1. “ITnet/HEAnet Integration Project” (Managed Network Services)
Owen Byrne
(Managed Network Services)
HEAnet Conference
Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny,
14th November 2008

2. Agenda Background Info Project Initiation/Implementation
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

3. Agenda Background Info Project Initiation/Implementation
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

4. Background: 13 IoTs included in Project
DIT & Tipp Inst already HEAnet clients
3 x Services
General IP (aka Internet)
An Cheim MIS systems
Commodity IP

5. A (very) Brief History 1998, 1999 ITnet network established (2Mb/s)
Replaced “RTCnet”
Until recently: access connectivity provided by Eircom
ATM infrastructure (45Mb/s per IoT)
IP addressing & IP Transit provided via HEAnet
2+2Mb/s replaces 512k leased lines, with 5Mb/s back to ISP
Prior to Itnet: “RTCnet”

6. Times Past: ITnet - HEAnet
Slide illustrating single peering point between HEAnet – Itnet for IP transit. ( 2 x STM-1s ->Eircom rtr ->GigE -> HEAnet

7. Then, two reports:
Commissioned by HEA on behalf of Department of Education & Science
Sonas & Molloy (2003/2004)
Sonas Innovation: technical review
Dr. Molloy: governance & management structure
Sonas: single organisation to be charged with the delivery of high-speed networking services to all research and educational establishments in Ireland and that HEAnet is well placed to undertake this role.
Consultation process with University Presidents and Council of Directors and DES/HEA
Sonas/Molloy info:
Sources:

8. Agenda Project Initiation/Implementation Background Info
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

9. Summer 2005: Project Initiation
Steering Committee created
Project team established
Joint scoping and technical requirements document produced
Pilot Project commences (ITB, WIT, LIT)
Followed by approval to include all IoTs

10. Project Team Implementation Team Martin McCarrick Brian Boyle
Owen Byrne
Project Manager
John Boland
Steering Committee
HEA
DES
Council of Directors
IUA (CHIU)
DIT
Mary Kerr
Ian McKenna
Brendan Murphy, Tim Creedon
Michael Nowlan, Brendan Tolan
David Scott

11. Agenda Delivering Connectivity Background Info
Project Initiation/Implementation
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

12. Delivering Connectivity
Fibre Contracts
ESB Telecom – national ring (1300 Km)
e-net – MANs: Galway, Limerick, Cork, Athlone, Letterkenny (200Km)
Public procurement process
BT, UPC, Dublin City Council
Service Delivery
VLAN and EoMPLS services to implement Point-to-point links
Cisco hardware and CWDM optics
Adva DWDM platform
Fibre Contracts
ESB Telecom – national ring (1300 Km)
e-net - MANs management entity (Galway, Lim, Athlone, Letterkenny..)
Dublin City Council – extensive Dublin fibre reach
Tender underway for various elements (Gtr. Dublin, NUI-M, …)

13. Government MANs

14. Wavelength Division Multiplexing
CWDM in access network (1470nm – 1610nm. 8 x channels, modulated at 1Gbit/s)
DWDM in backbone. Each channel capable of 10Gbit/s
Separating signals
Combining signals
Different light frequencies (colours)
over a single fibre path
Ethernet transmitters
Ethernet receivers
DWDM: closer channel spacing, uses 1 transmission window near 1550nm

15. Access & Core Network

16. ESBT Backbone
General IP, Commodity IP, An Cheim peerings all in Dublin
Connect e|net rings to regional PoP
Connect regional PoP to national backbone (e|net ring)
Additional fibre procured from:
Dublin City Council
UPC
BT (Athlone, Carlow, Tralee)
Commodity IP, An Cheim, General Internet peerings all in Dublin
However, ESBT network doesn’t reach all IoTs such as Tralee, Carlow, Athlone

18. BT Fibre IT Blanchardstown – Servecentric
IADT, Dun Laoghaire – Citywest
IADT – Servecentric (soon)
Athlone IT – NUI Galway
Athlone IT – Servecentric
IT Tralee – UCC
IT Tralee – UL
Carlow IT – Waterford IT
Carlow IT - Citywest

