Southeastern Universities Research Association SURA is comprised of 53 colleges & universities from 15 states and the District of ColumbiaSURA is comprised of 53 colleges & universities from 15 states and the District of Columbia Primarily leading research universitiesPrimarily leading research universities SURA region makes up 35% of US populationSURA region makes up 35% of US population SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Gary Crane Director, SURA IT Initiatives

Jefferson Lab: SURA’s Crown Jewel $100M/yr (600-staff) DOE facility ($1M/yr from VA) User community of 1,600 Primary mission: nuclear physics JLab - CEBAF Center

Jefferson Lab Regional Gigapops SURA Members NON-SURA Members Video Working Group Leadership Help Desk Directory Services Abilene/vBNS Telemedicine Coastal Zone Sciences SURA IT Model IP Telephony WG High Performance File Transfer WG Legal 501(c)3 Umbrella MarketingLicensingContractsProj. Mgmt Region CERT Function Monitoring- Reporting Acct/BillingProvisioningEngineering Regional Fiber Broadband Off-campus Access Commodity ISP Disaster Recovery Dist. Storage CacheingNNTPViDENetCert/AuthPKI Collaborative Projects Organizational Support Support Services Middleware Transport Services Aggregation Research & Education Community … …

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Basic goal is to gain control of the underlying network transport through: –Partnerships with new and existing fiber owners and equipment vendors –Creative relationships with carrier hotels –Leveraging SURA regional gigapop facilities, SURA seed money, SURA member institutions and Presidents and links to Southern Governors Association, Southern Technology Council and everything we can think of. –Additional information on SURA web site:

Timing Is Everything The demand for access outstripping 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.

Regional Infrastructure Initiative Status The SURA RII was conceptualized by the SURA CIO community and launched in April, 2000 RFP for consulting services released June 23, 2000 October 27 SURA executed a consulting contract with Geo/Matrix LLC for a 5 Phase RII planning effort Phase 1 completed December 30 Phase 1 resulted in creation of a set of initial maps to facilitate discussions with potential partners

Dec Jan FebMarch April May June July August Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Projected Timeline January 5, 2001 General Network Plan Vender Identification and Development Engineering Feasibility Economic Feasibility Final Report

Regional Infrastructure Initiative Status Notice to proceed with Phase 2 issued December 30 Completed Phase 2 survey to SURA members and gigapops regarding current network services and institutional demographics on February 25 Geo/Matrix proceeding to explore potential partnerships with owners of fiber infrastructure Initial response from potential partners is very positive with the promise of some early opportunities for vendor partnerships