1. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
ITPA December 2017

2. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Overview of the Smithsonian Network Infrastructure Program
Present
1Gbps SONET to 8 x 10Gbps using DWDM over Leased Fiber (Mall to Herndon Data Center) and 10Gbps Leased fiber from the Mall to the Zoo (2013)
Equinix Ashburn Leased Space for Internet Access, dual 10Gbps to the BGP Speakers, and dual 10Gbps Ethernet connections to Tier One Providers. Ten-fold decrease in access costs!
Migrate from 600Mbps Internet Access via single Carrier and I2 to dual 10Gbps connections over leased fiber from Ashburn to Herndon (2013)
NYC MAN Upgrade from DS3 connections to dual 1Gbps MPLS (2014)
Conversion of DS3 to Comcast Switched 1Gbps for selected sites (2014)
Upgrade of the Museum Support Center in Suitland to 10Gbps Leased Fiber to the Mall (2015)
Migration from DS3 to 1Gbps Switched Ethernet (On Going)
NYC MAN Upgrade to 10Gbps using leased Lambda’s and Leased Fiber

3. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Overview of the Smithsonian Network Infrastructure Program
New Projects
Migration from TDM to Switched Ethernet DWDM for the links from Herndon to Equinix in Ashburn for security and capacity,
Optical Upgrade/Fiber Lease Review
Cloud Connections directly at Equinix and migration to Cloud Computing
SIP Trunking

4. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
NYC MAN Upgrade to 10Gbps using leased Lambda’s and Leased Fiber
The Project is fundamental to two other projects: TDM/MPLS Migration and SIP Trunking.
Overall Increase in Capacity (10Gbps) with ten-fold latency improvement.
Greater fault tolerance with the two core sites in NYC by using leased fiber. Current topology is convoluted and has poor performance.
Approximately $45K annual circuit cost while achieving a ten-fold increase in capacity and 20-fold reduction in latencies.

5. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
NYC MAN Upgrade to 10Gbps using leased Lambda’s and Leased Fiber
Simplified Topology with single bill for the MAN.
Sets the stage for SIP implementation in three locations: Washington DC (American History), New York City (GGHC South Manhattan), and Equinix (Ashburn).
SIP Trunking is proving to be elusive as costing is still not there. The math is fairly straight forward: 23 lines per PRI with capacity of 64Kbps (Max) per call. HD Video and HD Audio via SIP and true understanding of Session Based Controllers remain in flux with a protocol that is starting to stabilize (maybe).
TDM/MPLS Migration require the implementation of the 10Gbps Lambda’s to remove the dual 1Gbps MPLS Circuits

6. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
DWDM for the links from Herndon to Equinix in Ashburn for security and capacity
DWDM for the links from Herndon to Equinix in Ashburn for security and capacity – Moving from Cisco DWDM to XKL DWDM. Cost and Simplicity!
Current Topology – Inside and outside traffic traverse the same leased fiber pair on the same Ethernet logical link.
Traffic is separated by VLAN, but surges in Internet traffic impede the Internal traffic.
The Smithsonian Goal is 1 Billion visitors per year. This requires high capacity with low latency.

7. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
DWDM for the links from Herndon to Equinix in Ashburn for security and capacity
The use of DWDM allows for ten separate Ethernet links per fiber path. (10Gbps or 40Gbps per link)
This becomes more important as migration to cloud computing providers (Google, Amazon, IBM, Cisco, etc.)
Equinix is the critical piece to success with Cloud migration and WAN services. It provides Cloud access at vastly reduced rates with direct connections.

8. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Migration from TDM to Switched Ethernet
The plan for 2018 is to migrate to two Ethernet carriers for all MAN/WAN circuits not using Smithsonian fiber or leased fiber.
This migrates off of MPLS, DS3, DS1, and consolidates all Ethernet onto two carriers.  
The informal Request for Quote was resent in August due to the previous budget issues in April.  Selection is pending and is by committee.
This is a work in progress. Not all DS1 services will be dropped in Two competing technologies are VPN over Business Class Cable or VPN over 5G Wireless Cisco 890 routers.
Annual Savings are approximately $90K-$100K.

9. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Optical Upgrade/Fiber Lease Review
Reviewing the current fiber lease costs as the current contract is five years and five option years. Option years start in Fiber lease costs have been dropping, so once an initial budget quote is completed, a formal RFQ may (or may not) be issued.
Fiber Leases current run from Herndon to Equinix (two paths), Herndon to the Mall at the Castle and American History (two paths), the National Zoo (one path) and the Museum Support Center (one Path). The following table is a list of additional sites that may migrate as well.
Start Site
Start Address
End Site
End Address
Current MRC/Type Service
Victor
750 9th St. NW, Washington, DC 20560
DWRC
700 G St., NW, Washington, DC
$2, Gbps Switched Ethernet WAN Service
HAZY
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, VA 20151
Equinix
21721 Filigree Ct. Ashburn, VA 20147
$2, Gbps Switched Ethernet WAN Service
NPM
2 Mass Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20560
NMAH
1200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC
$2, Gbps Switched Ethernet WAN Service
NZP
3001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20008
$1, Leased Fiber
Renwick
17TH & Penn. Ave., Washington, DC 20560

10. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Challenges and Interesting points of View from an ancient Federal Network Engineer
Innovation is a sibling of invention, both share the same mother: Necessity. Innovators are rarely welcome and are generally flogged for their efforts.
Immediate Change in any organization is possible, so is winning the lottery. 
Contracting out operations lends itself to stifling innovation, creativity, and inventiveness. Contracted Companies do not like the risk or progress and innovation.
Money (funding) makes the world (of a bureaucrat) go around (and around). 
Change is terrifying to those without understanding, hence Managers and Contractors sometimes paint a bleak and dangerous picture without proof.
Leadership and vision are every bit as essential at all level to not failing (especially at the CIO/CTO and above), not necessarily succeeding.

11. Smithsonian IT Infrastructure
Challenges and Interesting points of View from an old Federal Network Engineer
Build upon success. The Smithsonian went from 1Gbps and DS3 to predominantly 10Gbps across the backbone. It took several projects and several years of pushing the need. NYC took 18 months from start to implementation. 12 months was the project sitting on a desk!
Most organizations rarely review their circuits, network operations contractors are loath to change, and that is why most organizations will suffer in their journey to the Cloud. 
Beware of mantras. Remember Data Centers, ATM, SONET, MPLS (now waning), and now “We’re Going to the Cloud” as mantras to chant. The result of the last will be network congestion, failed systems, and increased costs without a solid network (WAN/MAN) Infrastructure, not to mention the increased security issues with even more HTTPS traffic.