Sustainability of KENET as the NREN of Kenya
Sustainability of KENET as the NREN of Kenya A presentation at the TERNET Workshop for Vice Chancellors Ramada Hotel, Dar es Salaam April 28, 2016 By Prof. Meoli Kashorda, Ph. D, MIET, MIEEE Executive Director, Kenya Education Network (KENET) & Professor of Information Systems, USIU Transforming education Using ICT
What is Our Agenda • Higher Education and Research Context of Kenya • Telecom / Internet Context • What Does it mean that KENET is the National Research and Education Network (NREN) of Kenya? – History – KENET Objects – Vision, Mission, Core Values • Development of the KENET Infrastructure 2008 – 2015 • KENET services and sustainability – Broadband NOC services, Shared service, Research services • E-readiness survey and Special Interest Groups – Catalysts for transformation of education and research • KENET partners – Google, ISOC, NSRC, DFN, etc Transforming education through ICT
Summary Slide – Reflections of an NREN CEO • “The teacher appears when the student is ready” – Chinese Proverb • Support of universities with resources is crucial! – VCs of Uo. N and USIU critical pillars (offices, equipment space, paying salaries, paying for services, protection from procurement officers / CFOs) • Support of the Ministry of ICT , Education and Universities and ICT regulators – We made them Trustees at KENET • In Kenya, the CEO must be from the “tribe” of researchers or faculty (former faculty is OK) • CEO must have deep understanding of the business of education and ICT (both, not one) – An MBA helps (TENET CEO) or senior leadership of universities, former ICT director of a research university
Higher education and research context § Kenya has about 70 Universities, 32 of them public universities § § Universities Act 2012 and Science Technology and Innovations Act 2013 regulate university education and research in Kenya § § § § Commission for University Education (CUE) regulates universities in Kenya KUCCPS – Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service HELB - Higher Education Loans Board – gives loans to university students UFB - University Funding Board being constituted to fund Capex and Opex of public universities NRF - National Research Fund being constituted to fund research – 2% of GDP for research NACOSTI – National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Act 2013 § § 57 Universities connected to KENET About 400, 000 undergraduate university students Over 50% own a laptop and over 50% own a smartphone Regulates polytechnics and other colleges Ministry of ICT – promotes ICT in Universities and Schools - ICT masterplan 2014 , Broadband strategy 2013 – Minister former Google executive, PS former engineering lecturer and executive director of KENET! Ministry of Education, Science and Technology – former minister of ICT and University lecturer § § PS in charge of University Education former professor at Uo. N PS basic education former Trustee of KENET Transforming education through ICT
The telecom / Internet market context – latest CA data • Mobile growth continued in Q 1 2015/16 • Fixed broadband now dominated by fibre • • § 4. 7% growth § 88%+ penetration § Usage at 99 min/month is vibrant & due to low tariffs & on-net incentives § Only marginal market share change § Fibre services Wananchi (Zuku), Jamii, Liquid, Frontier Optical Networks, MTN Business, Access Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Safaricom Internet/Data Subscriptions Total Internet Subscriptions Sept 2015 21, 628, 271 § KPLC (Power Company) and NOFBI provide long distance fiber for leas Mobile Data Subscriptions 21, 511, 638 But Internet / data subscriptions dominated by the mobile operators Terrestr. Wireless Data Subscriptions 4 Undersea optical fiber cables in Mombasa (Nairobi) – SEACOM, EASSy, TEAMS and Lion Fixed DSL Data Subscriptions Fixed Fibre Data Subscriptions Fixed Cable Modem Subscriptions Satellite Data Subscriptions 5 Total Internet Users 13, 221 720 2, 500 100, 192 25 31, 985, 048
