Feeding the Bandwidth Beast Addressing Demand Reducing Cost

Feeding the Bandwidth Beast: Addressing Demand Reducing Cost through a Collaborative Network Redesign Project Debbie Pepper, Colleges of the Fenway Sean Philpott, Emmanuel College Justin Ragsdale, Wentworth Institute of Technology NERCOMP Annual Conference March 31, 2015 2: 30 p. m.

Overview of session • Introductions • Session Topics: • Outline the situation being addressed • Describe the processes followed to identify and execute the chosen solution • Share the results of the project • Lessons Learned • Questions

Emmanuel College (est. 1919) Coeducational, liberal arts, Catholic college, 1, 750 students Massachusetts College of Art & Design (est. 1873) Only public college of art in U. S. , coeducational, 1, 802 graduate and undergraduate students Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (est. 1823) Coeducational, three campuses, two in Massachusetts, one in New Hampshire 3, 909 graduate and undergraduate students Simmons College (est. 1899) Undergraduate college for women, coeducational graduate programs 4, 700 graduate and undergraduate students Wentworth Institute of Technology (est. 1904) Coeducational graduate and undergraduate college, focus on engineering and architecture 3, 938 graduate and undergraduate students Wheelock College (est. 1888) Coeducational liberal arts college focus on youth and family, 1, 046 graduate and undergraduate students

Colleges of the Fenway Total enrollment: approximately 20, 000 students Location: a close geographic area on the Fenway, adjacent to medical and cultural facilities, public transportation, in the heart of Boston March 29, 1996 - The COF Principles of Collaboration signed marking the beginning of significant Collaboration. 18 years Goal: To add value to student’s academic and co-curricular opportunities while seeking innovative methods of investing in services and containing the costs of higher education. Services : Consortium includes – The Global Education Opportunities Center, Intramurals Program, Performing Arts Program, Training and Development Programs, Center for Sustainability, Colleges of the Fenway Area Network and numerous joint contracts and collaborative purchases, cross registration and Grant Funded Programs such as Emergency Management, Shared positions such as Environmental Health and Safety, and Emergency Preparedness

Colleges of the Fenway Area Network COFAN established 2005 COFAN 2. 0 designed 2013 1 G backbone 40 G backbone 4 G Internet July 2014 200 Mb Internet 2011 Boston. IX Peering • Jan 15 2015 Net. Flix Peering 2 G Internet 2012 Co-lo space

Bandwidth Beast?

March 2012 - IDC forecasts that end-user demand for broadband traffic will increase from 9, 665 petabytes per month in 2010 to a jaw-dropping 116, 539 petabytes per month in 2015. X 2 1 HD video content will drive a new level of bandwidth demand, with more than 50% of video and audio streaming destined for a connected TV (either directly or indirectly), an i. Pad, or another mobile device or tablet.

36 hours

Devices, Demand, Dependency & Design • Limited access to ISPs • Additional bandwidth at a premium • New ISPs only with 'last mile' expenses • Existing Network • 10+ years old • Functional limitations • End of Support

How To Tame the Beast? • Replace EOL Equipment • Create a True Diverse Path • Access other ISPs • Improve Usage Monitoring

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RFP Process and Education • 12 respondents • Disqualified • Those who withdrew! • Those way off base • 3 Formal presentations and debrief sessions for full committee • Best solution rose to the top – creative and forward thinking, respectful of the foundation

New Design

February - Co. FAN ISP Utilization - 95 th Percentile ISP Usage - February 2015 1600 Akamai - 111 Mbps 1400 GTT - 1467 Mbps Boston. IX 976 Mbps 1200 1000 800 600 Cogent - 771 Mbps 400 200 GTT - 1467 Mbps Boston. IX - 976 Mbps Cogent - 771 Mbps Akamai - 111 Mbps 0 3325 Mbps total GTT - 1467 Mbps Cogent - 771 Mbps Boston. IX - 976 Mbps Akamai - 111 Mbps

March - Co. FAN Internet Usage 95 th Percentile 1600 Wheelock 278 Mbps 8% Emmanuel 552 Mbps 17% 1400 Mass Art 420 Mbps 13% 1200 1000 800 MCPHS - 247 Mbps 8% Simmons 455 Mbps 14% Wentworth 1337 Mbps 41% 600 400 200 Emmanuel - 552 Mbps MCPHS - 247 Mbps Wentworth - 1337 Mbps Mass Art - 420 Mbps Simmons - 455 Mbps Wheelock - 278 Mbps 0 Emmanuel - Mass Art - MCPHS - Simmons - Wentworth Wheelock 552 Mbps 420 Mbps 247 Mbps 455 Mbps - 1337 Mbps 278 Mbps 3289 Mbps total

Boston. IX Impact Pre Net. Flix peering Post Net. Flix peering GTT @ Limit

Resources and Execution How did we actually get there? Who are the stakeholders? Technical Decision makers? Schedule dependencies? Unknowns? School Configurations? Backbone Capacity? Internet Bandwidth?

Resources and Execution Lot of time and groups Network Managers from 6 schools 2 Facilities Departments 6 CIOs 6 CFOs 1 Transport 60+ Provider including 4 ISP Providers Design Team City of Boston, NSTAR Co-lo Provider 6 College Presidents Existing and New Managed Services Providers

Resources and Execution Equipment finalization Determining power needs Weekly meetings internal COFAN Management Heavily Leaned on our integration partner Cutover dates

Resources and Execution Redesign Internet infrastructure - Move Internet Po. Ps to 1 Co-lo Present Opportunities to off-load traffic from commodity internet - Join Internet Peering Exchange (Boston. IX), initially Akamai and Netflix

Resources and Execution Creating Diverse path Had to go digging 1 year time frame Lit up one side Closer to carrier connection had weekly and bi-weekly calls

COFAN 2. 0 Impact • • • Doubled the lanes Reduced the tolls Increased the speed limit Added HOV Lane No tolls on HOV Lane

Lessons Learned – All • Equal ownership and commitment • Executive Project Management • Consultant that is technical and business savvy • The collaboration challenge – Not part of consortium? Our experience can be your experience! • Reduce Costs • Shared Technical Resources • New Opportunities

Q&A

Thank you Contact information Sean Philpott, Emmanuel College • philpotts@emmanuel. edu Justin Ragsdale, Wentworth Institute of Technology • ragsdalej@wit. edu Debbie Pepper, Colleges of the Fenway • dpepper@colleges-fenway. org