Beginning Decade #2…

StateNets 2004Doug Heacock, Executive DirectorKansas 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 2000-2003– 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

NN

N

N

N

NN

N

N

N

NN

N

N

N

N

NN

N N NSBC NAP COX 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

• heacock@kanren.net