Beginning Decade #2… StateNets 2004 Doug Heacock, Executive Director Kansas Research and Education Network

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

The first decade Beginnings in NSF Connections program, 1993 Small staff—2 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

The first decade Staff expansion in –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

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

The KanREN network

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

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

Fiscal growth 1993/94—NSF funding totals ~$790k 1995-present—self-funded –Annual budget increases from ~$400k to ~$2M –Increases reflect growth of staff and increased bandwidth demands

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

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

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 KanREN/Kan-ed

The Kan-ed network A “network of networks” NAPs (Network Access/Aggregation Points) located strategically across the state—up 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

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

NAP distribution N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N NNNSBC NAPCOX NAPIndep. NAP

KanREN/Kan-ed Kan-ed has opened a funding stream from the state that simply didn’t exist before Kan-ed has engineered a collaborative environment that is unprecedented in Kansas –Equipment vendors –Big telecoms, independents –A zillion “K-acronym” organizations

Thanks! Doug Heacock, Executive Director, KanREN