The SURA Crossroads Interconnection to Enable Transformation

As the number of network-based applications and regional network services that are supported by SURA and its members grow, the need to find more economic methods to interconnect member institutions and their collaborators will also grow. This need is magnified by the desire to provide advanced network services to the broader education community within the SURA region and to extend the capability for collaboration to other communities as well. While providing advanced network services to SURA members in large metropolitan areas may be economically possible, extending this connectivity to secondary and tertiary metro areas and rural areas will continue to be difficult. SURA and its members are working with others who are invested in the South to identify state assets that could be integrated into a larger regional infrastructure, develop creative uses of state and local tax credits and economic development zones as incentives for developing telecommunications facilities in high need and rural areas, and lobby for new federal dollars in support of advanced networking infrastructure and services for our collective constituents. Through the SURA Crossroads we anticipate being able to forge creative partnership between corporate, government and academic organizations in the SURA region. Through these partnerships we intend to dramatically reduce the cost of and increase the access to advanced network connectivity throughout the SURA region. SURA is committed to help ensure that our region is competitive both nationally and internationally in a rapidly emerging technology-based economy. SURA Southeastern Universities Research Association The SURA Crossroads provides the Southern U.S. with an opportunity not just to keep up with but to lead the development and deployment of new networking technologies to help shape the emerging national networks of the future. “We must begin to envision a South whose strength is science – a South where science education is uniformly strong, entrepreneurship flourishes and where technology reduces the divide between people, and businesses and government work together.” Paul Patton, Governor of Kentucky & Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Association, April 25, 2001.

Interconnection to Enable Transformation Work locally, think regionally, impact nationally Recognizing that SURA members' collaborations are not locally or even regionally bound, SURA consistently integrates national and international perspectives into its programs to deliver outcomes of regional value with global significance. The SURA Crossroads will move forward with the benefit of close association with organizations and individuals who direct and influence the political and economic climate of the South and who realize that the value of the proposed regional infrastructure extends far beyond immediate advancement of SURA's scientific and engineering mission. Together, we can make cost-effective advanced network services available as a tool for research, education and economic development across the entire South, including our rural and under-served communities. Stakeholder Commitment High Impact Programs Strategic Initiatives [defined/articulated program] [committed, connected leaders] [local/regional/national impact] “Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work.” -Vince Lombardi

Capturing the Present The SURA Crossroads intends to meet these challenges through combined innovative leadership and the leveraging of collective assets to: Access, control and potentially own optical fiber that forms the basis of today's most advanced networks Challenge, and even disrupt, the existing pricing structure for this fiber and its related components Leverage SURA and SURA members' assets and partnerships to develop "buying club" power Work with state and regional government initiatives to build extensible electronic superhighways Defining & Meeting the Challenges The challenges of providing this vital network layer are well understood: The increasing necessity of "becoming connected" frequently means that those who cannot afford to pay high connection costs pay the much higher price of remaining unconnected The demand for robust networking exceeds the availability of the infrastructure, particularly in rural areas Even if services are available, they are cost prohibitive for many "They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” - Andy Warhol Copyright Brian H. Trammell

Capturing the Present The Timing Is Right for Major Change In Network Economics Factors Contributing to a New View of Telecommunications Service and Pricing: The demand for access is outstripping the ability to pay Convergence of aggressive fiber deployment, DWDM, IP in the WAN changes existing economic models Shrinking capital markets forcing sound revenue models and clearly defined markets. State and local government awareness of the role networks play in education and economic development. State and local government awareness of the value represented by their control of the physical ROW. Resurgence of the SURA community’s desire to get involved in a region- wide IT initiative. Fiber optic cable deployments in second and third tier metropolitan areas combined with the convergence of high speed transport technologies brings end user ownership and control of regional fiber networks within the realm of possibility. "Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.” -Doug Larson “Since the invention of the microprocessor, the cost of moving a byte of information around has fallen on the order of 10-million-fold. Never before in the human history has any product or service gotten 10 million times cheaper--much less in the course of a couple decades. That's as if a 747 plane, once at $150 million a piece, could now be bought for about the price of a large pizza.” -Michael Rothschild, author of Bionomics, Economy as Ecosystem

