Mississippi State officially has become the first Mississippi university to connect with Internet2.

The new Internet connection provides researchers and scientists at universities and government laboratories access to a computer network up to 100 times faster than the existing general Internet, said MSU chief technology officer Joe Thompson.

"Internet2 will offer Mississippi State advanced networking capabilities with state and national research facilities," Thompson said.

As a state example, he cited collaborative research in scientific visualization with the Naval Oceanographic Office at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis. Other applications include developing digital libraries, improving distance learning opportunities, and supporting research in fields such as tele-immersion.

Thompson, a member of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, added that the amount of commercial traffic moving on the current Internet makes the system too slow to be used in many research and university applications.

Funding for the Internet2 connection was awarded to Mississippi State last year through a National Science Foundation competitive grant program.

MSU is part of the Abilene Project, a high performance network spanning more than 10,000 miles and connecting about 70 major research universities and federal laboratories to Internet2.

Abilene is a project of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, a consortium of 154 major research universities formed to put Internet2 in place.