[1] By the mid-1980s it was clear that access to high-capacity computer resources would be needed to facilitate collaboration among the SURA member institutions.
A high-performance network to provide this access was essential, but no single institution could afford to develop such a system.
SURA itself stepped up to the challenge and, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and SURA universities, SURAnet was up and running in 1987, and was part of the first phase of National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) funding as the agency built a network to facilitate scientific collaboration.
FIX East and MAE-East, both major peering points, were located at the main SURA facilities.
SURA continues to be a force in the information technology community, participating in projects such as the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE),[5] Earthcube,[6] and AtlanticWave.