Press Releases

Supporting the Emergency Needs of OARnet Clients 

Columbus, Ohio (May 27, 2020)

On March 11, 2020, shortly after cases of the COVID-19 virus were officially detected in Ohio, Chancellor Randy Gardner and OARnet staff reached out to their communities to offer subsidized expansion of network bandwidth. This was done in an effort to better serve what was expected to be a dramatically increased need for online learning and teleworking arrangements.

Democratic Debate - Otterbein University

Behind the scenes: What it really takes to pull off a seamless national debate at a small college 

Columbus, Ohio (Dec 4, 2019)

An estimated 8.3 million people tuned in to watch the fourth Democratic debate on the evening of Oct. 15, 2019. Twelve hopeful presidential candidates took to the stage at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Many viewers may be surprised to find out that Otterbein is a small, private, liberal-arts college because of the seamlessness of the broadcast. Behind the scenes, hundreds of hours of work, strategy and partnership with OARnet went into making such a production successful.

Pankaj Shah

Chancellor appoints Shah as OARnet executive director 
Former OARnet leader returns to Ohio after four years leading Texas network

Columbus, Ohio (Dec 3, 2019)

Pankaj Shah, president and chief executive officer of the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN) in Texas, has been named the seventh executive director of the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet).

Schopis set to retire as OARnet executive director, CTO 
Schopis wraps up 23-year career with statewide broadband network June 30

Columbus, Ohio (Jun 25, 2019)

OARnet Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer Paul Schopis will retire June 30, following a two-plus-decade career that has made an enormous impact upon Ohio’s statewide IT network organization.

Denis Walsh appointed interim executive director of OARnet 
Telecommunications veteran to step in for Schopis, who will retire June 30

Columbus, Ohio (Jun 19, 2019)

Longtime OARnet staff member Denis Walsh will serve as interim executive director of the statewide network organization beginning July 1, 2019, taking the reins after the June 30 retirement of current Executive Director Paul Schopis.

OARnet, OH-TECH receive award for statewide collaborations 
Husted, Rodgers present award on behalf of Ohio Public Sector CIO Academy

Columbus, Ohio (Jun 5, 2019)

The Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), the Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH) and the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) were recently recognized for their collaborative business approach with entities around the state.

OARnet icon

OARnet partners to help researchers accelerate big data sharing 
Indiana University, Energy Services Network to lead $3.5 million NSF project

Columbus, Ohio (Oct 5, 2018)

OARnet recently joined several other regional and federal network organizations on a three-year, $3.5 million grant to help scientists more efficiently work with massive datasets that have become essential to modern scientific discovery.

Paul Schopis

Chancellor appoints permanent leader of OARnet 

Columbus, Ohio (Aug 20, 2018)

Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor John Carey recently appointed Paul Schopis as the sixth permanent executive director of the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet).

Schopis previously served as interim executive director of OARnet, a charter member of ODHE’s Ohio Technology Consortium, located on the west campus of The Ohio State University.

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OARnet link to drone research center benefits new industry, higher education 
Project connects Springfield, UAS Center, NASA, WPAFB, WSU, MU and more

Columbus, Ohio (Dec 12, 2017)

The state’s efforts to advance drone technologies are about to get a major broadband boost thanks to an agreement completed last week (Dec. 5) with OARnet.

Hamilton Clermont Cooperative move lowers costs, improves services 
HCC becomes the first Ohio Information Technology Center to move facilities to the SOCC

Columbus, Ohio (Feb 7, 2017)

One of Ohio’s regional Information Technology Centers (ITC) has cut operational costs while maintaining high availability to its customers by moving its network services to a centralized location in Columbus.

The Hamilton Clermont Cooperative (HCC) worked for eight months with the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet) to move its network operations to the State of Ohio Computer Center (SOCC), a project that was completed in June 2016.

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