LOGAN — Utah State University and the Utah Education Network on Monday were hailing the completion of a backup high-speed Internet connection as beneficial to students, UEN and businesses, among others.

Comcast's fiber-optic connection is designed to provide faster, more secure data communication and an alternate path in the event of trouble with the original line, completed in August 2005.

"The completion of this project means greater Internet stability and speed for students, researchers and businesses affiliated with Utah State University and the University of Utah," Stephen H. Hess, chief information officer for the Utah System of Higher Education and member of the UEN steering committee, said in a prepared statement.

"With this alternate route, users are less likely to see any interruption in their high-speed Internet connections."

Among the beneficiaries of the new line are companies at USU's Innovation Campus, which has grown from one building in North Logan in 1985 to a high-tech research center with nearly 2,100 employees at 45 businesses that generate about $121 million in revenue annually.

"This new connection will help tremendously with high-performance computing that requires reliable high-speed access, and it provides additional bandwidth to education, research and businesses in northern Utah," M.K. Jeppesen, USU vice president for information technology and member of the UEN steering committee, said in a prepared statement.

"It's a great boon to USU's Innovation Campus and the high-tech research companies housed there. It is vital to the growth of these high-tech businesses. That's our aim — to provide that service."

Merry Lu Zeller of the university's vice president for information technology office noted that the redundancy the new line provides will help many valley businesses.

"This additional fiber optic connection provides peace of mind for the businesses in Cache Valley that rely on continual contact with the digital world," she said in a prepared statement. "Logan Regional Hospital and many of the high-technology businesses on USU's Innovation Campus, including the Space Dynamics Laboratory and Letterpress Software Inc., will greatly benefit."

The Utah Education Network also gains a backup. Its high-speed data network connects the state's colleges and universities and the state's school districts and libraries. Based at the U.'s Eccles Broadcast Center, UEN provides services to more than 750,000 students throughout the state.