KanREN: 2001 and beyond

Doug HeacockExecutive Director

Kansas Research and Education Network

Overview

• The KanREN consortium• The backbone network• KanREN today• KanREN tomorrow• Ongoing challenges• The future of KanREN

The KanREN consortium

• Established in 1993– Jerry Niebaum (KU) and RCAC

• Initial funding: NSF Connections grants

• Initial membership: 35 colleges and universities

• First sites connected in 1994

The KanREN consortium

• Founding principles:– Facilitate communication among

members– Provide a statewide infrastructure– Provide excellent technical support,

training– Create a true consortium community– Grassroots organization

The KanREN consortium

• Executive committee elected by member site representatives– Every member institution has a voice

and a vote

• "Service unit" of KU Center for Research, Inc.– Benefits of state agency without

some of the limitations

The backbone network

• Statewide infrastructure• Scalability• Robust and reliable• Standards-based• Managed

KanREN network, c. 1994

Manhattan Lawrence

Wichita

Kansas City

Internet

913 sites

316 sites

785 sites785 sites

Site links56k linkT1 link

KanREN network, c. 1996

Manhattan Lawrence

Wichita

Kansas City

Internet

913 sites

316 sites

785 sites785 sites

Site linksT1 link

KanREN network, c. 1999

Manhattan

Wichita

Kansas City

Internet

913 sites

316 sites

785 sites

Site linksT1 linkDS-3 linkOC-3 link

GPN/KanREN

785 sites

Lawrence

Internet 2Internet

KanREN network, May '01

Manhattan

Wichita

Kansas City

Internet

913 sites

316 sites

785 sites

Site linksT1 linkDS-3 linkOC-3 linkFrac. OC-3

GPN/KanREN

Lawrence

Internet 2Internet

Hays

Internet

KanREN today

• Membership growth: 61 sites– Six regents universities, plus KUMC– Ten community colleges– Eleven private colleges and

universities– Thirteen K-12 school districts– Eighteen public libraries– Three other non-profit organizations

KanREN today

• The staff:– Executive Director, full-time– Director of Network Services, half-

time– System Administrator, full-time– Director of Web Applications, half-

time

KanREN today

• Services:– Training and technical support– Campus network consulting– Internet access (78 Mbps total)– Intranet design and implementation– Network monitoring and diagnostics

• Online statistics, graphs

– 24-hour NOC

KanREN today

• Services (continued)– Abilene and Internet 2 access– Virtual Web hosting– Usenet News service– Primary and secondary DNS service– Delegated registration authority for four

.ks.us domains– Exclusive e-mail lists for site

representatives

KanREN today

• Services (continued)– Proxy Web caching service– Annual technical conference

• June 3-5, 2001, Central College, McPherson

– Occasional networking symposia• Video over IP• Security• Bandwidth management

KanREN tomorrow

• Staff growth– Add full-time network administrator– Add administrative

assistant/Webmaster

• Added services– Add aDSL connection options– Add IMA connection options– Possibly add Blackboard servers

KanREN tomorrow

• New services on the horizon– IP multicast for video over IP– Akamai servers at the core sites– Additional technical conferences and

symposia

KanREN tomorrow

• Kan-Ed– Legislation passed, awaiting

Governor's signature– State-wide, high-bandwidth, multi-

purpose backbone network– All K-12 districts, public libraries,

rural hospitals– To be administered by the Board of

Regents

Ongoing challenges

• Rapidly increasing demands for bandwidth– Aggregation ratios– Internet and backbone bandwidth

• Need for additional staff• Lack of provider infrastructure• Costs

The future of KanREN

• KanREN is finally being noticed at the state level

• KanREN will have significant involvement in Kan-Ed

• The consortium community is growing closer and stronger

• Our network is improving, even without state help

Questions, comments, etc.

• Doug Heacock• heacock@kanren.net• 785-864-0422 (office)• 785-691-5544 (cellular)• http://www.kanren.net