SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Overview Southeastern Universities Research

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Overview Southeastern Universities Research Association Educause Southeast Regional Meeting June 29, 2001 Gary Crane SURA Director of IT Initiatives gcrane@sura. org

About SURA • Founded in 1980 with a focus on developing Jefferson Lab, a DOE funded high energy physics facility • SURA is a 501(c)3 consortium of 53 research universities from 16 southeastern US states and DC • Created one of the first NSF funded regional network services, SURANet • Sold SURANet in 1995 to BBN • SURA region makes up 35% of US population

Jefferson Lab: SURA’s Crown Jewel • $100 M/yr (600 -staff) DOE facility • User community of 1, 600 • Primary mission: nuclear physics JLab - CEBAF Center

SURA Coastal Ocean Observing Program Challenge - Coastal zone suffers from ecological and environmental concerns endangering health and safety of inhabitants and sustainability of marine economies and resources Resolution Need more reliable, accurate, timely predictions -to guide effective coastal stewardship -to plan for extreme events, natural / induced -to facilitate safe / efficient maritime operations -to support coastal military security / training Open-access lab of distributed sensors linked to computer models - an integrated observation and prediction system

SURA Information Technology Program Regional Infrastructure Initiative (RII) Challenge - Demand for robust networking exceeds provisions Even if services available, cost prohibitive for many Services not available to all, must span digital divide Resolution - Access / control and possibly ownership of fiber will challenge, even disrupt, the existing pricing structure - Leverage collective market muscle of the SURA region - Partner with others - Southern Governors’ Association, Corporate Partners, etc. Video Development Initiative (Vi. De) Challenge - Provide cost-effective video-to-the-desktop solutions User friendly system with guaranteed quality of service Resolution - Internet based - low-cost / high quality / ‘transparent’ Develop - ‘standards’ / ‘tools’ - e. g. , directory services

SURA IT Model Research & Education Collaborative Projects Organizational Support Services Middleware Transport Services Aggregation Community Coastal Zone Sciences Jefferson Lab High Performance File Transfer WG Video Working Group Leadership Proj. Mgmt Contracts Help Desk Directory Services Engineering PKI Abilene/v. BNS Nano. Technology Telemedicine Licensing Provisioning Cert/Auth Vi. DENet IP Telephony WG Marketing Acct/Billing NNTP Commodity ISP Regional Fiber SURA Members … Legal Monitoring- Region CERT Reporting Function Cacheing Regional Gigapops 501(c)3 Umbrella … Dist. Storage Disaster Recovery Broadband Off-campus Access NON-SURA Members

Timing Is Right for Major Change In Network Economics • The demand for access is outstripping ability to pay • Convergence of aggressive fiber deployment, DWDM, IP in the WAN changes existing economic models • Shrinking capital markets forcing sound revenue models and clearly defined markets. • State and local government awareness of the role networks play in education and economic development. • State and local government awareness of the value represented by their control of the physical ROW. • Resurgence of the SURA community’s desire to get involved in a region-wide IT initiative.

Emergence of Higher Ed Optical Networking • CANARIE Regional Optical Networking Projects and CANet 4 • SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative • CENIC Optical Networking Initiative • UCAID Network of the Future • The. Quilt • Educause Bandwidth Pricing Group • IEEAF

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Basic goal is to gain control of the underlying network transport through: – Partnerships with new and existing fiber owners and equipment vendors – Creative relationships with carrier hotels – Leveraging SURA regional gigapop facilities, SURA seed money, SURA member institutions and Presidents and links to Southern Governors Association, Southern Technology Council and everything we can think of. – Additional information on SURA web site: http: //www. sura. org and follow Information Technology links

Regional Infrastructure Initiative Status • Original working group formed at the April 13, 2000 meeting of the SURA IT Committee included 8 CIOs from SURA membership • October 27 SURA executed a consulting contract with Geo/Matrix LLC for a 5 Phase RII planning effort • Expanded RII Working Group now includes 17 CIOs and Senior Network Engineers from 16 SURA member schools • Architecture Working Group participants from 22 SURA member institutions plus a national external review group: Michael Krugman – BU/NOX Tom Durkin – Geo/Matrix Steve Corbato – UCAID Rene Hatem – Canarie Dave Reese – CSU/CENIC

Regional Infrastructure Initiative Status • • • Phase 1 completed and Phase 2 started December 30 Expanded working groups Early March completed Phase 2 survey of 69 SURA region sites - 90% response rate Late Feb/Early March – conducted 3 regional RII informational meetings with SURA members Late March distributed potential partners package to approx. 130 potential commercial partners April 26 Commercial Partners meeting at MCNC in Raleigh, NC – Attended by over 60 representatives from more than 37 different companies

Regional Infrastructure Initiative Status Phase 2 - identification of strongest potential partners is complete • • Level(3) Communications Touch America, Inc. Clear. Stream Communications Global Crossing (Frontier) Aerie Networks AT&T Broadband … AT&T Southern Telecommunications Americas Fiber Network (AFN) Communications • • Old Dominion Telecom, Inc. MCI World. Com Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia Florida Power & Light Velocita (PF. NET) Teleglobe, Inc. Progress Telecom Dominion Telecom

RII Early Signs of Success • Very strong SURA community interest – Good attendance at regional meetings – Good participation in working groups • Early discussions and meetings with potential commercial partners are very positive – Strong interest in creative alternatives • Planning for possible implementation scenarios (AWG Architecture White Paper) • Need to begin defining funding, governance and management models

RII Early Signs of Success • Early interest and possible partnering opportunities: • joint regional and metro build projects – Strong interest in conversion of optical amp sites into add/drop sites (especially attractive in rural areas) • product/service development • use of campus facilities for national network node sites • major fiber construction firm willing to provide access to “as built” information

RII Gaining Momentum • SURA RII and the Southern Governors Association – Proposing a 3 year joint program with SGA fostering support for the RII – 4/25 Science Summit of the South • • • SURA’s participation in the Quilt Cooperative spirit with CENIC SURA emerging as possible trial deployment of some of the higher ed community’s creative ideas

Next Steps • • • In depth meetings with potential partners Assess state of optical network technology Complete architecture white paper Develop governance guiding principles Explore trial projects with selected partners – Due diligence process is important

URLs • • • SURA: www. sura. org CANARIE: www. canarie. ca The. Quilt: www. thequilt. net IEEAF: www. ieeaf. org Bandwidth Pricing Group: www. educause. edu/netatedu/groups/pricing • Gary Crane: gcrane@sura. org