SC Information Network (SCINET) User Council

The State Network, known as the South Carolina Information Network (SCINET), is made up of approximately 4,000 circuits which include frame relay, ATM, Point to Point, multipoint and DSL lines. These circuits provide data services to State agencies, K–12 schools and libraries, higher education institutions and a small number of county and local governments. They share a common backbone that allows the transfer of data to any other circuit on the State Network. The goal of the Division of State Information Technology (DSIT) is to ensure that the backbone network is correctly engineered to provide the proper capacity for its users and to ensure that the Network Services State Contract provides competitive rates and reliable service.
 
The State Network can be divided into two components from the perspective of management and ownership. The vast majority of the network is owned and managed by private sector telecommunications carriers that are operating under a State Term Contract to provide network services to the State. The current carriers are Spirit or SC Net (representing the independent telephone companies) and AT&T. This portion of the network provides statewide connectivity to the many sites where State entities are located around South Carolina.

The core of the network is owned and managed by DSIT.  This State-owned part of this network is known as the MetroNet.  The MetroNet primarily serves State agency headquarter locations in the metropolitan Columbia area and is designed to provide cost-effective and reliable access to the backbone network and to the Internet. The MetroNet was originally built on excess fiber installed in the mid-1980s to support the PBX switches, and has grown to include additional agency sites with DSIT-owned and leased fiber and telecommunications facilities.

These networks are inter-worked to ensure efficient data transfer between the carrier-provided network (SCINET) and the MetroNet.  The entire network is known as SCINET.