19. Milestones 2006: First IoTs connect to HEAnet
July: Limerick IT & Waterford IT
August: Steering Group approve migration of all IoTs
October: IT Blanchardstown
November: Letterkenny IT
December: GMIT & DKIT
2007: Further Migrations & Service Production
Feb: Sligo IT & Cork IT Migrated
April: An Cheim Service goes live
April: Commodity IP peering with GN established
October: Tallaght, Athlone, Carlow IT Migrations
2008: Towards Completion
Jan: 24/7 Cover Introduced
Jan: IADT, Dun Laoghaire Migration
Sept: Tralee IT Migration
An Cheim service goes live: 02/04/07
Commodity IP goes live: 04/05/07
LYIT: 20/11/06
GMIT: 21/11/06
DKIT: 05/12/06
Sligo: 20/02/07
Cork: 26/02/07
Tallaght: 25/10/07
Athlone 16/10/07
Carlow: 16/10/07
IADT: 07/01/08
Tralee: 24/09/08

21. Agenda Delivering Connectivity Current & Future Work
Background Info
Project Initiation/Implementation
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

22. Current/Future Work Pre 2005: Now:
IoTs, individual clients of ITnet network
Single peering point with HEAnet
Now:
Established as 13 new individual HEAnet clients
Dual HEAnet connections (5 remain)
Benefit from current & future HEAnet projects
National Backbone Extension: phases 3 & 4
Point-to-point connectivity (on demand)
10Gig lambdas for Research
Equipment/Service Resilience

23. National Backbone Extension (Phase 3)
80 applications received for connectivity (15/05/07)
From 27 Client Institutions
56 approved by selection committee
19 IoT circuit requests approved
3 additional IoT requests approved under NBE-4
22 IoT circuits (Total):
Primary Campus Resilience
Off campus transparent LAN services
Whereas dark-fibre to primary campus, variety of technologies used to reach remote campus sites
Mention 2 x new client connections: IoTI and An Cheim, Broomhill

24. Connectivity to Remote Campus Sites
Carlow IT
Wexford Campus
Wicklow Campus (Rathnew)
LYIT
Tourism & Catering College, Killybegs
WIT
TSSG, Carriganore
College St.
Confederation House
GMIT
Castlebar
Letterfrack
Cluain Mhuire
Limerick IT
School of Art & Design
Cork IT
Cork School of Music
NMCI
Crawford College
Blackrock Observatory

25. Connectivity Solutions
Public procurement process (RfT) held
Dark Fibre (BT, e|net, Magnum Opus)
NMCI: Phase I and phase II MAN interconnected
Managed Ethernet Solutions (e|net, BT)
Typically EoSDH
Licensed Microwave (Airspeed Telecom, NWE)
i) Infeasible to try dark-fibre to every remote site, so wireless & managed ethernet solutions used where appropriate
ii) HEAnet = 1st operator to use a phaseII MAN

26. 9 links in total within this network
i) 6 3rd party high-sites used at various points to reach NUIG
ii) GMIT are using these for voice services

28. Service Resilience Path resilience Power Resilience at PoPs
Currently implemented
Diverse paths into campus
Power Resilience at PoPs
Backup generators
UPS
Equipment Resilience
Additional backbone MPLS nodes at PoPs
Duplicate CPE router at client sites

29. Agenda Key Outcomes Q&A Delivering Connectivity Current & Future Work
Background Info
Project Initiation/Implementation
Project Team, Steering Committee
Pilot Project Phase
Delivering Connectivity
Government MANs
ESBT
Other providers
Current & Future Work
Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)
Service Resilience (Equipment, power)
Key Outcomes
Q&A

30. Key Outcomes Bandwidth Latency International Peerings
WIT
Bandwidth
Latency
International Peerings
Point-to-point Circuits
WIT (10Gig), Berlin p2p
Native service support (IPv6, Multicast...)
Efficiencies of Scale
Larger HEAnet client base
Scope for increased collaboration
Trial projects (IPTV streams…)
CIT

31. Summary 13 additional HEAnet clients (almost 50% increase)
Intro of 24/7 (note: with feedback from existing client base)
Radically different network architecture than pre-2005
Patience & cooperation of all stakeholders
Provider delays
Inconvenience of civil works etc. on campus
Scheduled maintenance to migrate services
Further work
Additional connectivity to remote campuses
Service resilience
Existing HEAnet service suite

32. Questions?