This past month, Cybera marked two major milestones: its membership surpassed 100 organizations, while the set rate for bandwidth in the Internet Buying Group has been reduced from $1.75 to $1.50 per Mbps.
This is the 12th price drop for the bulk buying service since its launch in 2012. Coupled with Cybera’s Peering service, the Internet Buying Group has so far saved members organizations (including post-secondary institutions, K-12 school authorities and other government institutions) over $12 million in network costs.
The bandwidth price decrease, which took effect on July 1, 2019, coincides with Cybera signing its 100th (quickly followed by its 101st) member. This is the largest number of organizations Cybera has ever served in its 25-year history.
The Road to 101
In 1994, when Cybera (originally called WurcNet) was created, it initially only served the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. By 2009, Cybera’s community had climbed to 21 organizations. After that, its membership increased dramatically, growing by 380% in the last decade alone.
This sudden uptake is largely due to the new services introduced by Cybera, such as the Internet Buying Group and ShareIT, that support a wider variety of public sector organizations to increase their digital efficiencies and opportunities.
“Cybera was created to serve the high-speed networking needs of Alberta’s universities and researchers, but over time, we realized our infrastructure and in-house technical expertise could benefit even more people,” says COO Barb Carra. “Today, our mission has grown to support the economic and learning capabilities of all Albertans through the advancement of digital technologies.
“We are pleased to be able to offer services that keep start-ups, researchers, governments and learning institutions ahead of the ever-evolving technology needs of their staff and students.”
New Network Status Page
Cybera’s networking team has also created a Network Status Page to inform connected members of the current condition of Cybera’s network. It includes live updates on uplink service providers, the Alberta SuperNet, and regional corridors. It will eventually expand to also include Virtual Firewall Service status updates.
To find out more about Cybera’s networking services, including the Internet Buying Group, visit the company’s CyberaNet Overview page.