The national Internet2 project initially used the NSF's vBNS high-speed backbone network (developed to connect the nation's supercomputer centers) as a principal test bed for I2 activities.  In 1999, the Internet2 consortium, launched a separate high-speed network called Abilene as a dedicated backbone facility.  Abilene is made possible by support from vendors including Qwest, Nortel, and Cisco.

At Lehigh, Library and Technology Services continues to expand backbone network capacity and collaborate with departments to increase local capacity in order to provide high-speed end-to-end connectivity with Internet2 schools and national labs.

• October 2007, Lehigh University receives real-time, HD audio and video live from Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center via Internet2. The interactive components of this performance allowed members of the audience to participate in live interviews with the conductor and musicians via email and text messaging.

• July 2005, Internet 2 connectivity allows NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland to share one of Lehigh University's two new aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopes. The aberration-corrected JEOL 2200FS TEM, which NASA will use, has an image resolution of 0.1 nm, which is equivalent to about half the width of an atom. The new partnership also gives Lehigh students and faculty the chance to conduct real-world research with NASA.

• May 2002, Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation at Lehigh University's Real-Time Multi-Directional Testing Facility for Seismic Performance Simulation of Large-Scale Structural Systems, which is part of the ATLSS Engineering Research Center begins. Using live feeds from cameras on structures in the field and Internet 2 connectivity between member sites, data is shared in real-time to advance earthquake engineering and to provide new opportunities to educate, using teleparticipation to reach a broad audience.

• Information Resources announces Internet2 Day at Lehigh, March 16, 2001 in Neville Hall.

• Lehigh's high-performance connection to the Abilene network became fully operational on Jan. 14, 2000.
  

• Key portions of Lehigh's backbone network have been  upgraded from 100 megabit FDDI technology to gigabit ethernet.

• Discussions began in November 1999 between Lehigh Univ. and Lehigh Valley Hospital to explore Internet2-related collaborative activities.

• The first phase of local area network upgrades to 100 megabit switched ethernet service for the lead Internet2 applications was completed in August, 1999.

• Lehigh has contracted with PECO-Hyperion to provide 155 megabit per second line service from the Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia to connect to the I2 Abilene network.

• A generous equipment grant from Cisco Systems will provide Lehigh's I2 gateway router.

• Lehigh, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University have agreed to share access to Abilene via a connection on the Penn campus.  This arrangement will provide long term cost savings and promote regional collaboration.

• On September 18, 1998, Lehigh received a High-Performance Connections grant from the National Science Foundation to facilitate participation in the Internet2 project.  The proposal, entitled "Lehigh University High Performance Networking for Research and Education," requested $350,000 over a two year period help fund a high-speed connection to support specific meritorious research projects, and to jump-start plans to bring higher speed connectivity to the rest of the campus.

Here is an interactive timeline of Internet2's history.