Maximizing Internet Connectivity for Education David Olson Network

Maximizing Internet Connectivity for Education • David Olson, Network Architect, MOREnet • Elwood Downing, VP Member Relations, Merit Network • Mike Richardson, Director, REMC 1/ Copper Country Intermediate School District, Michigan • Sheri Prupis, Director Educational Technology Initiatives, NJEDge. Net • Matthew Conforth, Director Educational Technology Passaic Valley Regional High School, New Jersey • Kathy Menake, Social Studies Teacher, Passaic Valley Regional High School, New Jersey

• Network Infrastructure • Leveraging Resources and Lowering Cost Statewide and Regional Collaborations • Local Collaborations Using Internet Connectivity for K-12 • Collaboration, Resource, and Knowledge Sharing in Action! Passaic Valley High School

MOREnet operates a 1200 -mile dark fiber backbone with 4 major hubs and 30+ access nodes in the state. Our 700+ members with 1, 100+ sites are connected using T-1, Nx. T-1 IMA, DS-3 and Ethernet services from carriers. Our challenge: Member bandwidth demands constantly increase (48% from Jan ‘ 11 – Jan ‘ 12); funding is flat or decreasing…carriers still charge by the bit…and E-Rate makes us do the cheap thing, not the smart thing.

MOREnet operates a 1200 -mile dark fiber backbone with 4 major hubs and 30+ access nodes in the state. Our 700+ members with 1, 100+ sites are connected using T-1, Nx. T-1 IMA, DS-3 and Ethernet services from carriers. Our challenge: Member bandwidth demands constantly increase (48% from Jan ‘ 11 – Jan ‘ 12); funding is flat or decreasing…carriers still charge by the bit…and E-Rate makes us do the cheap thing, not the smart thing.

How are we solving the problem? • Invest in network facilities – Build fiber, wireless networks – Overprovision – cheaper to limit bandwidth use now than build more capacity – Targeting 10/1000 M connections – However, E-Rate rules make this financially difficult

How are we solving the problem? • Forge alliances with alternate providers – Build new service models that are mutually beneficial • Look at alternate/regional providers; municipal fiber…whoever has assets • Network growth will become a patchwork quilt of providers – necessary to manage cost while providing needed bandwidth

MOREnet Fiber Collaborations • Municipal fiber: If they’ll build it, we’ll use it – MOREnet is often the ‘anchor tenant’ • BIP/BTOP funded providers – Very mixed bag • Regional aggregation – Get the traffic on-net sooner – More access to regional/local providers

Pursuing projects that enhance the value of our investment • Expanding the MOREnet backbone – Looking to add ~1600 miles, 40 more nodes – Get traffic on-net as quickly as possible • Using Wi. Max, LTE, and digital microwave as last-mile technology – Costs have dropped, reliability has gone up – Can install 100 M Pt. P radio for ~2 x. T-1 circuit cost over 3 years…

Pursuing projects that enhance the value of our investment • More net-centric services – Hosted servers, remote backup, remote storage, colocation – Access to more content/databases (Ebsco, etc. ) – Peering with content providers to our members • SIS, library automation, etc. – Digital Learning Environment • Moodle, Content Repository, Big. Blue. Button/Vidyo

Michigan Geography • Only state with 2 Peninsulas – Joined by 5 -mile Mackinac Bridge • 83 counties in MI – 70% are rural • Creates challenges with middle-mile and lastmile infrastructure • MI Department of Ed – decentralized education network

Michigan – Merit Network • Limited resources and quality of life created an appetite for hungry collaborators • Came to the table as a community to share resources • Merit Network operates and manages Michigan’s statewide R&E network

• The conversation begins…. • Leaders at the table are individuals that want to create a solution that is a winning combination with options. “A Geographical Community Partnership is a regional section of Michigan that is comprised of leaders interested in the quality of life within their community. ” Downing

• 10 Gbps Backbone with 1 Gbps to CAIs/Members • Creativity & Possibilities – Statewide Collaborations • UP, REMC 1 • Alpena • Hillsdale • Escanaba, others… • C 3 Communication, Cooperation, Collaboration

Upper Peninsula -- Michigan Before After

REMC 1 • 5 rural counties of the UP, 5000 sq miles, >10 K students, 2 ISDs, 23 school districts • ~ 350 miles leased fiber-based circuits (10 -1, 000 Mb/s) • Current limited bandwidth, collaboration and centralization due to limited capacity - $$$$$$ • Future fiber IRU with Merit leads to virtually unlimited expandable WAN bandwidth, increased collaboration, lower costs, and control of the future - $$$

Infrastructure • Currently leveraging Merit to share services beyond our own 5 county fiber footprint, utilizing Merit’s backbone to extend to other counties and ISDs – MARESA 2 county fiber ring, with single connection back to Merit, tunneled to REMC – DIISD (2 county ISD) individual connections to Merit, with backhaul to REMC • All share the same firewall and network services as the REMC 1 connected WAN, and share costs

Shared Services • Cascaded bandwidth reservations with bursting – Unencumbered access • Shared firewall with 35 school districts – Higher quality, more features, lower cost – Unified Threat Management (IDS, IPS, ssl content filtering, application control, SPAM filtering, AV, malware, etc) • Shared local cloud services (WAN cloud) – 25 TB video repository mirror, live statewide video streaming mirror – Network backup/disaster recovery services – VMware hosted centralized server cluster in our data center • Redundant A/C, power & network, generator, HA, SAN – Regional & statewide server/service hosting – Higher quality services, with capacity and failover – Local cloud storage – compartmentalizing services

Shared Services (continued) • Video conference services – Gatekeeper, Gateway, MCU, and VCR – Shared classes, video meetings, field trips • Shared tech support services – Natural fit with ISP services - single point of contact, full-time helpdesk, full integration and resolution • Regional standardization – Hardware, software, management • Becoming the regional data network hub

Transforming IT Infrastructure in Education

K 20 Learning Community

Instructional Commercial Locally produced Highly scalable, Always available Redundant Architecture New Jersey’s Digital Video Repository NJVid Blogs & websites Digital Video Repository NJVID or Institutional Portals Digitized, Cataloged + Indexed API Secure Streaming LMS

Empowering High School Students Passaic Valley Regional High School • Contemporary Issues through Video Conferencing • Around the World • Science in Cinema

http: //www. merit. edu/ http: //www. more. net/cosn-presentation http: //Njedge. net http: //academicinternet. org http: //njvid. net http: //pvhs. k 12. nj. us/ http: //www. remc 1. org/ http: //citvc. org/ Matthew Conforth pvmconforth@yahoo. com Elwood Downing ejd@merit. edu Kathy Menake menakek@pvhs. k 12. nj. us David W. Olson dolson@more. net Sheri Prupis prupis@njedge. net Michael Richardson mike@remc 1. org