1. NERO/OWEN Partnership - Oregon High Performance Networking David Crowe, Jr. NERO Network Network Engineer

2. NERO/OWEN Partnership  Oregon Networking Background  Oregon institutions had individual connections to NSFNet regional - NWNet  Higher Ed business functions network operation started in 1990  NERO started as an ATM testbed network in 1994  merged NERO and Higher Ed network in 1996  formed OWEN Partnership in 1997- includes Higher Ed, State Govt, and K-12  NERO continues as backbone for OWEN Partnership

3. Funding Sources  ~ 50% Higher Ed budget  ~ 85% is state general fund  ~ 15% is research funding from various sources  ~ 50% direct partner contributions

4. Organization  Governed by coordinated agreement among partners  Executive committee - 1 member from each funding source partner, very loose structure  staffing??

5. Network Architecture  3 geographically dispersed Hubs - Portland, Eugene and Corvallis  DS-3 and OC-3c interconnects  Hub expansion driven by ability to aggregate customers and demand  heavy utilization of State's 'Fast Packet' contract (frame relay) for customer access

6. Infrastructure Elements  State's 'Fast Packet' contract  Frame Relay contract with postalized rates - expires in 11/2001, may extend to 11/2002  Private Line circuits where cost effective  Local arrangements for fiber, etc  new State contract being negotiated to replace existing Frame Relay contract  will include both Layer 2 and Layer 3 service elements  intended to be signed by Sept 2000  major tenants (by # of sites) - lottery and corrections

7. Network Services  ISP transit, Internet2 (negotiating), Oregon Internet Exchange  consulting and engineering support  Web cache (in development)  DNS secondary services  encourage and actively develop digital video but is managed and supported elsewhere

8. Relationships  State Govt is member of partnership  tenuous and sometimes problematic  usually useful as contracting management  currently working together to develop new Transport procurement  Internet2 via Oregon GigaPOP and/or PNW/GPOP  Oregon Internet Exchange

9. Threats  Attrition of Internal sites  consortium idea not universally accepted  Rural penetration  both technology deployment and funding  Network engineering by Legislative process  Procurement rules often hinders innovation and economizing on various scales