Capturing the Present The overarching vision of the SURA Crossroads is to organize and leverage the collective monetary, physical, and intellectual assets of SURA and its member institutions to develop a new model for extending network connections throughout the Southern United States. The following principals guide the development of the SURA Crossroads: To seek improvements in networking options for non-metropolitan and rural areas in addition to the more "solvable" problem of connecting metropolitan areas To avoid limitations imposed by restrictive use policies that favor one community over another or neglect the benefits of economic development To focus on lowering the cost of all networked services, both production and research To create a telecommunications infrastructure that can be priced at or near actual cost and significantly disrupting the existing market-based pricing models. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of the dream.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

The Spirit & Necessity of Collaboration "Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” -Marian Anderson The SURA Crossroads is proceeding with the support of the SURA membership and the critical guidance of highly qualified staff from SURA member institutions as well as invited partners. The SURA Crossroads will work collaboratively with state and local governments and corporate partners to gain access to dark fiber facilities. These facilities will be engineered for immediate use by SURA members, with use envisioned to extend quickly to the larger research and education community within the SURA region. To provide industry insight and improved communications with potential industry partners, SURA has retained the services of Geo-Matrix, a fiber industry-consulting firm, for the first several phases of the Initiative. SURA Crossroads Working Group Carl Baker Florida State University Brice Bible University of Tennessee Alan Blatecky Duke University Jeff Crowder Virginia Polytechnic Institute Gary Crane SURA George Davis University of Tennessee Jed Diem Tulane University Joel Dunn University of NC/Chapel Hill Larry Flournoy Texas A&M University Doyle Friskney University of Kentucky Joe Grissom University of Oklahoma Jack Hall Florida Atlantic University Don Halverstadt University of Alabama at Huntsville John Hurley Clark Atlanta University Ron Hutchins Georgia Institute of Technology Mark Johnson North Carolina R&E Network Tom Lindsay Mississippi State University Zia Mafaher Catholic American University Peter Murray Catholic American University Jerry Sobieski Mid-Atlantic Crossroads Troy Travis University of South Carolina Gordon Wishon Georgia Institute of Technology Mary Fran Yafchak SURA SURA Crossroads Architecture Team Steve Corbato Internet2 Gary Crane SURA James Deaton OneNet Tim Deeves Tulane University Jed Diem Tulane University Thomas Durkin Geo-Matrix Larry Flournoy Texas A&M University Doyle Friskney University of Kentucky Jeff Fritz University of West Virginia Zane Gray University of Oklahoma Chris Griffin University of Florida Daniel Grim University of Delaware Philippe Hanset University of Tennessee Rene Hatem CANARIE Ron Hutchins Georgia Institute of Technology Bill Johnson OneNet Mark Johnson North Carolina R&E Network Michael Krugman Boston University Dewitt Lattimer University of Tennessee Paul Love Internet2 John Nichols Virginia Tech Ken Orgill West Virginia University David Pokorney University of Florida Ana Preston University of Tennessee Mike Rackely Mississippi State University Sandra Redman NASA Dave Reese 4CNet Stewart Seruya University of Miami Jerry Sobieski Mid-Atlantic Crossroads Troy Travis University of South Carolina Ryan Vaughn University of Florida John Watters University of Alabama Roy Whitney Jefferson Lab Bill Wing Oak Ridge National Lab Mary Fran Yafchak SURA Robert Zimmerman University of Arkansas

The Spirit & Necessity of Collaboration Leveraging Existing Network Assets The SURA Crossroads will proceed in collaboration with several successful semi-regional network deployments that are already providing vital network services to many in the SURA region: The SURA region contains the largest collection of advanced academic networking aggregations working together on a regional basis. The infrastructure that has been built thus far and the leadership and lessons learned across this community of service providers is an invaluable asset moving forward. Gulf Central GigaPoP - Louisiana State Network (LA Net) - MAX (Mid-Atlantic Crossroads) - Mississippi GigaPoP - Located in Jackson, MS; coordinated by Mississippi State University Network Virginia - North Carolina Networking Initiative - North Florida Aggregation Point - OneNet (Oklahoma) - SoX (Southern Crossroads) - Texas GigaPoP -