KanREN: 2001 and beyond Doug Heacock Executive Director Kansas Research and Education Network

Overview The KanREN consortium The backbone network KanREN today KanREN tomorrow Ongoing challenges The future of KanREN

The KanREN consortium Established in 1993 –Jerry Niebaum (KU) and RCAC Initial funding: NSF Connections grants Initial membership: 35 colleges and universities First sites connected in 1994

The KanREN consortium Founding principles: –Facilitate communication among members –Provide a statewide infrastructure –Provide excellent technical support, training –Create a true consortium community –Grassroots organization

The KanREN consortium Executive committee elected by member site representatives –Every member institution has a voice and a vote "Service unit" of KU Center for Research, Inc. –Benefits of state agency without some of the limitations

The backbone network Statewide infrastructure Scalability Robust and reliable Standards-based Managed

KanREN network, c ManhattanLawrence Wichita Kansas City Internet 913 sites 316 sites 785 sites Site links 56k link T1 link

KanREN network, c ManhattanLawrence Wichita Kansas City Internet 913 sites 316 sites 785 sites Site links T1 link

KanREN network, c Manhattan Wichita Kansas City Internet 913 sites 316 sites 785 sites Site links T1 link DS-3 link OC-3 link GPN/KanREN 785 sites Lawrence Internet 2Internet

KanREN network, May '01 Manhattan Wichita Kansas City Internet 913 sites 316 sites 785 sites Site links T1 link DS-3 link OC-3 link Frac. OC-3 GPN/KanREN Lawrence Internet 2Internet Hays Internet

KanREN today Membership growth: 61 sites –Six regents universities, plus KUMC –Ten community colleges –Eleven private colleges and universities –Thirteen K-12 school districts –Eighteen public libraries –Three other non-profit organizations

KanREN today The staff: –Executive Director, full-time –Director of Network Services, half-time –System Administrator, full-time –Director of Web Applications, half-time

KanREN today Services: –Training and technical support –Campus network consulting –Internet access (78 Mbps total) –Intranet design and implementation –Network monitoring and diagnostics Online statistics, graphs –24-hour NOC

KanREN today Services (continued) –Abilene and Internet 2 access –Virtual Web hosting –Usenet News service –Primary and secondary DNS service –Delegated registration authority for four.ks.us domains –Exclusive lists for site representatives

KanREN today Services (continued) –Proxy Web caching service –Annual technical conference June 3-5, 2001, Central College, McPherson –Occasional networking symposia Video over IP Security Bandwidth management

KanREN tomorrow Staff growth –Add full-time network administrator –Add administrative assistant/Webmaster Added services –Add aDSL connection options –Add IMA connection options –Possibly add Blackboard servers

KanREN tomorrow New services on the horizon –IP multicast for video over IP –Akamai servers at the core sites –Additional technical conferences and symposia

KanREN tomorrow Kan-Ed –Legislation passed, awaiting Governor's signature –State-wide, high-bandwidth, multi-purpose backbone network –All K-12 districts, public libraries, rural hospitals –To be administered by the Board of Regents

Ongoing challenges Rapidly increasing demands for bandwidth –Aggregation ratios –Internet and backbone bandwidth Need for additional staff Lack of provider infrastructure Costs

The future of KanREN KanREN is finally being noticed at the state level KanREN will have significant involvement in Kan-Ed The consortium community is growing closer and stronger Our network is improving, even without state help

Questions, comments, etc. Doug Heacock (office) (cellular)