Ann Arbor-based Merit Network Inc. is asking various organizations to submit proposals to host new public hubs of the Michigan Cyber Range, a specialized networking and computer infrastructure facility and test program to hone security software and train cybersecurity professionals.
Merit, a network technology nonprofit owned by 12 of Michigan's public four-year universities, has issued a request for proposals to replicate publicly accessible training center hubs of the Cyber Range, like the kind that opened at the Velocity center in Sterling Heights in March. The organization is a sub-recipient of the $6 million Advance Michigan Defense Collaborative grant managed by the Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan.
The Cyber Range, a program first proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011, is a private cloud network built on architecture supplied and operated by Merit. Initially housed at Eastern Michigan University in late 2012, the program offers cybersecurity training and certification as well as product testing and research space on industrial control systems security. Other locations were later opened at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Ferris State University, the 110th Airlift Wing in Battle Creek and General Dynamics Land Systems' Maneuver Collaboration Center in Sterling Heights, before Velocity.
Proposals for new hubs are due May 15. Nonprofits, public schools, community colleges or universities looking to participate should locate a hub within the 13-county southeastern region of the Advance Michigan grant. Organizations selected for the program would receive initial funding through the grant, but must eventually make the program self-sufficient by offering cybersecurity training and related services.