1 Information Technology Networking in Higher Education: Campus Commodity and Competitive Differentiator Robert B. Kvavik Associate Vice President University of Minnesota ECAR Senior Fellow EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research

2 The Network’s Growing Importance in Higher Ed… Networks are fundamental in higher education, used in diverse and creative ways to facilitate strategic goals However, knowledge of current state and future networking plans was largely anecdotal.

…Prompted ECAR to Conduct this Study To provide comprehensive empirical information about the higher education networking environment To help institutions make more-informed decisions regarding their networking approaches and plans Identifies networking technology and practices are currently in place Examines adoption of emerging technologies and evolution of the central IT network

Study Methodology Literature search Consultation with EDUCAUSE Integrated Communications Solutions Working Group Online survey in June/July 2004 In-depth telephone interviews with 19 IT executives at 13 institutions Informal CIO roundtable Follow-up questions on specific subjects on selected respondents Three case studies N=517

Most Respondents’ Networks are Small

Higher Education is Wired; Wireless is Growing Wireless is prevalent in areas not as quickly hardwired Wireless mainly supplements hardwired connectivity, especially where bandwidth and security are important

Higher Ed Network Infrastructure Snapshot Transmission MediumStandard/Bandwidth Backbone transmissionMultimode fiber optic cable Backbone bandwidth1 to 4.99 gigabits per second Backbone data transmissionGigabit Ethernet Backbone-to-end-device transmissionCategory 5 and 5e twisted pair Wired end-device transmissionFast Ethernet Wireless end-device transmission802.11b Commodity Internet bandwidth4.5 to 89 megabits per second Larger and more complex network environments often use higher bandwidths and transmission standards

Private Education & Research Networks Gain Momentum 34 research and educational networks are now in place or being implemented to conduct multi-institutional and leading- edge research, hold cross-institutional classes, and/or access public networks

Institutions Gear Up for Converged Networks Most respondents say they are somewhere on the adoption curve between evaluating and actually running converged networks for some applications.

Emerging Technology Adoption Focuses on Video Applications About half of respondents indicate that IP video streaming and/or desktop video conferencing is already in limited use on their campuses Most other institutions are either planning to implement or evaluating these technologies. There is less use of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)— about one-fourth of institutions. An even smaller number of institutions are currently implementing other converged services such as cable TV over the network and integrated messaging.

Network Management is Increasingly Crucial Placing network restriction practices is common Restricting relaying of (63.1 percent) Access to selected TCP/IP ports (54.4 percent). Use packet shaping (69.6 percent ) to minimize the impact of P2P file sharing and other applications that consume large amounts of bandwidth. Almost three-quarters use stand-alone vendor products (71 percent); two-thirds use open source network management software tools.

Which Institutions Report a Higher- Quality Network Infrastructure ? Several similar characteristics emerge among institutions that agreed that their institution has a higher quality network infrastructure: secure, fault tolerant, and its central backbone, desktop connectivity, and wireless connectivity are optimally designed to meet future needs for Of particular note is the role that the “softer” or non- technical side of IT networking plays. Technology is indeed important in network design and management, but The network is also contextually shaped and constrained by factors like senior leadership attitudes, funding resources, and institutional mission.

Which Institutions Report a Higher- Quality Network Infrastructure? Institutions that… consider the network to be a strategic resource have a primary network goal of providing leading-edge network performance and services do not consider inadequate funding to be a barrier to the delivery of networking services have formal, comprehensive policies and procedures that cover networking issues; enforce these policies and procedures consistently; and update them regularly provide more redundancy measures for the institution's central network have a disaster recovery plan for the institution's data-networking capabilities

Leadership Recognizes the Network’s Value Respondents overwhelmingly agree that their leadership views the campus network as: an essential resource (98 percent) and critical infrastructure (89 percent). a strategic resource (81 percent). Over one-quarter (28 percent) characterized networking at their institution not only as strategic but also as a “strategic differentiator” for the campus. ECAR found that respondents whose campus leaders consider the network to be strategic rated the quality of their network infrastructure higher than others.

Respondents’ Institution’s Primary Networking Goal Evenly Distributed Institutions whose primary network goal is leading-edge network rate the quality of their network infrastructure—design of the backbone, desktop connectivity, and wireless networks, as well as network security and fault tolerance—higher than other institutions. Primary Network GoalDescriptor% Provide reliable performance and se\vices at the lowest possible cost Cost- minimizer19.8% Provide appropriate levels of performance & services to different users, based upon their needs Demand Driven28.4% Provide high-speed networking to the entire institution High-speed for all25.9% Provide leading-edge network performance and services to the institutionLeading edge25.9%

Networking Funding is Up Despite Financial Uncertainties Yet 59 percent indicate that inadequate funding is a barrier to delivering network services. Those institutions that feel they are not experiencing inadequate funding rate their network infrastructure as stronger, especially for the optimal design of desktop connectivity and for the fault tolerance of the network.

Effective Network Policies and Procedures are Important Network Policy CharacteristicMean* Easily Accessible3.84 Clear and Easy to Read3.75 Applied Consistently Across the Institution3.50 Enforced Consistently3.32 Regularly Updated3.19 Comprehensive percent of respondents now have formal network policies and procedures Institutions that possess formal networking policies and procedures that are enforced consistently and comprehensively and are regularly updated are more likely to rate the quality of their network infrastructure higher. *Scale= 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (neutral), 4 (agree), 5 (strongly agree)

Network Redundancy Efforts Lag Institutions that focus on redundancy report their backbone network is both fault tolerant and optimally designed to meet future needs.

Disaster Recovery Efforts Need Improvement, too Perhaps it is a matter of priorities, funding, and perceived risk, but 40 percent of respondents report that they do not have a disaster recovery plan for data networking on campus. ECAR research shows that institutions with a documented disaster recovery plan for their network characterize the quality of their network infrastructure more positively

The Future of Network

Implications Align the institution and the network. It is important to explicitly understand the overarching institutional characteristics and reflect these in campus network plans and goals. The network is never done Because higher education thrives on discovery and experimentation, user networking needs cannot be fully anticipated. IT leaders must constantly look within and beyond higher education to anticipate emerging technologies that will transform the institution and potentially create new security, integration, and support issues. As networks grow, demands are made not only for higher bandwidth and transmission speeds but also for more automation to support network management, for extended user support hours, and for stronger network redundancy.

Implications Ensure ample network investment IT leaders are implementing new ways to secure adequate financing for their networks including building new funding models to sustain their network infrastructure, enhancing vendor partnerships beyond equipment discounts, and investigating the addition of value-added or new services to generate revenue. Focus resources on network security and reliability As networks become essential—and often strategic—to core institutional processes, network security and reliability become even more critical and will continue to require significant IT and financial resources. Make use of opportunities provided by private higher education networks