Connecticut Education Network “Forum” June 14, 2001

Agenda Overview of Current Network Activities Frequently Asked Questions (& Answers)

Network Development Report Connecticut Education Network

Current Network Activities K-12 Site Surveys –42 Districts complete (Accounts for over 250 buildings) –Next 30 being planned –4 contract stass conductingsurveys K-12 Recommendations / Implementation –Evaluation documents out to 3 districts, 2 more ready –Follow up meetings with districts begin next week

Current Network Activities (2) East Hartford Data Center Development –Firewall acquisition in progress (out to bid) –Content Filtering / Proxy System contract complete! –Network Backbone Equipment on order –Initial Move-In to Data Center possible by June Backbone Deployment –Equipment on order for K12, Initial Higher Eds –Circuit orders in a short holding pattern

Current Network Activities (3) Network Circuit & Deployment Activities –Still hopeful for answers to critical economic and technology questions from service provider(s) –DOIT Enterprise Network Services RFP to identify future service providers being evaluated –Additional New Generation Optical Services procurement process actively contemplated.

Current Network Activities (4) Contract put in place to assist/facilitate backbone design process and pilot district implementations Joint DOIT / Contract Activities: –Protocol Planning –Network Documentation –Field Deployment Assistance –Training, Research, Development, Future planning All day technical meetings begin later this week

Current Network Activities (5) Assessing Dark Fiber Services for Year 2-3 Deployment –Dramatic change in operating costs expected Linear relationship between active bandwidth & monthly cost removed –Equipment costs for CEN and service provider(s) reduced Ex: $30,000 for a router in each district becomes a $3,500 switch Ex: Complexity & overhead of SONET, ATM, Frame relay replaced with simple Ethernet technologies –Positions for exponential bandwidth growth without associated growth in monthly operating costs

Operating Assumptions Connecticut Education Network

Operating Assumptions (5) K-12 Efforts –No grants from CEN funds for equipment or circuits DOIT providing high speed connection service to CEN Agile assistance as needed will enable connection to CEN in each district Other funds (State Dept. of Ed) may provide in-building support Any funds a district saves it should turn back into technology programs –Site surveys continue to focus on infrastructure status analysis and CEN interconnection analysi

Operating Assumptions (6) Backbone Development –The current physical backbone will initially bring Higher Education sites back to DOIT for connection to K-12 sites –As district networks improve to optically based municipal networks, CEN will evaluate tying those networks directly into the backbone. –Physical Topology may not mirror logical topology due to content filtering, firewall and other issues

Operating Assumptions (9) Existing Networks & Aggregators –DOIT has not prioritized integration of legacy networks into CEN. Instead DOIT is focusing on deploying next generation optical network connections to all end-points. –Service and support components of existing Library and RESC consortia should not be effected by CEN.

Operating Assumptions (12) Good Relationships of towns, schools and libraries need to be maintained –Where positive interactions exist, installation of network should not degrade those interactions –Technical implementation needs to support secure connections to non CEN networks in the districts. –Local traffic should stay local where it can.

Connecticut Education Network Discussion Questions, Answers & Other Thoughts