Although it’s only a small sampling of the broader work underway, each individual
pictured plays an integral role in N-Wave’s success for their commitment and diligence in upholding the high quality standards of the N-Wave program.

About N-Wave

N-Wave delivers stable, secure, high-speed network services to enable the vast missions of its stakeholder community within the federal government. Our national network infrastructure extends across the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Hawaii — reaching remote field sites, major campuses, data centers and supercomputing facilities. Combined with our scalable cloud solutions, robust catalog of enterprise managed services and advanced network operations.

N-Wave supports all stakeholder missions with integrity, transparency and  flexibility and employs a unique partnership approach to provide the best customer experience. The N-Wave Program Office operates under the Office of the Chief Information Officer within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. N-Wave is NOAA’s network service provider and has expanded to serve other federal government agencies.

Issue Highlights

• Celebrating Successes - N-Wave in the Spotlight
• Alaska Peering Exchange is Open
• Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI)
• N-Wave Upcoming Events                                 

N-Wave In The Spotlight (Continued)

N-Wave engineers perform network installs, upgrades and migrations nationwide to ensure the network backbone is optimized to its fullest potential and providing quality service for our federal stakeholder customers and partners. The following pictures showcase a few of the team members who have visited sites in recent months, but their efforts are only possible through the assistance of other team members working behind the scenes. N-Wave is grateful for the exceptional work performed by its entire team!

Alaska Peering Exchange is Open!

Alaska is unique due to its extensive rural landscape and the numerous challenges this poses for government agencies who operate in this environment and rely on broadband access and quality network connectivity to fulfill their missions. As the network service provider for NOAA, Department of Commerce bureaus and other federal agency partners, N-Wave recognized an opportunity to work with its public and private partners in the state to bring about a fundamental change for how local network data traffic is routed by creating a carrier-neutral Alaska Peering Exchange (known as AIX). The AIX will be operated as a voluntary participation local exchange point, situated initially in Anchorage, Alaska, and enable direct interconnections between various government, research, and education networks, including Internet service providers (ISPs) and private enterprise networks. This direct link, referred to as peering, allows for the efficient exchange of data traffic among these networks and eliminates the high latency data loop – from Alaska to Seattle and then routed back to Alaska. The goal is to ensure the timely and efficient dissemination of Alaska data by keeping it within the state. As FY24 came to a close, N-Wave achieved its lofty goal! The technical design, deployment and configuration of the AIX is now complete and the first ever peering exchange in Alaska is operational. N-Wave is working with the first round of local Alaska telecom provider partners to connect and begin exchanging routes. N-Wave will continue to look at avenues of expansion and ways to encourage additional partner
integration and participation by agencies, tribal nations and educational institutions within the state. Learn more at N-Wave’s “Alaska Peering Exchange” webpage.

N-Wave In The Spotlight (Continued)

Alaska Region Technology Interchange Consortium (ARTIC)
Annual Meeting | April 30 - May 2, 2024 | Anchorage, Alaska

N-Wave thanks all of the great speakers, local telecom vendor exhibitors and the more than 100 participants who attended the 2024 ARTIC Annual Meeting. Stay tuned for information about next year’s event, which is being scheduled for the week of May 12, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska.

 

N-Wave Stakeholders and Science Engagement Summit
May 8-10, 2024 | Kansas City, Missouri

With more than 150 participants, 40 talented speakers and 15 vendor partner exhibitors, this year’s Stakeholders Summit was a huge success! Thank you to all participants for your continued support of this event. Next year’s event will be combined with the ARTIC Annual Meeting during the week of May 12, 2025, and held in Anchorage, Alaska.

N-Wave outreach and engagement efforts are extensive, from collaboration meetings with federal leaders and stakeholder partners, to promoting the program through events and conferences. The following pictures touch on a few of these efforts over the last several months. 

Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI)

• February 2024 - N-Wave creates the “Federal RPKI Playbook” as a guide for federal agencies
• May 2024 - N-Wave participates in a Department of Commerce (DOC) press event and is highlighted in the press release advocating for the implementation of internet routing security
• September 2024 - Report released by White House Office of the National Cyber Director mentioning N-Wave’s leadership on this issue

N-Wave Upcoming Events

N-Wave Birds of a Feather (BoF) Session at SC24 
November 20, 2024 | Atlanta, GA

N-Wave The SC24 conference (formerly known as the Supercomputing conference), will be held in person from November 17-22, 2024, in Atlanta, GA. Robert Sears, N-Wave’s Director and Chair of the Federal Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Task Force, will be co-hosting an IPv6 BoF session for the third year in a row on IPv6 topics. This year’s session is entitled “IPv6: Fair Winds and Following Seas - Full Speed Ahead offsite link” on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. EST in Room B213 of the Georgia World Congress Center. Ron Bewtra, former Chief Technology Officer for both the Department of Justice and NOAA, and now the Director for Leadership Computing Strategy at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will be joining Mr. Sears as a session leader. Speakers from SCinet will also update attendees on the incorporation of IPv6 into the management and wireless networks for the conference.

 

N-Wave Joint Engineering & Technical Exchange (JETI)
Annual Meeting | November 21, 2024 | Fully Virtual

We invite you to “Save the Date” for the upcoming N-Wave JETI Annual Meeting, a fully virtual half-day event, scheduled for November 21, 2024, from 1:00 - 5:30 p.m. EST. This year’s event will focus on cloud, networking and IPv6-related topics. JETI events are designed to provide opportunities to exchange technical updates, provide a forum for informal discussions between participants and dive deeper into technical topics. This event is organized and hosted by NOAA N-Wave. Registration details available soon!

 

Save the Date!

2025 N-Wave Joint Conference Event in Anchorage, Alaska!

N-Wave Stakeholders & Science Engagement Summit & Alaska Region Technology Interchange Consortium (ARTIC) Annual Meeting | May 13-15, 2025 | BP Energy Center | Anchorage, Alaska

Stay tuned for more information about this event. Details available soon!

Robert Sears, Director, N-Wave

CAPT Joseph Baczkowski, N-Wave Engagement and Outreach Manager

Paul Love, Newsletter Coordinator

Amy Bogner, Editor | Design/Layout

U.S. Department of Commerce

NOAA - N-Wave

325 Broadway

Boulder, CO 80305-3337

Visit the following webpages for more information about NOAA & N-Wave:

• NOAA N-Wave Program - nwave.noaa.gov
• NOAA Office of the Chief Information Officer

Image Credits:

• ©Adobe Photostock offsite link
• NOAA Photo Library
• N-Wave Staff