ICN's News and Updates for March 2025

The ICN, the state-owned, fiber optic infrastructure, announces it has completed a recent technology upgrade to the southern tier of the State.

From Council Bluffs to Burlington, the border-to-border upgrades enhance equipment at 12 sites into pure-10Gb connections, which protects the critical infrastructure to support redundancy and rising bandwidth demands for our public safety, healthcare, government, and education users.

ICN’s engineering team upgraded the 12 aggregation sites in segments, completing the 278 miles using a “daisy-chain’ approach. Site-by-site, equipment supporting a pure-10Gb connection was configured and deployed with the new technology.

The upgrades took place at the following Network aggregation sites in rural Iowa: Council Bluffs, Glenwood, Red Oak, Corning, Creston, Osceola, Chariton, Albia, Ottumwa, Fairfield, Mount Pleasant, and Burlington.

Check out the details about the upgrade.

Case Study: Real-time Reports Boost Call Flow Efficiency

Customer: Iowa Department of Revenue
ICN Service: Voice, Genesys NexGen cloud platform, Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

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The Iowa Department of Revenue upgraded their current Genesys Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) solution to the Genesys NexGen cloud platform. This upgrade modernized IDR’s ACD to provide overall better internal operations and customer satisfaction.

📰 Read about the enhancements and our dedicated team.

Big shoutout to the students from ICN's Statewide Youth Broadband Advisory Council (SYBAC) for finishing their online cybersecurity training with Fortinet!

During the school year, these students worked through Fortinet’s Core course, Introduction to the Threat Landscape, earning their certificate. They gained essential knowledge about the growing threat landscape and key concepts in network security.

We’re super proud that our SYBAC students are putting cybersecurity at the top of their list!

➡️ View the listing of SYBAC students that completed the cybersecurity training.

➡️ Internet2 Update:

Free Interactive Webinars

The 2025 Presidential Primary Sources Project (PPSP) program is ending soon, and we want to encourage Iowa K-12 schools and libraries to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity from Internet2.

The series will run through April 2025. Visit the project web page for more information and to sign up today!

Iowa Communications Network (ICN) is Iowa’s only authorized Research & Education Network giving our education customers exclusive access to Internet2 services.

The Most Dynamic Educator in Cybersecurity To Watch Out For In 2025

A distinguished academic and cybersecurity expert, Doug Jacobson began his journey at Iowa State University, initially pursuing electrical engineering before transitioning to computer engineering. Fascinated by how computers communicate, he delved into networking during his graduate studies and Ph.D.

132d Wing Airmen take on ISU International Cyber Defense Competition

Airmen of the 168th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, assigned to the 132d Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, put their cyber skills to the test while participating in the International Cyber Defense Competition, Feb. 22, 2025, at Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa.

UIHC expands telemedicine system to accommodate rising flu cases

University of Iowa Health Care has increased its usage of the telemedicine system, also referred to as telehealth, to deal with an influx of respiratory illnesses this cold and flu season. Telehealth is a form of electronic communication allowing health care workers to provide services remotely.

Revolutionizing Public Safety: The Critical Next Steps for NG911 Optimization in 2025

In 2025, it will become increasingly critical for public safety answering points (PSAPs), public safety authorities and critical infrastructure providers to implement and deploy NG911 technology.