Kansas Research and Education Network Doug Heacock, Executive Director Gathering of State Networks February 8-10, 2005

KanREN History Established in 1993 as a non-profit membership consortium Initial funding from NSF Connections program Self-funded since 1996 Organized initially as a service unit of the KU Center for Research, Inc. Not-for-profit incorporation in 2002

KanREN Membership All Kansas Board of Regents universities (6) Community colleges (5) Private colleges and universities (5) K-12 school districts (38) Public libraries (25) Other non-profit organizations (6)

KanREN Governance Board of Directors, elected by the membership Every member has a vote on major matters of business and policy (annual meeting)

KanREN Services Connectivity –KanREN backbone network –Kan-ed backbone network –Great Plains Network –Internet2/Abilene –Commodity Internet

KanREN Services Technical support, troubleshooting, diagnostics Consulting, network design Network monitoring Systems support Training DNS, Web hosting, etc.

The KanREN Network “Forklift upgrade” in 2004 –Backbone redesigned--replaced DS-3 and OC-3 connections with GigE connections –OC-12 connection to GPN gigaPoP in Kansas City Adding redundancy in commodity Internet service, first quarter 2005 Internet2 SEGP IPv6, multicast, QoS

Network Geography

Kan-ed Created by state statute in 2001; funding from KUSF in 2002; administered by Board of Regents Cooperative effort between multiple vendors and organizations Private backbone network Large statewide footprint Initial primary application: interactive distance learning (video)--more to come

KanREN and Kan-ed At least four relationships: –Collaborative relationship from the beginning –Kan-ed is a member of the KanREN consortium –KanREN manages the Kan-ed network and NOC under contract with the Kansas Board of Regents –KanREN is a Kan-ed “peering partner” network

Challenges Rapid, sweeping change over the past year –Adjustments related to increased staffing –Adjustments related to our relationship with Kan-ed Funding and politics Meeting the needs of a diverse membership

Contact information Doug Heacock KanREN, Inc Wakarusa, Suite B Lawrence, KS (785)

For more information / –Presentation slides (.ppt) –KanREN information sheet (.pdf) –Network maps (.pdf)