A collaboration of Madison-area community entities and organizations, including the University of Wisconsin, received a $5.1 million grant from federal stimulus funding to improve Internet access for citizens across Madison and Dane County.

The Metropolitan Unified Fiber Network will provide increased bandwidth capacity and a higher speed network for community organizations, allowing for efficient interconnectivity between organizations, said Division of Information Technology spokesperson Brian Rust.

MUFN resulted from collaborative efforts between the city of Madison and UW after the city realized Internet access needed improvements, MUFN project coordinator Patrick Christian said.

“No one institution could really afford to do it by itself,” Christian said. “But together we have enough rationale, … enough money and resources to manage and sustain [MUFN].”

The network is expected to sustain itself for 20 to 25 years and will serve 97 locations of not-for-profit entities of the Madison area, Christian said.

Funds from the grant will purchase fiber-optic cable and equipment used to upgrade the network underground and in buildings throughout Madison and Dane County, including hospitals, schools and community organizations, Rust said.

“The unique thing about [MUFN] is this is a consortium of businesses all working together,” he said. “A lot of different entities will have improved Internet access as a result of this grant.”

Over the next few years as the city of Madison upgrades utilities, the fiber-optic cable for the network will also be laid underneath streets and in buildings, Rust said.

As a result of the project, an estimated 72 new jobs will be created to lay cable, install network gear and manage the network, he added.

Rust compared the network’s installation to improving transportation systems.

“It’s like improving and upgrading the streets between entities and then connecting them out to the interstate,” he said.

MUFN will improve interconnectivity between community entities and will allow them to use the network to benefit their needs in a number of ways, Rust said. For example, the network will enable medical staff at hospitals to connect with staff in other locations to discuss a patient’s treatment.

DANEnet, a nonprofit organization providing technology support for other nonprofits in Dane County, will help nonprofits connect to the MUFN network, Eric Howland, executive director at DANEnet, said.

“MUFN brings high speed Internet to the doors of the nonprofit, but getting it connected is what DANEnet will help do,” he said.

Because nonprofits help many people in Madison who do not have access to the Internet, Howland said it is important nonprofits provide an efficient network.

He said MUFN will improve Internet access for computer labs and allow nonprofits to experiment with video content on the Internet. These opportunities will come at a comparatively lower cost than nonprofits pay now.

“It’s really about making affordable things in the past that have not been affordable to nonprofits,” Howland said.