New York's Research and Education Network

High-performance connectivity for research, collaboration and discovery.

Nysernet’s Research and Education Network connects institutions across New York state to the advanced networks, research partners and digital resources that power modern discovery.

Whether your teams are transferring large datasets, collaborating with peers across the country, accessing remote instruments or supporting data-intensive academic work, the right network makes the work possible.

Nysernet helps you reach farther with performance, reliability and support designed with you and for you.

Request a Consult

Reach

Connect to state, national and international research and education networks through Nysernet.

Move

Support large data transfers, remote collaboration, cloud access and high-performance research workflows.

Rely

Build on a resilient network designed for dependable performance, not one-size-fits-all internet access.

What the Network Supports

Connectivity that Enables Your Mission

The Research & Education Network can support:

Data-intensive research projects
Collaboration between organizations
Access to national and international research networks
Remote laboratories, instruments and specialized equipment
Cloud-based research and academic tools
High-performance learning and collaboration environments
Reliable connectivity for institutions with complex digital needs
Connections to content providers, cloud services and commercial internet options

This is infrastructure that helps researchers, faculty, students and IT teams spend less time fighting connection limits and more time advancing the work that matters.

Nysernet members from Binghamton University tour the Syracuse, NY datacenter with Chief Network Architect Bill Owens

Designed for New York's Research and Education Community

Local Access. Global Reach.

Nysernet’s network connects institutions across New York and beyond through
strategically placed points of presence. That distributed design helps institutions reach the network more efficiently while supporting performance, redundancy and scalability.

Through Nysernet, connected organizations can access other Nysernet members, the national R&E backbone and international research networks.

That means a researcher in New York can collaborate with peers across the state, across the country or across the world using network paths designed for research and education traffic.

Global Reach – Seamless access to state, national, and international research networks.
Scalable Speeds – From 1Gb to 100Gb+, tailored to your organization’s needs.
Reliable Performance – Redundant infrastructure designed to minimize downtime.
Cloud & Collaboration Ready – Direct access to cloud providers and advanced collaboration tools.
Cost-Effective – Affordable options through shared buying power and member-focused pricing.
Future-Proof Infrastructure – Flexible solutions that grow with your institution.
Secure & Supported – Trusted facilities, redundant systems, and guidance from Nysernet experts.

Nysernet network map showing points of presence in Potsdam, Albany, Binghamton, Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and New York, NY as well as Philadelphia, PA and Ashburg, VA

Who Uses the Network?

For Organizations Advancing Research, Learning and Public Good

Nysernet's Network is designed for eligible nonprofit organizations that need high-performance connectivity to support mission-critical work, including:

Colleges and universities
Research institutions
Medical centers and healthcare research environments
Museums and cultural organizations
Libraries
K-12 schools, BOCES and Regional Information Centers
Government and nonprofit organizations supporting research, education or public service

Your institution does not need to solve every technical question before reaching out.

Nysernet offers two ways to connect into the R&E ecosystem, depending on the level of access, bandwidth, flexibility and support your organization needs. Nysernet's network experts will help assess your situation and design a path that fits your environment.

Research and Education Network (R&E)

Resilient 200 Gbps IP network with redundant paths, the R&E network is built for research-intensive organizations that need to connect to Internet2, ESnet, national and international R&E networks.

⭐Most popular with R1 institutions and research centers, including hospitals and national museums

Integrated Access Service (IAS)

For organizations looking for a fast, redundant, affordable connection without the full power of the R&E, IAS bundles limited R&E network access, our Content Peering Service, and long-haul network transport into one 10Gb service, scaled to match your organization's specific needs.

⭐Most popular with colleges - including the SUNY system, K-12s/RICs/BOCES, cultural organizations and nonprofits

Why Nysernet?

More Than a Network

We're Your Trusted Partner in Innovation

Nysernet has spent more than 40 years helping mission-driven organizations connect, secure and advance their work.

Our Research & Education Network is backed by deep technical expertise, a member-powered community and a team that understands the realities of nonprofit IT: tight budgets, lean staffing, complex environments and growing expectations.

With Nysernet, you gain:

High-performance connectivity designed for research and education
Access to a community of organizations facing similar challenges
Technical guidance from people who understand advanced networking
Flexible options that can scale with your needs
A not-for-profit partner focused on long-term mission success

We serve those who serve others.

Nysernet members are seated around a table, working together on a problem.

“This was truly the easiest IT project I’ve been involved with.”
The migration to the Nysernet IAS Service along with their assistance in migrating to a new Internet Service Provider (Cogent) was easy and without any downtime.  We worked with their Project Management and Engineering staff to facilitate a plan.  This was truly the easiest IT project I’ve been involved with. We have seen 60-70% of our Internet traffic offloaded to the CDN’s that Nysernet has Peering agreements with. Nysernet's Engineers were involved through the entire process and assisted us in designing a service that provided our campus users with more redundancy resilience and faster services.

Dan Kinsman

(former) St. John Fisher University

“Our data transfer speeds to the cloud increased!”

