The idea of a statewide education network started in 1956 with a research proposal on educational use of closed circuit TV. When KUED signed on the air in 1958, the collaboration of higher education and public education provided a foundation for UEN. By 1978 microwave technology made analog video conferencing possible. The Utah Legislature formally established UEN as the statewide delivery system for education in Utah in 1989. As a broadband fiber optic technology replaced microwave, the Network expanded. In 2014 the Utah State Legislature merged UEN with the Utah Telehealth Network, creating UETN, the Utah Education and Telehealth Network. By 2020 UETN had connected more than 658,000 thousand K-12 students, more than 225,000 higher education students and more than 77,000 educators and staff from pre-school through college. The network also connected more than 70 hospitals, clinics and health departments.
Utah Digital TV consortium is formed with KUEN, KUED and KBYU along with Utah commercial TV stations.
Phase 3 of Geomax Project adds 85 more sites.
All former satellite receive sites are converted to fiber-optic or microwave.
Plans are approved to increase portions of the 1-Gbps backbone to 10-Gbps.
10-Gbps circuits are extended from Logan to Richfield Data Center.
E-rate reimbursements exceed $11-million annually.
$13-million BTOP grant is awarded to UEN.
BTOP project connects 70 elementary schools and 18 charter schools.
Portions of the UEN backbone are upgraded to 10-Gbps.
100-Gbps Metro Fiber Ring established.
BTOP project is completed with faster connections for 130 community anchor sites including 1-Gbps connections for 62 elementary schools.Utah legislators draft a bill (HB92) to combine UEN with UTN (Utah Telehealth Network).
KUEN receives CPB American Graduate 2 grant.
HB92 passes and UTN moves to the Eccles Broadcast Center and process of merging begins.
Network expands to 1,412 sites and trains 14,300 Utah teachers.
Utah Legislators approve HB-222 creating the Utah Digital Learning Task Force. UETN advises the task force as it outlines and completes Utah's Master Plan: Essential Elements for Technology Powered Learning.
SB-222 also asks UETN to conduct statewide inventory and engineering studies of technology in Utah school districts and charter schools. The studies are completed and reported to legislators.
10 Gbps circuit extended to Blanding Utah
Sustained Internet traffic exceeds 40 Gbps for the first time (5+ fold growth in three years)
2016 saw a 59% growth in the usage of Utah’s Online Library. The Network also logged 7,804,693 unique visits to uen.org. The network delivered Higher Education Courses to 196,247 students via UETN’s Learning Management System.
In partnerships with the Utah State Board of Education, UETN continued to support Utah’s Digital Teaching and Learning Qualifying Grant Program for Local Education Agencies (LEAs). UETN and USBE held multiple 2-day bootcamp training sessions for LEA leaders starting in late September. Plans from 66 LEAs have been approved for the 2017 Fiscal Year.
UETN and multiple other technology innovators provided leadership and technical support for the Super Computing 2016 (SC16) conference held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Specifically UETN help plan and execute SCInet, the largest, fastest computer network in the world during its temporary existence in November.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert officiated as UETN unveiled an expanded and remodeled Operations Center, the management nucleus that supplies network, application and support services statewide. The ribbon-cutting event on November 9, 2017 showcased new, cutting edge, real-time network visualization tools.
Overall bandwidth utilization increased to 79.1 Gbps with 45 percent used by Public Education, 32.9% used by Higher Education and 14% for other traffic. The network served more than 863,000 students from pre-K and public ed through technical and higher education. It also served more than 73,000 educators and staff throughout the state of Utah.
UETN connected a majority of education and health care Institutions at 100 Mbps and most a 1 Gbps. Interactive Video Conferencing connected more than 1100 Utah locations with about 350 daily educational events including courses and meetings. UETN’s eMedia service included 20,000 digital videos, images and documents drawing more than 254,000 visits.
April - June
July - September
October – December
The network became one of only eleven Certified Authorized Providers of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Certification. The training focuses on the use of education technology in meaningful and transformative ways.
Utah’s Digital Teaching and Learning initiative assists K-12 organizations in using technology to enhance learning outcomes through trainings, wireless access points and software applications. The program is a collaborative effort between UETN, the Utah State Board of Education, local schools and the Utah State Legislature. In 2019, the third comprehensive, statewide inventory of education technology showed a marked increase network use by K-12 students.
Spike 150, Utah’s celebration of the 150-year anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, engaged more than 20,000 participants in events across the state. As a Spike 150 partner, UEN-TV (KUEN) aired the keynote event held on May 10 at Promontory Summit, including the world premiere of As One. The network curated educational materials and created an instructional video on using augmented reality to teach the history of the transcontinental railroad.
The network’s UtahFutures American Graduate project connected thousands of youth and the people who guide them with Utah’s career and technical education resources. Working with nearly twenty partners, UEN produced content and facilitated community engagement to strengthen communications around high-wage, in-demand careers and pathways that do not require a college degree.
UETN also played a leading role in national conferences to foster the exchange of ideas that fuels innovation. Events included the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) 2019 Conference and CPB Thought Leader Forum for public media, CS for All for computer science educators and SC19, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis held in Denver, Colorado.
Stephen Hess
UEN Founding Director
Michael Petersen
UEN's 2nd Executive Director
A One Minute History of the Utah ITV Guide
UIT Leadership Spotlight: Lisa Kuhn, Chief Financial Officer for UIT/UETN
UIT Leadership Spotlight: Steve Hess, Chief Information Officer
UIT Leadership Spotlight: Tom Cheatham, Ph.D., Director of the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC)