MassNET is the “single network” that is being created to serve Massachusetts government – at both the Commonwealth and municipal level – while expanding the reach of high-speed broadband connections for citizens and businesses alike in the western part of the state and on Cape Cod.

MassNET represents a new network architecture approach that will allow the state to eliminate the many thousands of individual network connection points used for government work that are currently managed and paid for separately.  

MassNET will also enable optical transmission services – ensuring high capacity and low latency for time-critical applications –  for existing state agency networks, including MAGNet, the 911 and Criminal Justice History networks run by EOPSS, and the ITS network run by MassDOT.
When complete, MassNET will allow agencies to improve their service delivery and extend their reach – ensuring greater public safety and well-being through enhanced 911 and health IT services, for example – at a lower cost.  It will also facilitate unprecedented economic development in parts of the state that previously lacked high-speed broadband access.

MassNET is being built through consolidation of existing fiber optic networks and construction or purchase of additional capacity where necessary, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) and the non-profit OpenCape Corporation.  Where Commonwealth-owned fiber exists, efforts are underway to maximize usage to help ensure that the state gets the greatest possible value from them.

Where there is a lack of fiber, MBI and OpenCape are building capacity.  MBI is constructing MassBroadband 123, a fiber network of over 1,000 miles, covering over one-third of the state and including 123 communities in western MA and the 1,392 community anchor institutions (CAIs), such as hospitals, libraries, and schools, that serve them.  Open Cape is installing ~350 miles of fiber from Providence to Provincetown and from Cape Cod to Boston via Plymouth and Brockton.

The end result will be a redundant, future-proof, Commonwealth-wide network for use by all government agencies that supports voice, video and data applications and services, and greatly enhances the availability of high-speed broadband Internet access to constituents across the state.