We transfer data on a regular basis from on-premises to AWS S3 buckets via Globus. I did some benchmarking before and after switching to Nysernet. After the switch our average data transfer speeds increased by 15-20 percent from on-premises NFS server to AWS cloud us-east-1 region.

Swapnil Bhatkar

New York Structural Biology Center

“Gained Internet2 access for our growing research endeavors”

The Nysernet Integrated Access Service was a perfect solution for our campus. We were able to add Internet2 access for our growing research endeavors while the peering services also alleviated congestion on our commodity internet connections. The peering services provide the campus with ample low latency connections to the most popular academic, gaming, social and streaming internet services.

Angelo Santabarbara

Siena University

"It's like magic: it just works!" 

Dan Simmons

SUNY Potsdam

“Allows us to provide better and higher quality service to our campus community”

Our Internet 2 pipe has relieved bandwidth constraints on our regular ISP connection allowing us to provide better and higher quality service to our campus community. Nysernet service and management of our connection are top-notch. We receive very timely notification of any planned maintenance and regular reports of the status of any unplanned interruption of service (which rarely happens).

Romeyn Prescott

(former) SUNY Potsdam

“Nysernet is a valued partner and I cannot speak highly enough about their service, support, and staff.”

The Nysernet connection has given our campus the ability to add commodity internet connectivity at a significant savings, leverage their CDN service for strategic initiatives like esports and critical infrastructure needs in Azure, and provide our faculty with additional collaborative opportunities via Internet2. Nysernet is a valued partner and I cannot speak highly enough about their service, support, and staff.

Kyle Brown

SUNY Canton

Frequently Asked Questions

Nysernet’s Research & Education Network is a high-performance network designed to support research, learning, collaboration and data-intensive work.

It helps eligible nonprofit organizations connect to state, national and international research and education networks, including Internet2 and ESnet, and supports uses such as large data transfers, remote labs, access to distant equipment and global collaboration.

Integrated Access Service, or IAS, is a bundled connectivity service that gives eligible nonprofit organizations a right-sized way to access Nysernet’s R&E Network, Internet2, Content Peering Service and other service paths through a single Nysernet connection.

IAS is designed for organizations that need more than standard commercial internet but may not need the same level of dedicated R&E Network access as larger, research-intensive organizations.

The right option depends on your research needs, bandwidth requirements, location, budget, provider options and internal network capacity.

The R&E Network is typically a better fit for R1 institutions and organizations with higher-capacity research networking needs, large-scale collaboration or direct access to advanced research networks. IAS may be a better fit if your organization needs more than what a commercial ISP can provide, but does not need significant R&E access.

You do not need to choose before contacting Nysernet. We will help you determine the best fit.

Commercial internet connects your organization to the public internet. Nysernet’s R&E connectivity can also provide access to research and education networks, Internet2, content peering, cloud providers, data centers, colocation facilities and other connected institutions.

For many organizations, Nysernet does not replace commercial internet. It works alongside existing providers to create better paths to the resources your community uses most.

Nysernet members often opt to participate in The Quilt's Commodity Internet Service program which leverages shared buying power to provide cost-effective connections.

Yes. Many members maintain diverse commercial routes for resiliency while using Nysernet for research traffic, content peering, and cloud access.

No. Nysernet connectivity typically operates alongside your existing internet providers, and many organizations maintain commercial internet connections for redundancy and general internet access.

Your Nysernet connection can help reduce the need for separate connections by bundling R&E access, content peering and other service paths.

Discounted commercial internet service can be accessed through Nysernet's membership in The Quilt.

Yes. We can assist with architecture, route design/BGP, VLAN extensions, and managed connectivity options so your team can focus on other mission-critical work.

We peer with major content and cloud platforms so frequently accessed traffic takes a shorter, more direct path, improving performance and reducing load on your commercial links.

Yes. Members can extend VLANs to cloud/on-net services, colocation/data centers, and other connected providers.

Yes. Nysernet can support hybrid designs where different types of traffic use different paths.

For example, research and education traffic may use the R&E Network, high-demand content may use content peering and general internet traffic may continue to use commercial providers. For users, this typically happens in the background. They keep using the same tools while routing helps traffic reach the right destination.

Our backbone and peering relationships are engineered for low latency, low jitter, and high availability to support research data movement, real-time collaboration, and even campus eSports.

Nysernet offers R&E members scalable bandwidth options from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps on a 200-gigabit network. IAS is built around a 10 Gb service model.

Yes, please read the policy in detail here: R & E Network AUP

Tell us your goals and we’ll map recommended services, rough timelines, and next steps. We'll be with you through every step of the way.

Email us at membership@nysernet.org to get started today.

Yes. Nysernet membership is required to access all Nysernet connectivity and cybersecurity services.

Insights

Network News & Updates

Services News

What Network Teams Should Know About the New Nysernet + Arista Member Benefit

Aug. 20, 2026

News Membership

RHC Funding Explained: What Nysernet Members Need to Know

On June 3, 2026, Nysernet hosted Nysernet inFocus: RHC Funding Explained for...