Policy Regarding Payment of Member Fees

State or regional networking organizations that act as direct connectors to the Internet2 Network and pay associated fees make a significant commitment to the Internet2 community and its goal to provide advanced networking infrastructure and services for research and education. Based on this commitment, Internet2 believes that R&E Network membership status should be formally attached to signing a connection agreement and be extended without any additional fees, as a reflection of its own commitment to partner with state and regional networking organizations and to include them fully in the membership community and in the governance of Internet2.

Definition: “Research Active” higher education institutions means an institution that has $40,000,000 or more of annual R&D expenditures as self-reported to the NSF HERD database.

Therefore,

• Any organization meeting the above criteria (highlighted in bold) that signs a connection agreement with Internet2 to aggregate member and other traffic to the Internet2 Network and submits appropriate documentation will become an Internet2 R&E Network Member.
• The organization signing the connection agreement is assumed to be the member and will receive all benefits of membership for this category, regardless of whether an associated university or other member serves as its fiscal agent.
• The fee for R&E Network Membership is included in the connection fee.
• The applicable year for the membership is the calendar year.
• In cases where an existing Internet2 Higher Education Member serves as the aggregator for Internet2 Network traffic in its region and signs a connection agreement, it will remain a Higher Education Member, pay associated fees, and receive all benefits of this membership category.
• In cases where a Higher Education Member is working to form a regional network in its area and therefore serves as the aggregator for its own traffic as well as the traffic of at least one other “research active” higher education institution, it may also receive all benefits of the R&E Network Membership category and, if it also connects directly to the Internet2 network, the R&E Network Member fee will be included in its connection fee. Please note that if any of the other higher education institutions involved in the traffic aggregation satisfy the “research active” criterion, each is required to submit a membership application and be officially welcomed as an Internet2 Higher Education Member, which in turn allows the institution to connect to the Internet2 Network via an Internet2 Network Connector.
• Organizations meeting the above definition that aggregate traffic (beyond their own traffic) for one or more ”research active” Higher Education Members, but do not connect directly to the Internet2 Network, are eligible for membership as R&E Network Members and will pay the associated fee and receive all benefits of membership.
• R&E Network Membership extends only to the network organization itself, not to its constituent members.