HPWREN adds Saddleback Community College as backup CENIC network path

August 6, 2023

An additional backup path to CENIC for the HPWREN network has been completed in Orange County. We have signed a cooperative agreement with Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo to use its campus as another off-ramp to the CENIC network from our multi-regional wireless network. Envisioned at CENIC's 2019 Conference in San Diego, and in spite of a multitude of project delays during the COVID period, this project, reflecting a significant improvement to HPWREN network resilience, has now been completed.

We are now using new HPWREN wireless and CENIC optical paths to extend/improve/replicate our network through CENIC network offramps. Saddleback Community College is now complementing similar CENIC network access locations at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), San Diego State University (SDSU), and the University of California Irvine (UCI). These connections, along with microwave connectivity to/through Santiago Peak (North of San Diego, bordering Orange and Riverside counties) are helping HPWREN bridge its public safety networks across major portions of Southern California, as well as distribute image workflows across regions.

Saddleback Community College also provides an alternate path to the Internet for existing Orange County backbone sites at San Clemente, Signal Peak, San Juan Hills, and Buffalo Bump. In addition to its new HPWREN wireless link, Saddleback also connects to HPWREN at UCI, SDSU and SDSC via a CENIC E-LAN circuit (basically a giant “switch in the sky” overlay on the CENIC CALREN backbone).