Exchange Network History

Year	Event
1998	Exchange Network First Conceived: State/EPA Information Management Workgroup (IMWG) was formed to work on information management issues of concern to both States and EPA.
1999	Environmental Data Standards Council (EDSC) Formed: This State/EPA partnership was developed to establish national data standards for commonly used sets of environmental information.
2000	Exchange Network Blueprint Released: This important document outlined the vision and goals of the Exchange Network, describing a partnership among EPA, States, Territories, and Tribes to collaboratively share environmental information using web services technology.
2001	Network Node Alpha Phase: Four States and EPA work collaboratively to develop the first demonstrated Node configurations and test interagency connectivity.
2002	Exchange Network Grant Program Established: EPA establishes an Exchange Network grants program to provide funding to States, Tribes, and Territories to assist them in developing a technical infrastructure to support the Exchange Network. In the initial year, $23.5 million worth of grants are awarded. Network Node Beta Phase: Five additional States and EPA further refine the Node Specifications and develop additional demonstrated Node configurations. Exchange Network Implementation Plan Finalized: This important follow-up to the Blueprint document defined an organization/management structure for the Exchange Network and identified the steps required to make the Exchange Network an ongoing entity. Exchange Network Governance Formally Established: At the direction of the Implementation Plan, the Network Steering Board, Technical Resources Group (TRG), Operations, Technology, and Security (OTS), and Node and Flow Configuration Group (NFC) were chartered.
2003	Node 1.0 and Node 1.1 Functional Specifications Released: These important documents defined the design of the web services that were to be implemented by EPA and all States to enable sharing of environmental data consistently. First Nodes Become Operational and Data Starts Flowing: Several pioneering States begin using their Nodes in a production environment. Initial data flows are for Facility and DMR data.
2004	First Data Publishing Dataflow Developed: The Pacific Northwest Water Quality eXchange was created to regionally share water quality data. This was the first example of multi-state data publishing on the Exchange Network.
2005	Exchange Network Business Plan Released: This document defines the strategies for the Exchange Network Governance to guide the Network’s operation, evolution, and growth, as it moved from a period of conceptualization and initiation to a period of managing implementation and expansion. Exchange Network Governance Relaunched: The Exchange Network Governance was revised to it include the ENLC, NOB, NTG, and NPRG. First Tribal Node Established: St. Regis Mohawk Tribe establishes the first Tribal Network Node. First Exchange Network National Meeting held in New Orleans.
2007	First Territory Node Established: Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands establishes the first Territorial Network Node.
2008	Node 2.0 Specifications Released: Major update to the Node web services specifications and protocol released.
2009	OpenNode2 released under open source license.
2010	EN-Node released under open source license.
2011	Node 2.1 Specifications Released: Node 2 update released to address technical interoperability issues. ENLC convenes EN2011, the 2011 Exchange Network National Meeting, in Denver.
2012	Exchange Network Phase 2 Task Force launched. ENLC convenes EN2012, the 2012 Exchange Network National Meeting, in Philadelphia.
2013	Network Technology Board (NTB) and EN Coordinating Team formed. ENLC sunsets NOB and NPRG. Phase 2 Implementation Plan released.
2014	ENLC convenes EN2014, the 2014 Exchange Network National Meeting, in Philadelphia.
2015	The governance of the Exchange Network merges with E-Enterprise for the Environment

Sharing information for a cleaner environment