The National Education and Research Network (RNP) entered an agreement for sharing communication infrastructure with the Argo Energy company. The partnership will bring high-speed internet to various educational and research institutions in the North and Northeast of Brazil, optimizing the use of the power company's transmission networks.

The first paths to be illuminated in the Northeast will be between Bacabeira, in the extended metropolitan region of São Luiz (MA) and Pecem, in the extended metropolitan region of Fortaleza (CE); and in the North, connecting the cities of Porto Velho, Samuel, Ariquemes, Ji-Paraná, and Jaru, in Rondônia.

For RNP, the partnership with Argo Energy allows starting a state InfoPath project in Rondônia to connect research and education institutions in the cities on this path with their own infrastructure and, consequently, expand connectivity in the North region. 

In the Northeast, it will be possible to deploy a direct route between Fortaleza and São Luís, of multiple channels. One of the projects that will benefit from this path is the high-speed connection in the Space Center, in Alcântara (MA), from Fortaleza, completed with a underwater cable between São Luís and the Alcantara unit.

The Parnaíba campus of the Federal Institute of Piauí (IFPI) is among the educational institutions that will be benefited. Currently, the unit offers seven technical programs, three higher education ones, and a master's degree. 

With several research laboratories in the areas of computing, electrical and electronic, soils and chemistry, IFPI-Parnaíba is deploying a new higher education program in computing, which will require more bandwidth for the applications and research focused on this area.

According to the IT director of the institution, Eduilson Neves, the undergraduate programs already have approximately 1.5 thousand students enrolled. For the IT manager, with the new connectivity in the region, it will be possible to promote greater interaction between researchers of the Parnaíba campus and other research centers, in addition to the provision of the internet with increased bandwidth for the students.

"We can expand the offer of Wi-Fi signal throughout the campus and, most importantly, generate savings because we will probably disable a private link hired to increase the supply of broadband on campus", added Eduilson Neves.