About CENIC

CENIC connects California to the world — advancing education and research statewide by providing the world-class computing network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth.

Established in 1997, this nonprofit organization operates the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-capacity computer network with more than 8,000 miles of optical fiber. The network serves over 20 million users across California, including the vast majority of K-20 students together with educators, researchers, and individuals at other vital public-serving institutions.

CENIC is governed by representatives of its Charter Associates institutions that it serves: California Community Colleges, California K-12 schools, California’s public libraries, the California State University, the University of California, and private universities (Caltech, Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford University, and University of Southern California).

Learn about CENIC’s early years in our 25th anniversary video, 20th anniversary book, and see a list of our founders.

CENIC’s resources provide cost-effective, high-bandwidth networking to support our community members — responding to the needs of their faculties, staff, students, and associated research groups — and to facilitate excellence in scientific, education, government, and private sector collaboration and innovation. The CENIC blog features stories on the important work enabled by the CalREN network.

Additionally, CENIC is closely involved with two important efforts to develop and expand networking capacity across the region, the nation, and the world. Pacific Wave is a wide-area distributed exchange platform that provides research and education networks throughout the Pacific Rim and the world with access to state-of-the-art peering and exchange services, Science DMZs, software-defined exchange (SDX) and software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities. The National Research Platform integrates Science DMZs into a high-capacity regional system that enables transfers of large scientific data sets.

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