The State University of New York Polytechnic Institute entered into a $1.1 million research agreement contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a first-of-its-kind open federated 5G network. 

The open federated 5G network will create a space where information can flow at once at 10 times its normal speed, according to Spectrum News. Additionally, the new network can help improve cybersecurity offerings for students. 

“We can actually work with other campuses, and we can offer our classes remotely to these campuses,” said Hisham Kholidy, associate professor at SUNY Poly, in the article. “This will support that virtual reality where we can actually broadcast the videos using the huge bandwidths that the 5G network actually offer.” 

Kholidy said in the article that the network is like a playground where companies and technologies can easily join in and work together to create new experiences.

“This will actually improve the cybersecurity offering and will help students do some advancement research in the cybersecurity domain,” Kholidy said. 

Andrew Fox, a senior at SUNY Poly, said in the article that experimenting with the 5G network in the school’s Advanced Cybersecurity Research Lab has benefited his education. 

“I was able to run attacks against our network and see the impacts on performance, see if there were any delays in sending information,” Fox said in the article. “This equipment is really adding another layer to our learning, especially getting the hands-on experience that’s very, very important.”