Projected impact of rate based billing on Wide Area Network use at Cornell

Background Expediential Growth Predictions of $50 Million/Y Wide Area Network Bills within 10 Years Poor Network Service Current Demand Driven by P2P History of Charging for Network Services

Actions To Date Long Term - Working on Lowering “upstate” WAN Costs “Forced” to Install Packeteer –Cost ~ $30¸000 Resolved Short Term Problem However Not Cornell’s Strategic Direction

Bill by the Drink Will Address –Over Consumption of a “Free Good” –Concern About Content Control Violation of Cornell Policy –Scalable Funding –Fair Cost Allocation –Improved Service

Network Fee Areas 3 Cost Areas –Edge –Backbone –WAN

WAN Billing Detail Base Fee of $4 / Month for up to 2 GB ~90% of users fall under this threshold $.003 per each MB over 2 GB Base All Accounts Will be Billed –Students –Faculty –Staff –Both I2 and Commodity

Sample Bill

Administrative & Faculty Feedback The "Top 300" administrative and academic users transferred 61% of academic and administrative data volume. Asked how their behavior would change under new billing model …

Student Use and Feedback Student consumption represents 70% of total WAN usage. 35% of students consume 95% of total student WAN use Office of Communication and Marketing Services – Focus Groups Pizza $25

Student Feedback There is virtually unanimous agreement that ResNet subscribers will change their habits under the new billing model Students anticipate that as they reach the level of WAN use that begins incurring a marginal cost, they will not be willing to pay for additional access. Their attitude seems to parallel anecdotal evidence of the Internet industry —

Student Feedback Expect Cornell students to pool and share data files rather than individually reaching out to the Internet and downloading files. They worry about accidentally exceeding the base $4 limit. Privacy Concerns

2000MB will cover 99% of Academic/Admin and 80% of students Forcast

Forecast The feedback from 38 administrators representing some of the top 300 academic and administrative WAN users suggests that under the new billing model data volume transferred by the large users is likely to decrease by 70% Based on students input it is estimated that their consumption will drop by 75% These findings are consistent with empirical evidence from a similar study (Berkeley INDEX Project) which shows that 75% of users managed their needs within basic service charges rather than paying extra for premium services With introduction of new rate structure the composite of students, academic, and administrative WAN consumption is likely to drop by 72% in FY04

Final Thoughts Dropped 2 OC3’s from 04 Budget Expect Savings to Easily Offset Development Will Use Packet Shaping to Smooth Student Use at Start of Semesters Security Value Time Will Tell …