IVN, the Interactive Video Network began in 1992. The network provides interactive 2-way video mostly between classrooms and meeting rooms. A video conferencing bridge allows more than two sites to be connected together. Originally the view would switch to show the person speaking (no “Hollywood squares”). At the beginning it required dedicated communication lines between the classroom systems and the video conferencing bridge.

By 1995 IVN was being used by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the School of Nursing. There were 26 sites spread across Maryland.

Over the years, IVN reached national prominence by being involved in several national and international educational programs. In the fall of 1997 Maryland Sea Grant did a group of video calls between Universities in Norway, Sweden, North Carolina and Maryland on a project named VIRTUE. These calls cost around $1,000 per hour but was very cost efficient since bringing even one speaker would cost more than that.

In the summer of 2001 IVN was upgraded to connect over the Internet. Dedicated lines were no longer needed, and the network grew.

The community colleges of Maryland and the Maryland K-12 schools had been using a closed system (MIDLN) provided by Bell Atlantic (now Verizon). That system was aging and not well supported, and in the summary of 2007 the community colleges asked to join IVN. 18 new sites were added, and 3 new video conference bridges were added which could do “Hollywood squares”.

Usage of IVN plummeted in early 2020 when the pandemic hit. Students could not come to the classrooms to attend classes, and a rapid change was made to desktop video technologies such as Zoom. Usage picked up some after the pandemic but has been steadily declining since. The largest current user is Salisbury University.

The MDREN Board of Directors approved a decision at their January 16, 2026, meeting to discontinue MDREN Interactive Video Network (IVN) services effective July 1, 2026.