The winners of the 2007 Top TeN awards were announced on Friday September 14, 2007 by Greater Louisville, Inc a public/private partnership for greater Louisville. Since 2001, the Top TeN Awards have recognized individuals and organizations for outstanding achievements in technology intensive projects or initiatives. Winners included the University of Louisville, who received an Individual Leadership Award which recognized the efforts of Tom Sawyer, Mike Dyre and Kevin Shively for advancements made to bring next generation Internet networking to Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

As a result of University of Louisville staff taking a leadership role in bringing the next generation of the Internet2 Network to Kentucky, Louisville is now a “connector” to the network.  In fact, Louisville is one of only 25 nodes in the U.S. that connect directly to the Internet2 network backbone.  This high-performance network connectivity gives faculty, staff, and students opportunities to access unique resources and applications, engage in collaboration, and compete for research grants.  UofL is also helping lead the development of a Regional Optical Network (RON) that will serve education and research across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

Advantages of Internet2  and Kentucky RON

·   With speeds faster than Web or email, Internet2 technologies can enable networking for libraries, virtual laboratories, distance-independent learning and tele-immersion, and tele-health. It is expected that the Internet2 and the Kentucky RON will be used for collaboration between K-20 education and research institutions, government, health care and other organizations through resource sharing, access to interactive video-conferencing, high-speed data services, and other capabilities.

·         Internet2 will give University of Louisville and other participants access to more than 300 Internet2 member organizations and more than 42,000 research and education Institutions such as high schools, museums and libraries across the United States.

·         Internet2 will allow UofL and the state the ability to access network applications, expand networking capabilities, and provide new networking and learning opportunities through high performance networks.

Project Team.

Tom Sawyer – Associate Vice President for Information Technology

Tom Sawyer has responsibility of assisting the Vice President in the combined management activities of 190 fulltime staff and over 60 students in all areas of Information Technology including computing, telecommunications, video, printing, publications, imaging, repair and installation, communications, copy centers, and instructional technology.

Michael Dyre – Director of Research and Development for Information Technology

Mike is Director of Research and Development for Information Technology at the University of Louisville. He coordinates research efforts on developments in computing, networks, communications and the Internet.  He has held various positions with the university in diverse areas such as health sciences computing, applications development, and technical services. 

Kevin Shively – Senior Network Engineer for Information Technology

Kevin Shively is responsible for the design, testing, and evaluation of University network systems, including local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Internet, intranet, and other data communications systems. In addition to network modeling, analysis, and planning he also plays a critical role in research and recommendation of network and data communications hardware and software technologies.