1. A Tale of Two Fiber Networks Bonnie Baranowski, Colleges of the Fenway Donna Baron, Five Colleges, Incorporated

2. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway A Tale of Two Fiber Networks. Copyright Bonnie Baranowski and Donna Baron, 2005 This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

3. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Five Colleges, Incorporated Established 1965 – to offer more for less –Amherst College –Hampshire College –Mount Holyoke College –Smith College –University of Massachusetts Amherst Close Proximity in Rural Western Mass 25,000 undergraduates, 2,000 faculty http://www.fivecolleges.edu

4. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Major Features of Cooperation Student Interchange Faculty and Curricular Development Libraries and Information Technology Administrative Collaboration Transportation

5. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway History of Fiber Build January 2001 – Top Campus IT Priorities: –Bandwidth –Staffing January 2002 – Infrastructure Report –Current networking, future bandwidth requirements, Internet connectivity strategies, technology, management and governance options

6. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Study Recommendations: Solve the Local Loop Problem Fiber infrastructure connecting campuses to carrier-neutral long haul facility in Springfield Centralized telecom support structure Internet2 for all five schools Bandwidth management tools Northern CrossRoads (NOX)

7. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Governance and Cost Sharing Decision by Consensus – Time, Tending, Trust Philosophically 5ths Formula Structure –Five Colleges, Inc. Board of Directors - MOU –Five College Net, LLC – Manager –Academic Deans, Principal Business Officers –Information Technology Governing Board –Technical Advisory Committee –SLA with University of Massachusetts Amherst

8. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway All That Fiber... Joint Data Network - GigE to start MESH - connecting every possible combination of the schools for ad-hoc research and experimentation Individual campus connections to Springfield Joint excess dark fiber for future growth

9. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway The Benefits Vastly Increase Bandwidth, Services, Flexibility Add Redundant Links Avoid New Costs Research, Education, Collaboration –Enhance Five College Collaboration –Internet2, NEREN, National LambdaRail Economic Development Potential

10. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Request For Bids (RFB) Dark Optical Fiber Network Lease, lease-to-own, design and build RFB at 30% design – looking for bids to bring project to 60% design Pathway Selection, Licensing, Permitting Engineering Construction Technical Requirements Unit Rates for Everything!

11. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway RFB Process Review Team Bidder’s Conference Vendor Negotiations – Budget Development! Contract Negotiations –Permitting, spans, testing, retainer –Schedule, liquidated damages –Unit rates for adds and deducts –Purchase of materials Project Management

12. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway One-time and Recurring Budgets One-Time Budget –Legal –Fiber Optic Cable –Engineering –Consulting/Project Mgmt –Utility Applications –Make-Ready and Permitting –Police –Construction –Contingency Recurring Budget –Network Maintenance –Equipment Replacement –Equipment Maintenance –FOC Maintenance –Attachment/Conduit Fees –Emergency Restoration –Dig Safe Mark-outs –Miscellaneous

13. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Where Are We Now? Licensing and Right-of-Way –Seven Towns –Five Utilities –Numerous State Agencies Pioneer Valley Connect State Representatives Make-Ready released this month Lighting Segments Summer 05 – January 06

14. Lessons Learned Donna Baron Director, Information Technology Five Colleges, Incorporated Dlbaron@fivecolleges.edu

15. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Colleges of the Fenway - 1996 -Emmanuel -Simmons -The Massachusetts College of Art -The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences -Wheelock -Wentworth Institute of Technology -11,500 students (12% of Boston student population) Goal: add value to student academic and social life while seeking innovative methods of investing in new services and containing the costs of higher education http://www.colleges-fenway.org

16. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Major Features of Cooperation Academic –Cross registration –Joint Environmental Sciences Major –Global Educational Opportunities Center –Annual Teaching and Learning Conference Students Activities –COF Orchestra –Intramural program –Fall opening week program, spring weekend and other social events Administrative –Guidance Counselor Tours –Joint insurance programs: student health, property and liability –Contracts: vending, payroll processing, Temp Agency

17. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway History of COFAN 1998 – Study by Technical Development Corp. 1999 – IT Planning Committee –Network, training, helpdesk, distance learning, common administrative applications 2000 – IBM/Blackwell Study 2001 – applied for $2.1 million grant to build network 2002 – Grant received –develop network design and issue RPF (not covered by the grant) 2003 – RFP issued and contract awarded 2004 – Network live in July

18. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Why Build a network? Geography Backbone and foundation for other initiatives Enhanced Internet connectivity (capacity and redundancy) at lower cost Potential for Internet 2 Potential for joint contracts for voice and cable TV Evidence of IT collaboration and momentum for other projects Increase technical knowledge and support on the campuses

19. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway COFAN 12 pairs of fiber to each college Redundant core (CISCO 6509s) CISCO 3550 at each college Lease Dark Fiber from RCN for physical redundancy COF employees: Director for IT Initiatives and Network Manager Internet Access – ISP for Colleges –Registered with ARIN for AS number and IP block –200 mgs, 2 providers 3 times individual contracts at ½ cost

20. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Governance and Cost Sharing Creation of the IT Executive Advisory Board (2002) – 2 members from each college: 2 Presidents, 2 CAOs, 5 CFOs, 3 IT Directors Incorporation of Colleges of the Fenway, Inc. as a 501 (c)3 (2003) Agreements between Colleges and COF, Inc. Fixed costs: split by six Variable: by usage

21. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway One-time and Recurring Budgets One-Time Budget (Grant) –Construction –Fiber Optic Cable –Electronics –Project Mgmt –Legal –NOC construction –Offices –Back Up strategy –Campus Upgrades Operating Budget –Salaries –Maintenance Fiber & electronics –Depreciation –24 x 7 monitoring –Rent (NOCs & Offices) –Contingency –Misc., office supplies –Legal

22. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Benefits and other outcomes Internet capacity Building culture of collaboration –“We are Colleges of the Fenway” Monthly meeting: IT Directors, Network Managers, Help Desk Managers Task Forces: –Common Course Management System –One Card System –Shared Administrative System –Joint End User training –Shared Help Desk Services

23. Five Colleges, Incorporated Colleges of the Fenway Benefits and other outcomes (cont) Benefits to colleges: –Increased internet capacity – potential to spike to 200 mgs, the previous maximum was 3mgs for one college –Development of community among IT groups –Simmons: connect main and residence campuses, eliminate T1s –Wheelock: connect Riverway and Brookline campuses, eliminate T1s

24. Lessons Learned Bonnie Baranowski Director, Information Technology Initiatives Colleges of the Fenway, Inc. BBaranowski@colleges-fenway.org