AS3464 ASC-NET

ASC-NET is the Alabama Supercomputer Authority (ASA), a state agency created

by the Alabama Legislature in 1989 that operates the Alabama Research and

Education Network (AREN) and the state's supercomputing facilities.

What it's used for

• Backbone connectivity for AREN, Alabama's statewide research and education network: public K-12 school districts, community colleges, universities, public libraries, and selected state agencies.
• High-performance computing services for faculty, staff, and students at Alabama's public institutions.

Notable

• An institutional, not commercial, network. The address space serves member schools and campuses across the state rather than paying retail subscribers, which is why the IPv4 footprint (a couple hundred thousand addresses) is large relative to the size of the organization itself.
• Registered with ARIN in 1994, consistent with the era when US state education networks were building out their own connectivity.

Interesting

• ASA has served as the AREN consortium lead for the federal E-Rate program since 1998, covering most of Alabama's public school districts and a large share of its libraries — so this ASN sits behind a substantial fraction of the state's classroom internet access.