Last month, the National Education and Research Network (RNP) finalized the implementation of the metropolitan network in the city of Pau dos Ferros, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte. It is part of the deliveries of the project to implement the state infovia, Infovia Potiguar, together with actions of the Programa Nordeste Conectado (Northeast Connected). Both projects receive funds from the Ministry of Communications (MCom).

The Pau dos Ferros metropolitan network will connect 21 campi of state and two federal teaching and research institutions in a high-speed optical network. This network will be connected in a long-distance stretch to Mossoró, still under construction, where there are 25 points to be connected, such as the State University of Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid (Ufersa) and the Federal Institute of RN (IFRN), among schools, health units, penal complex and public administration bodies.

After the completion of the implementation of the long-distance optical network stretch from Pau dos Ferros to Mossoró, the network will also be connected to the RNP Presence Point in RN and to the national academic network, the Ipê network. This means that its students, teachers and researchers will have high-speed internet access and will be connected to the rest of the country and the world for teaching and research activities.

Improved connectivity in RN

In Rio Grande do Norte, eleven cities in the interior will receive high-speed metropolitan networks: Caicó, Mossoró, Currais Novos, Santa Cruz, Nova Cruz, Açu/Ipanguaçu, Ceará-Mirim, São Gonçalo do Amarante, João Câmara, Pau dos Ferros and Canguaretama. These cities will be interconnected in a state network, benefiting around 30 teaching and research institutions and more than 200 government agencies.

In Natal, where the GigaNatal metropolitan network already exists, which currently connects 16 institutions, RNP is also already implementing Wi-Fi access points in 67 public squares, for use by the general population.

The Infovia Potiguar project and the Nordeste Conectado program receive funds from the Ministry of Communications (MCom), which contribute to the expansion and technological evolution of the national academic network, the Ipê network, in the Northeast, through the construction of metropolitan networks, and the infrastructure sharing with Companhia Hidrelétrica do São Francisco (Chesf)( Hydroelectric Company), allowing a very high performance infrastructure, at a data transmission rate of up to 100 Gb/s.