MCNC Community Day returns for North Carolina this fall

Formerly NCREN Community Day, the RTP nonprofit's signature event returns to Durham on Nov. 9 with new name and renewed sense of purpose

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MCNC

Sep 08, 2021, 10:00 ET

DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MCNC, the non-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), today announced that the organization's signature event – MCNC Community Day – will return in 2021 on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at the Durham Convention Center.

Formerly NCREN Community Day, the annual event was put on hold in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has returned this year rebranded and refreshed as MCNC Community Day, with options for virtual or in-person participation at this time. The theme is Facilitate Connections. Accelerate Actions. Drive Innovation. The format will feature keynotes and panel discussions covering a variety of technology topics such as digital equity and inclusion, broadband for health care, cybersecurity, and building digital economies and communities.

"MCNC's mission is to strengthen North Carolina's future by making secure, high-speed Internet and technology services more accessible to everyone in the state through partnerships, collaboration, and innovative solutions," said MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks. "MCNC Community Day offers exceptional possibilities to meet a wide range of professionals from within and outside of North Carolina who share a focus on how advanced networking technologies can empower our students, provide innovative capacity to our researchers, and increase North Carolina's overall global competitiveness."

One of the key highlights at this year's event will be Facebook's Network Moments - a virtual event showcasing the collaboration and co-investments in new high-speed, scalable broadband connectivity made by MCNC and Facebook over the past year to help close the digital divide in western North Carolina counties of Rutherford, Burke, Caldwell, Wilkes, and Surry. This important work continues to ensure communities in this part of the state have affordable broadband in education, health care, community colleges, charter schools, treatment facilities, and government offices.

An additional highlight at this year's event is the always-popular MCNC Community Awards, which recognize individuals and stakeholders who understand how technology and broadband can grow educational opportunity, local economies, and innovation for all citizens in North Carolina.

This year's event is made possible by generous sponsors, which include – Terabyte: AT&T and Cisco/Presidio; Gigabyte: North Carolina Telehealth Network Association (NCTNA), Truist Bank, Carahsoft/Veritas, and Winston Partners; Megabyte: Sentinel Risk Advisors, Spectrum Enterprise; Bytes: Batchelor, Tillery & Roberts LLP, DataWatt Solutions, Duke University, ECC Technologies, Financial Directors, FountainWorks, NETSCOUT, and SAM LLC. Learn more about our sponsors and supporters here.

The public and the media are invited to attend. Registration is now open. Participate and keep up with all the latest event updates on social media using #MCNCDay2021.

About MCNC

MCNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit client-focused technology organization. Founded in 1980, MCNC owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), one of America's longest-running regional research and education networks. With over 40 years of innovation, MCNC provides high-performance services for education, research, libraries, healthcare, public safety, and other community anchor institutions throughout North Carolina. NCREN is the fundamental broadband infrastructure for over 850 of these institutions including all public K-20 education in North Carolina. As one of the nation's premier middle-mile fiber backbone networks, MCNC leverages NCREN to customize protected Internet, cybersecurity services, and related applications for each client while supporting private service providers in bringing cost-efficient connectivity to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina.

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