Telecom / Internet competition is fierce in Kenya • Four large operators – Liquid telecom, Jamii Telecom, Safaricom and Telkom Kenya • Have expansive national mobile abd/or fiber networks • Licensing framework in Kenya means they are both wholesalers and retailers • Sell leased lines and International bandwidth to KENET but can also provide Internet services to member institutions cheaper • Low Internet bandwidth prices by commercial operators are BIG challenge to KENET as an NREN (as low as $40 per Mb/s per month at retail (<100 Mb/s), $15 per Mb/s per month wholesale (1 Gb/s and above). – KENET is only one step ahead; pressure to offer over the top research and education services – KENET “lucky” that it started before the competition became fierce – KENET has established “business partnership” arrangements with all the major operators
KENET as the NREN of Kenya
KENET Trust Objects and Membership Categories Transforming education through ICT
History of KENET 1. Constituted in 1999 as a vehicle for absorbing a USAID grant of $1. 1 million Internet infrastructure grant for higher education and research 2. Five Founder members of the KENET Trust (both public and private) 1. U of Nairobi, Moi University, JKUAT, Daystar and USIU 3. Licensed as an educational operator in 2002 4. Membership organization governed by a Trust Deed 5. Since 2005, recognized as an NREN by Global Internet Community and Government of Kenya Transforming education through ICT
KENET Trust Objects are to: 1. provide a sustainable and high-speed Internet connectivity to educational institutions; 2. facilitate electronic communication among beneficiaries in educational institutions; 3. support sharing of teaching and learning resources among educational institutions; 4. support teaching and learning over the Internet for beneficiaries in educational institutions both in Kenya and outside; 5. Support collaboration in developing locally relevant learning materials in educational institutions; and 6. Facilitate collaborate in research in educational institutions. Transforming education through ICT
KENET Membership categories • Full Members – Universities, University colleges, and other government organization in education sector • Affiliate members – School Associations, World Bank, KUCCPS, ICT Authority • KENET serves only members – it is therefore NOT a business (Kenya Revenue Authority waives VAT on all services and KENET is also Tax exempt) Transforming education through ICT
110 Members full members (As of 31/03/2016) Transforming education through ICT
KENET is a community of Heads of Institutions
Vision, Mission and Values of KENET Vision To be a leading research and education network driving quality of higher education and research through ICT Mission To be a key catalyst and driver of the integration of ICT in teaching, learning and research through quality, cost-competitive and efficient ICT services and to be a key partner in the development of the Kenyan ICT society Transforming education through ICT
KENET National Broadband Network Coverage SEACOM (3150 Mb/s) WIOCC (600 Mb/s) KTCIP TEAMS/SEAMEWE 4 (1200 Mb/s) GOK TEAMS to Fujairah (600 Mb/s) • KENET POP KDN fiber-underground (Primary) Jamii fiber -overhead(Backup) SEACOM International capacity (3150 Mb/s ) WIOCC International capacity (600 Mb/s) KTCIP TEAMS International capacity (1200 Mb/s) GOK TEAMS International capacity (600 Mb/s) . Ethiopia Lokichoggio Lodwar Mandera Moyale No. of Campuses Connected No of Schools connected Nairobi POP 100 146 Kisumu POP 20 1 Mombasa POP 16 0 Eldoret POP 22 0 Mwingi Nakuru POP 17 0 Kitui Meru POP 15 1 Total Campuses connected 190 148 2 91 POP Marsabit Girls Marsabi t Kitale Uganda Eldoret Nyahururu Nakuru POP Kakameg POP a __ Weybuye 70 12 9 Kisumu 400 KM Kisii Rong o Nyeri 31 8 Emb u Muranga 350 KM Thika 150 KM Kericho Bomet 400 KM USIUTal a DC Garissa University College Garissa Nairobi Uo. N POP Narok Kaljiado 500 KM 15 9 Isebania Somalia Meru POP Isielo Meru Nakuru 350 KM Kisumu POP Nanyuki Wajiir Garsen 500 KM Italian Space Agency -Luigi Broglio Space Centre- Malindi Namanga Malindi Tanzania Mombasa POP Kilifi Mombasa TEAMS Landing station INDIAN OCEAN SEACOM Landing station • • • ü NOFBI Distance- 856 KM KENET Owned Last Mile Fiber – 188 KM KENET Core Ring Fiber Network – 110 KM Access Fiber Spurs – 30 KM Total KENET Owned fiber – 1084 KM Connected Schools classified as follows; KENET/Wananchi Partnership schools – 144 (all in Nairobi) Google – Confidential and Proprietary ü KENET Schools 4 (Alliance schools, Kisii and Marsabit Girls)
