NIRAN: a Vehicle for Internet Service Provision for NI Education & Public Sector --- 0 --- Christopher Kelly NIRAN

1. NIRAN Awareness Day 18th April 2008 Stranmillis University College, Belfast NIRAN: aVehicle for Internet Service Provision for NI Education & Public Sector --- 0 --- Christopher Kelly NIRAN Network Coordinator c.kelly@qub.ac.uk Website: www.niran.ac.uk

2. Talk Structure • Network in Context • NIRAN and JANET • Membership • Network Topology • Technical Benefits • Administration • Funding • Governance • NIRAN-2 • Strategic aims • Benefits to NI plc • Procurement • Résumé Awareness Day

3. Established October 2004 – 23 Sites Core members = Higher & Further Ed inc. QUB, Ulster, 6 FE Colleges Now Connects 30+ sites inc. 7 public sector sites One of 18 regional networks Over 200,000 users NIRAN + JANET  Internet Contract with NTL to Oct 2009 New one needed for 2009-2014 Reprocurement to start Aug 2008 More in tender = better VFM for all Overview Awareness Day

4. Higher Education Institutions Queens University Belfast University of Ulster Stranmillis College St Mary's College Belfast E-Science Centre Other Institutions Armagh Observatory Dept of Agric Training Colleges Economic Research Institute of NI NI Common Information System Learning & Skills Dev Agency Edu Guidance Service for Adults North Down Borough Council Derry City Council Alta Systems Interconnect to C2K Interconnect to HEAnet (via Letterkenny) Further Education Colleges Belfast Metropolitan College Belfast Campus Castlereagh Campus North West Regional College North West Campus Limavady Campus Northern Regional College East Antrim Campus North East Campus Causeway Campus Southern Regional College Newry Campus Upper Bann Campus Armagh Campus South Eastern Regional College North Down Campus Lisburn Campus East Down Campus South West College Omagh Campus Fermanagh Campus East Tyrone Campus Connected Sites

5. Network Topology Awareness Day

6. Resilience – Internal and External Awareness Day

7. NI Public Sector Networks Internet Feed Awareness Day

8. NIRAN Services (above Telcos) • NOT Telco Managed Service • NIRAN manages IP network • via QUB Networks Team • Helpdesk with NI human staffing • 8am–12pm,363 days per year • Network Monitor service to sites • DNS services provided • Circuits and Routers • Bandwidth + routers to each site • PoP Routers = Cisco 7609 • Site Routers = Cisco 7204, 2600 • Future-proofing and scalability • Meeting 99.97% uptime - all links • IP address space • World-class Bandwidth • 12 sites on 10Mbits • 8 sites on 34Mbits/s • 8 sites on 100Mbits/s • 1 site on 300Mbits/s • 3 sites on 1000Mbits/s • Internet @ 2500Mbits/s • Participation in NIRAN community and governance Awareness Day

9. Netsight: Live Traffic Monitoring [private account per site] Belfast Metropolitan College Awareness Day

10. Funding Sources • NIRAN Ltd  “Not-for-Profit” organisation • DO NOT Connect Commercial Sites • Department for Employment and Learning • JANET (UK) funds – [the parent body] • Non Ed institutions: ERINI, Arm Obs, etc • Diversify Membership = better VFM for all Awareness Day

11. Governance Awareness Day

12. NIRAN-2 Strategic Aims • Continuity of Service - Seamless transition to new network • Imperative that members get as good as existing service • Review infrastructure for 3-5 year projection (to 2014) • Institutions + Backbone – bandwidths/routers • Explore extra resilient Internet linkage • via HEAnet, New NI-US link, Telco peering • Collaborate with other NI networks • C2K (Schools) – enhance capacity, functionality, applications sharing • ELfNI (Libraries) - establish interconnect • NHS-net (Health) – explore common gateway • Engage with wider public sector (to facilitate Review of Public Admin) • Local Government, Education & Skills Authority, new Library Authority, etc • Exploit uniqueness of NIRAN EU cross-border element (no other in JANET) • Strategic collaboration between North-South client base + mutual resilience • Explore future current network applications/technologies • IPv6, Multicast, QoS + new circuit technologies (e.g. Metro Ethernet VPN) Awareness Day

13. NIRAN-2 Benefit to NI-plc • Regional Network: Local Ownership and Agenda • Economies of scale – bulk buying power  Better VFM • Regional Development - supporting local economy • Coherent Strategy  Cohesive Community • Integration of Edu sectors – HE, FE, Schools and Public Sector • Broadening of JANET into public sector user base • Fosters Intra-regional, Cross-border and Global Links • Potential for all-Ireland Ed & Public Sector network • Sustainable Vehicle for Internet Service Provision Awareness Day

14. NIRAN-2 Procurement • Talk to members and others in NI Apr-July 2008 • Invitation to Tender document July-Aug 2008 • Advertise ITT in OJEU Sep 2008 • Tender using Competitive Dialogue procedure • Preferred Supplier selected May 2009 • NIRAN-2 in place for testing Sep 2009 • NIRAN-2 operational Oct 2009 • Three to five year contract to Oct 2014 іIf interested in joining, talk to me ! Chris Kelly 9097 6099 OR c.kelly@qub.ac.uk Awareness Day

15. Résumé • Regional computer network of 30+ Education & Public Sector sites • Part of the UK-wide JANET network community • World-class future-proofed bandwidth: 10M, 34M, 100M, 1000M • Reliability of 99.97% uptime - resilient NI backbone • Resilient Dual 2.5Gb Links to Internet • 1Gb interconnection to RoI Education network, HEAnet • Funded by DEL + JANET (UK) + Colleges + non-Edu sites • Network owned + managed by NIRAN Ltd with local agenda • Current contract with NTL for 5 Years to Nov 2009 • New NIRAN procurement will bring new contract to 2014 Awareness Day