TriLightNET was created to own and develop fiber assets for TriRivers Health Partners. TriRivers Health Partners is a sponsor of the Illinois Rural HealthNET, a partnered consortium of healthcare and educational organizations implementing a high-speed healthcare broadband network for rural healthcare providers in Illinois.

TriLightNET developed its own fiber optic network because our current and future network bandwidth requirements for imaging services, TeleHealth services, disaster recovery and information needs couldn't be delivered efficiently with existing commercial connections at an affordable cost.

Investing in our own fiber optic network gave us the bandwidth we needed and opened up the possibility of sharing the network with other partners with similar bandwidth needs.

The TriLightNET Fiber Connectivity Project operates on a cost-sharing model, which means we are able to help our partners – healthcare providers, school districts, city and village governments – fulfill their bandwidth needs at a reasonable cost. Each partner organization shares in the costs of developing, installing and maintaining the network.

Forming partnerships is a key component of this project. Our partners for this project include:

    Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University's NIU-Net is the model for TriLightNET. Begun 5 years ago as a project to bring very high-speed connectivity to Northern Illinois University and its campuses and offices, NIU-Net blossomed into a fiber-optic network providing high-speed internet access to healthcare facilities, non-profit organizations, local governments and non-profit businesses.

Illinois Rural HealthNet
TriRivers Health Partners and Northern Illinois University are a part of the Illinois Rural Health Network Consortium, a partnership of public universities and healthcare providers working to develop a statewide TeleMedicine program. At present, IRHN is working with a $21 million FCC grant to connect 88 rural communities across Illinois, from Galena-Stauss Hospital in the northwestern corner of Illinois to Massac Memorial Hospital at the southern tip of the state.

 Highland Community College