KENET as the NREN of KE • Provides Affordable Internet Services to Member Institutions and Aggregates Internet traffic from Higher Education and institutions – KENET was distributing about 11 Gb/s of traffic as of March 2016 • Provides community cloud services – web hosting, data backup, disaster recovery and Virtual Servers / Storage – Operates two tier 3 data centers with uptime > 99. 99% – Over 166 TB storage capacity, upgradable to 1 PB • Develops High-end ICT talent – technical + project management + Data analysis – Capacity building for KENET and member institutions • Builds advanced research e-infrastructures and community in different areas – Africa Science Gateway and federated services (KENET CA, i. DP, EDUROAM) – Special Interest Groups in STEM areas • It is an Academic Community? Ho. I forums, mailing lists, people networks Internet Measurement Lab 16
Weighted Internet bandwidth prices vs. Internet bandwidth subscriptions 250 9000 8333 200 8000 205 7000 183 171 150 6000 148 5000 USD per unit 4500 4000 100 3261 86 2057 50 3000 2000 1332 1000 0 0 April 2012 April 2013 April 2014 April 2015 April 2016 Unit Sales Mb/s
Top 10 bandwidth consumers No. Institution Name Internet Bandwidth Capacity Mb/s 1, 6 1 University of Nairobi 00 1, 1 2 Kenyatta University Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & 3 Technology 00 80 0 40 4 Egerton University 0 30 5 Moi University 0 24 6 Strathmore University 0 22 7 Maseno University 5 20 8 The World Bank Group 0 18 9 Dedan Kimathi University of Technology 0 17 10 Karatina University 0
KENET as the NREN of KE (cont) • Catalyst for transformation of education and research using ICT – Offers up to 10 travel grants to faculty researchers or post-graduate students in STEM areas – Sponsors innovative research using Mini-grants of $10, 000 per faculty team (see http: //raspberry. kenet. or. ke ) – Organizes forums of faculty in different areas (e. g. , engineering faculty forum in 2015 • Regularly Conducts E-readiness Survey of Connected Universities – 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2015 (see http: //ereadiness. kenet. or. ke – Data-driven advocacy and influencing ICT strategies to increase use of ICT in education and research • Conducts Baseline Survey of Selected STEM departments – – Baseline surveys of engineering, computer science and medical schools conducted in 2015 – Data will be used to prepare baseline survey reports and policy technical Builds advanced research infrastructures and community in different areas • Measures research collaboration and productivity of Kenyan universities and research institutes – Subscribes to Elsevier’s Sci. Val research intelligence tool for research advocacy reports and discovery of research champions Internet Measurement Lab 19
Development and Expansion of KENET Infrastructure – sources of funding
KTCIP for Universities and Colleges 2008 2013 § Universities and colleges that were members of KENET allocated $19 million by Go. K in 2007 to build national broadband network – KENET appointed Implementation agency by WB/Go. K • But no engineering capacity • Only 2 engineers and administrator Ø Member institutions all signed up a commitment to subscribe to bandwidth services for a consideration! Ø Buy one Mb/s get one FREE Ø Currently 36 full-time employees, 26 engineering or technical staff operate and continue to expand kenet network Ø KENET was distributing about 10 Gb/s of Internet as of January 2016 from 200 Mb/s in January 2009! • KENET received < 1 % government budget support under KTCIP in FY 2015/2016 Transforming education through ICT
What Did We Build with $22. 5 million KTCIP grant? • 7 Network Po. Ps – • 2 data centers at USIU and Uo. N – Provides NOC and Community Cloud Services • Lighting 724 KM of Government and 186 KM of last mile fiber developed under project • Project paid for 2 years for 200 Mb/s satellite bandwidth and 4 -years of leased lines to 55 campuses • Total grant disbursed - $22. 5 million over 5 years Transforming education through ICT
