About LONI

The Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, is a state-of-the-art, fiber optics network that runs throughout Louisiana, and connects Louisiana and Mississippi research universities to one another as well as National LambdaRail and Internet2. LONI connects Louisiana's major research universities–Louisiana State University (LSU), Louisiana Tech University, LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Southern University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and University of New Orleans–allowing greater collaboration on research that produces results faster and with greater accuracy. LONI provides Louisiana researchers with one of the most advanced optical networks in the country and the most powerful distributed supercomputer resources available to any academic community with over 85 teraflops of computational capacity.


LONI puts the state on the National LambdaRail, allowing Louisiana researchers to collaborate with scientists around the country and the world on major initiatives. Former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has committed $40 million throughout a 10-year period to fund and advance LONI.


LONI connects supercomputers at the participating universities and other computing resources throughout Louisiana, and centers around a 50-teraflops supercomputer called Queen Bee. Located in the state Information Systems Building in downtown Baton Rouge, Queen Bee is the core cluster of LONI and one of the Top 50 supercomputers in the world. The supercomputer's name comes from a nickname of former Governor Blanco, and it was named to honor her commitment to building LONI during her administration. Half of Queen Bee's computational cycles has been contributed to the TeraGrid community as LONI joins TeraGrid, which in turn allows LONI researchers to be able to utilize the TeraGrid's national resources.




LONI Staff

LONI is a Louisiana state project which is run by the Board of Regents and contracted out to LSU. The staff working on LONI project are paid by LSU, LONI, and TeraGrid.