The Lariat Project is the first phase of IDeANet, funded by the National Center for Research Resources at NIH. IDeANet will eventually enhance internet connectivity for all participating states. Lariat will develop and implement a plan to provide a high-speed telecommunications network for biomedical researchers that will enable scientists and educators in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming to take advantage of the wealth of remote research resources and expertise available to scientists in other areas of the country. Lariat will serve as an instrument supporting educational and research needs and will bring this region with its highly valuable intellectual capital into the mainstream of American science and healthcare delivery, as enjoyed elsewhere in our country. Lariat will provide cyber infrastructure capable connectivity, eliminate crippling choke points, ensure scalable growth, and allow dedicated bandwidth where needed. Lariat will create two types of networks: 1) a research network composed of biomedical researchers whose productivity will be increased through collaboration, training and access to research tools, and 2) a physical communications network created by upgrading the network connectivity of each site to both the University of Washington's major health sciences research facilities, as well as to regional points of presence: the Pacific NorthWest Gigapop in Seattle, the Front Range Gigapop in Denver and CENIC in Sunnyvale. This project will address two key issues: providing access to resources and building networks in the community.

   The importance of high-speed network infrastructure in supporting a wide range of science and educational objectives has been well identified and numerous national and international examples stand as exemplars. Within the United States, our research and educational communities are well served by Internet2 and its Abilene high-speed backbone. Today's research and educational communities have come to recognize and embrace the use of high-speed networks as key components in their suite of instruments essential to meeting their objectives. The states in the Lariat region are not equipped with state-of-the art network infrastructure, and the establishment of the this network will bring the western region on par with its peers.