Who sustains KENET operations and expansion after KTCIP? • KENET sustainability fund – About $11. 4 million, 2009 – 2014 to upgrade and expand network – About $2 million of depreciation fund available per FY for network renewal and expansion – Data center infrastructure expansion • Member institutions through subscriptions to services and installation fees to new campuses – $6, 000 per campus, over 140 campuses added • Internet bandwidth pricing adequate to pay all expenses + renewal of infrastructure • SEACOM Interest FREE loan by SEACOM for purchase of international circuits
KENET Sustainability and Services
KENET Bundled Services and Sustainability • KENET sustained by members who pay for services – – Internet bandwidth and connectivity services • Capacity building, Cybersecurity, Research Infrastructures access services, Institutional Web hosting, expert ICT advisory services are bundled with Internet bandwidth • Video and Web Conferencing Services also FREE for connected institutions – Community cloud services • Web hosting, co-location of servers, Infrastructure as a Service (Virtual Servers), backup storage, Disaster Recovery – Campus Network Consulting and Diagnostics services – • How to build and operate campus networks • Research and Education Community and Collaboration Services – Special Interest Groups, Raspberry PI Student-owned lab projects, workshops / forums for VCs, Faculty, ICT directors – Advanced research services (digital certificates, identity providers, EDUROAM) Broadband as an Innovation Platform 25
Access to advanced research infrastructures – uptake is low! • The Global Research and Education has many FREE research infrastructures – High performance computing (e. g. , grid computing or Cape Town HPC) – Advanced instrumentation and applications especially for Physics, Chemistry and Engineering – Research databases and repositories • Access requires – Digital certificates that are recognized by the community – Identity provider – who is this scientist or researchers? • KENET operates a Certification Authority (CA) that issues Trusted digital certificates – Accreditation by European EUGrid. PMA on January 26, 2016 • KENET operates the identity provider service for Kenyan community - This is similar to the roaming service for mobile phones; - Scientists accessing the global resources MUST have a “passport” issued by KENET
ICT Staff development pipeline and the Graduate Trainee Program Transforming Education with ICT 27
We build capacity of institutional ICT staff Meoli Kashorda Universities Data Collection Transforming education using ICT 28
KENET partners • Google No. 1 partner for KENET – Currently saving KENET about 4. 5 Gb/s of International traffic – Google cache (You. Tube) in KENET data center and Google Po. P in Mombasa for all other Google traffic – Co-investing in University campus networks – 2010 – 2015 – Sponsoring training of technical staff up to 2016 ($50, 000 per year) • Wananchi Group(Zuku) – Provides FREE access to Akamai saving over 800 Mb/s of International traffic – Provides up to 600 Mb/s international bandwidth for Nairobi schools FREE Internet project (connected 111 schools to KENET) • • • IBM for online FREE certification in Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Mobile application for engineering and ICT students ISOC – Internet Society – FREE online UNIX training and sponsoring engineers international travel NSRC at the University of Oregon – Training of technical staff, travel grants, and donating used network switches for universities, international human network • DFN – the NREN of Germany. Twinning agreement for training/exchange of senior engineers
Questions and Answers?
Contacts Meoli Kashorda, Ph. D. , MIEEE, MIET Professor of Information Systems, USIU School of Science and Technology and Executive Director, KENET (http: //www. kenet. or. ke ) E-mail: mkashorda@kenet. or. ke Office Phone: +254 732 150500 Transforming Education with ICT 31
Thank You www. kenet. or. ke Jomo Kenyatta Memorial Library, University of Nairobi P. O Box 30244 -00100, Nairobi. 0732 150 500 / 0703 044 500
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