Editing Abilene Network (section)

==History==
One of the aims of the Abilene project was to achieve 10&nbsp;Gbit/s connectivity between every [[node (networking)|node]] by the end of 2006. Over 230 member institutions participated in Abilene, mostly [[university|universities]] and some corporate and affiliate institutions, in all of the [[US states]] as well as the [[District of Columbia]] and [[Puerto Rico]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Abilene Network |publisher=Internet2 |date=February 2, 2005 |url=http://www.internet2.edu/pubs/200502-IS-AN.pdf |accessdate=September 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324103518/http://www.internet2.edu/pubs/200502-IS-AN.pdf |archivedate=March 24, 2012 }}</ref>
It connected to European research networks [[NORDUnet]] and [[SURFnet]].<ref name="news99">{{cite news |title= Internet2, SURFnet and NORDUnet connect advanced R&E networks |work= News release |publisher= Internet2 |date= April 26, 1999 |url= http://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/i2-news/1999-04/msg00001.html |accessdate= September 16, 2011 }}</ref>
The legal entity behind the network was the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development.<ref name="news99"/>

When it was established in 1999, the network backbone had a capacity of 2.5 [[Gigabit per second|Gbit/s]]. An upgrade to 10&nbsp;Gbit/s began in 2003<ref>{{cite news |title=Internet2 Abilene Backbone Network Upgrade Passes Transcontinental Milestone |work=News release |publisher=[[Indiana University]] |date= February 17, 2003 |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/cpo/abilene021703/  |accessdate=September 16, 2011}}</ref> and was completed on February 4, 2004.<ref>{{cite news |title=Abilene Network Upgrade to 10 Gbps Complete: New OC-192 circuits provide Abilene participants leading-edge networking capability |work= News release |publisher= Internet2 |date= February 4, 2004 |url= http://lists.internet2.edu/sympa/arc/i2-news/2004-02/msg00001.html  |accessdate= September 16, 2011 }}</ref>

The name ''Abilene'' was chosen because of the project's resemblance, in ambition and scope, to the railhead in [[Abilene, Kansas|Abilene]], [[Kansas]], which in the 1860s represented the [[frontier]] of the [[United States]] for the nation's [[railroad]] [[infrastructure]].