BOREAS-Net : Broadband Optical Research, Education and Sciences Network Paul Lustgraaf Mike McQuiston March 30, 2007

What is BOREAS-Net? Boreas is the Greek god of the north wind BOREAS-Net stands for: Broadband Optical Research Education And Science Network (yes, the acronym was reverse-engineered!) A consortium formed to build a Regional Optical Network (RON) See web page at

What is BOREAS-Net? Connects members to the national research nets in Chicago and Kansas City Connects to other RONs especially in Chicago with CIC OmniPoP and StarLight Also connects to more affordable and diverse commercial Internet services

Who belongs to BOREAS-Net? The founding members of BOREAS-Net are:  Iowa State University  University of Iowa  University of Minnesota  University of Wisconsin – Madison

BOREAS-Net Design

Why Do We Need Amplifiers? Signal strength is lost with distance due to absorption. This is called attenuation. Attenuation varies by fiber type. Signal strength can be boosted by amplifiers. Amplifiers must typically be used every 70 to 100 kilometers.

Access Sites

Kansas City – Colo in I2 Suite at Level3  Same facility as NLR Chicago – Colo in StarLight and in I2 Suite at Level3 (900 N Kingsbury, AKA 600 W Chicago)  NLR is at 111 N Canal (facility was space and power limited)  CIC has dark fiber between sites

Access Sites Two Access Nodes on each participating Campus  Diverse fiber paths to campus and diverse Nodes on campus Extra Access Nodes  Eau Claire, Milwaukee, St. Paul

Transport Services 10G Ethernet Wave Transport OC192c SONET Wave Transport 1G Ethernet Sub-Wave Transport SONET Sub-Wave Transport (OC3-OC48, by special request only)

Capacity Each wave supports 10 Gigabits. Currently configured for ten 10G waves.  100 Gbps per segment. Can be expanded in ten wave increments. Equipment can support up to 80 waves.  For a total of 800 Gbps on each segment.

Creating BOREAS-Net CIOs agreed in principle on Nov. 1, 2004 to create a RON A technical team was tasked with issuing an RFP for dark fiber Fiber RFP was issued June 17, 2005 CIOs agreed to an MOU on Dec. 19, 2005, formally creating BOREAS-Net

Buying Fiber Wisconsin and Minnesota already owned fiber along the I94 corridor BOREAS-Net purchased 455 miles of fiber from Wiltel(Level3) on Dec 21, 2005 BOREAS-Net purchased 391 miles of fiber from FiberLink Mar 2, 2006 Some laterals were also purchased for Ames,IA from McLeod and ICN

Buying Hardware Optronics RFP released Mar 3, 2006 Contract with Infinera signed Oct. 9, 2006 First hardware shipped Dec 4, 2006 First segment install started Dec 13, 2006 First wave provisioned Jan 17, 2007 All segments accepted Jan 24, 2007

Current Status 1,544 miles of fiber are lit with Infinera DWDM gear 100 Gbps configured 14 add-drop nodes and 22 amplifiers Fiscal Agent is University of Minnesota NOC services by WiscNet Field service contract with Level3

Infinera Add-Drop Node

Infinera Amplifier Node

Example Amplifier Hut

Hut Environment Multiple rooms, each with air conditioning. DC power plant with several hours of battery capacity. Generator backup power. Remote monitoring of: door access, temperature, power.

McLeod Aerial Fiber

BOREAS-Net Costs Capital Costs: $6.3M  Dual nodes on major campuses added about 10%, but increase reliability greatly. Annual Operating Costs about $1.0M Costs are shared among members.

Next Steps For BOREAS-Net Test lab in Madison:  Includes Terminal Node, Add-Drop Node, Three-Way Node, and Amplifier Node Build circuits Finalize procedures for operation Establish Network Operations Center

National Networks New Internet2 network. National LambdaRail (NLR) Regional Optical Networks (RONs) Northern Tier Network Consortium 

New Internet2 Network

National RON Map

Future Directions Work with Northern Tier  To Fargo, North Dakota.  Maybe eventually all the way to Seattle  Maybe to Winnipeg  South Dakota is looking at options Expand foot print within Primary States  Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin

National Developments Internet2 and National Lambda Rail have agreed to merge by June The disposition of the two national networks is unclear at this time.

Implications for ISU Commodity Internet. Internet2 connection. Waves for research projects. Other uses.

Commodity Internet Connections ISU will use BOREAS-Net for our commodity Internet connections. ISU will connect to one or more Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Kansas City. U of Iowa will connect in Chicago. We will provide backup to each other. We also act as an ISP to the ICN.

Internet2 connection ISU will connect to the Great Plains Network (GPN) in Kansas City at 10 Gbps. GPN will connect to the Internet2 network at 10 Gbps. U of Iowa will connect in Chicago. We will back each other up.

Waves for Projects Both 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps waves will be available for research projects. These can be connected to other networks to get almost anywhere in the world. SONET connections (OC3 to OC192) can be accommodated by special arrangement.

Other uses for BOREAS waves Off-site backups  Storage at Iowa City?  Disaster recovery? Dynamic waves  For example, an astronomy project may need to be connected to San Diego today, Japan tomorrow, and Hawaii the day after.

Competing For Grants Grants today often involve extensive collaboration and sharing of large datasets. BOREAS allows ISU to compete for these grants, e.g. the BP grant. The connectivity provided by BOREAS eliminates some of our geographical disadvantage compared to peer institutions.

Wave Pricing 1 Gbps: $25K per year 10 Gbps: $160K per year These prices get you from the edge of campus to anywhere BOREAS goes. Other networks may have additional charges. Depending on your situation, it may cost more to get from the edge of campus to your location.

Contact Us! Angela Bradley   Mike McQuiston   Paul Lustgraaf  

Thank You Questions?