Florida State Board of Education Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN) Status Report March 18, 2003 Tallahassee, Florida Ruben Lopez Chief Technology Officer Florida Department of Education

Last Five Years u Grew from 20 to 44 employees at a cost of $1.2M u 33% of schools connected through Districts LANs – Today 94% connected through District LANs u Increasing non-core services – dial-up services at a cost over $1M u 10% decrease in budget $6.17M to $5.7M u Only a 40% increase in e-Rate to make up the budget deficit

Problems Faced Today u Reducing current debt and negative budget operations u Dismantling of old network ideas and practices u Increasing services and customer satisfaction u Network assessment by Cisco, CEPRI and others

Available Options u Stop providing services and data collection ability to the DOE u Find other funding sources to fix the problems.

Solution u FIRN Services Sourcing u Adding value to services by Service Levels Agreement (SLA) u Improving Customer Satisfaction and connection speed u Increasing e-Rate funding to the State by 300% u Reducing the State cost per K-20 students to under $1.25/student/year

FIRNs Current Status u Contract Awarded – January 16, 2003 u Hayes e-Government Resources u Transition Period u Starts on February 3, 2003 through June 30, 2003

Project Timeline u Phase I - January 2003 – June 2003 u 6 Stages u Phase II – July 2003 – July 2003 u Full implementation u Phase III – July 2003 – June 2006 u Ongoing Support

Scope u Design and implement Bundled/Unbundled Internet Access Services u Make available to any educational entities, partners and programs the ability to purchase from the negotiated network access and services packages

Benefits u Increase Bandwidth u Increase Quality of Service u 24X7 u 365 days u Technical Support u Help Desk u Network Monitor

Benefits continued u Increase Response Time u Increase E-Rate u Reduce Costs per Students per year u Provide Multiple Protocols Support u Reduce Dial-up Services

FIRN 2 Questions and Answers