinians on a world-class broadband network, and NCREN (now at 2,600 miles) continues to amaze with its expansion and growth.

But, as this year’s theme suggests, it’s more than just operating a high-speed, statewide fiber network.

“While networking is at the core of what we do, it’s more than technology – it’s people,” said Darleene Heath, director of communications and member engagement at MCNC. “It’s about how we all can work together to develop exciting results for innovative ideas using the power of the North Carolina Research and Education Network.”

NCREN Community Day provides a valuable opportunity to engage with influential North Carolina community leaders and network with constituents and peers from around the country. More than 200 top education, government, and technology executives are set to participate this week in discussions such as Federated Identity Management (FIM), video and DDoS protection services, cyberinfrastructure, the influence of NCREN in North Carolina communities and the expansion of broadband connections throughout the state, high-speed connectivity and the future of health and public safety, a featured presentation on the Internet of Things from Internet2, and a learning session on a new large-scale collaborative project called the Digital Preservation Network. View the full program.

MCNC also will announce the 2016 Community Choice Award winner in addition to other individual awards for distinguished service this year with the Robyn Render Endeavor Award and the Empower Award.

The event is open to the public. Registration will be available at the event location on Thursday and Friday.

NCREN Community Day 2016 is sponsored by: Zettabye Sponsor: Cisco Systems; Gigabyte Sponsors: Arbor Networks, CenturyLink, Conterra, Time Warner Cable Business Class; Megabyte Sponsors: AT&T, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, MediaSite by Sonic Foundry, SonicWALL, Zscaler; and Door Prize Sponsors: BalsamWest, ECC Technologies, Financial Directions Group, Identity Automation, NWN Corporation, Presidio, Smith Anderson, and Womble Carlyle.

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