Beginning Decade

1
Beginning Decade 2

• StateNets 2004
• Doug Heacock, Executive Director
• Kansas Research and Education Network

2
Overview

• The first decade
• The KanREN backbone network
• The KanREN consortium, governance
• Fiscal growth and funding model
• The next decade collaboration Kan-ed

3
The first decade

• Beginnings in NSF Connections program, 1993
• Small staff2 to 3 FTE until 1999
• Relatively simple institutional needs to meet
• Internet access (4.5 21 Mbps)
• Low-bandwidth connectivity between member
  institutions (56k-T1 backbone)
• Internet 2 via GPN

4
The first decade

• Staff expansion in 2000-2003
• 4 to 7 FTE
• Approaching critical mass
• Institutional needs growing more complex
• QoS, IP multicast, growing security issues
• Outgrowing our host family
• KanREN leaves the umbrella of KUCR, incorporates
  independently

5
The first decade

• New opportunities and initiatives
• Video initiative tuning the network for video
  applications, putting up an MCU
• EETT/TRC project connecting 24 elementary
  schools across the state to provide
  videoconferencing services for collaboration
• SEGP

6
The KanREN network
7
The KanREN Consortium

• Membership consortium serving
• Higher education
• K-12
• Libraries
• Other non-profits
• Incorporated as a not-for-profit in 2002
• Filed for 501(c)(3) status
• Independent of the state

8
Governance

• Board of Directors
• Representation from each major constituency group
  (K12, community colleges, private colleges,
  regents universities, libraries, other
  organizations)
• Each member institution has a vote on matters of
  consortium policy, budget, rates

9
Fiscal growth

• 1993/94NSF funding totals 790k
• 1995-presentself-funded
• Annual budget increases from 400k to 2M
• Increases reflect growth of staff and increased
  bandwidth demands

10
Funding model

• Self-funded since NSF grant days
• Membership fees
• Fees for service (connectivity, circuits, etc.)
• No state funding
• No grants or gifts

11
The next decade

• Kan-ed
• Concept born in 1998 (KSDE)
• Kan-ed Act passed in 2001to be administered by
  the Board of Regents
• Funding bill passed in 2002
• A bumpy road at times
• It took a long time for KanRENs role to become
  clear
• The politics were weird at times
• But we were Kan-ed evangelists throughout the
  process

12
KanREN/Kan-ed

• Kan-ed commissioned an Engineering Trade Study to
  sort things out
• Network design
• Collaborations with vendors, providers
• Clear roles for KanREN have emerged
• Assistance with network engineering
• Operation of the Kan-ed NOC network management

13
The Kan-ed network

• A network of networks
• NAPs (Network Access/Aggregation Points) located
  strategically across the stateup to 20 of them
• NAPs bring connectivity to convenient/economical
  places for providers to connect
• Providers/peering partners connect their Kan-ed
  member customers to the network

14
The Kan-ed network

• Engineering trade study/RFP process
• Juniper M7i/M10i selected for NAPs
• OC-3 circuits from multiple telecoms interconnect
  NAPs
• Very aggressive circuit pricing
• Some redundancy
• Some details to be worked out

15
NAP distribution
SBC NAP
COX NAP
Indep. NAP
16
KanREN/Kan-ed

• Kan-ed has opened a funding stream from the state
  that simply didnt exist before
• Kan-ed has engineered a collaborative environment
  that is unprecedented in Kansas
• Equipment vendors
• Big telecoms, independents
• A zillion K-acronym organizations

17
Thanks!

• Doug Heacock, Executive Director, KanREN
• heacock_at_kanren.net