National LambdaRail/Florida LambdaRail/Tallahassee Fiber Loop

TalTech Alliance Presentation

Larry Conrad

Associate VP and CIO, FSU

Chair, Florida LambdaRail, LLC

December 4, 2003 2

Background

Became aware of the NLR initiative the fall of 2002Goal was to leverage depressed telecom market to pick-up distressed assetsInitiative came out of CA and WAThey were looking at San Diego to Seattle to Denver to Chicago to Pittsburg to D.C.Others got involved to “nationalize” the initiative to include D.C. to Atlanta to Dallas to San DiegoNetwork footprint was being finalized, but still “pliable”

December 4, 2003 3

Background

In just 3 working days we garnered a commitment from 6 FL universities to invest $5M over 5 years

That commitment secured extension of the NLR to Jacksonville...

...and a seat at the table to define the NLR

Realizing none of the 6 universities were IN JAX, so we would have to build comparable FL network

A tribute to the strategic insight of the leaders at those 6 FL institutions to make this kind of commitment in these difficult fiscal times!

December 4, 2003 4

Network Drivers & Motivations

Improve networking costs…”disruptive pricing!”

Control of our networking destiny

Flexibility in responding to future needs

Responsiveness to the needs of higher ed

Innovation and support for corporate research partners

End-to-End networking

Eliminate “place” as an issue for collaboration

December 4, 2003 5

Science Drivers & Motivations

Growing demand for “application empowered” networksSupport for high performance e-science projectsHigh-energy physics, astronomy, earth science, bioinformatics, environmentalStudy very complex micro to macro-scale problems over time and spaceRemote access to instruments, streaming high-definition video, specialized visualization displays, data mining, high-performance distributed supercomputing systems and real-time collaborationTo optimally make use of these technologies, scientists want high-bandwidth connectivity with known and knowable characteristics

December 4, 2003 6

Science Drivers: Examples

New CERN facility in Switzerland comes on line in 2005—will distribute petabyte (PB) files to multiple institutionsJefferson Lab to distribute PB files by 2006FSU is a managing partner for the Oakridge National Laboratory—ORNL wants 10 Gb connectivity SURA Coastal Oceanographic Observing Platform (SCOOP) program to distribute PB files by 2006NSF sponsored supercomputing centers in San Diego, CA; Champaign, IL; and Pittsburg, PA presently have 10 Gb connectivity and are moving to 40 Gb to support GRID computing applicationsOakridge has recently been awarded an NSF GRID computing grant to establish a new “science ultranet” with 10-40 Gb connectivity

December 4, 2003 7

Why Fiber?

Capacity needed is not otherwise affordableCapabilities needed are not otherwise availableFlatten out the expense growth curve... ...cheaper in the long rangeProvides leverage with the telco carriersInsurance against “monopoly behavior”Stable and predictable anchor pointsHigher Ed can’t be held hostage to what industry thinks the market wants

December 4, 2003 8

National Lambda Rail

Sparse dark fiber National footprintServes very high-end Experimental and Research Applications4 - 10Gb Wavelengths (or networks) initiallyCapable of 40 10Gb wavelengths at build outLeverage industry shakeout: distressed vendors are very interested in selling a National footprintDisruptive pricingPartnership model

December 4, 2003 9

NLR Participants

Equity owners:– CENIC (CA)– PNWGP (U of WA)– Internet2– Virginia Tech– Duke– Georgia Tech– Florida LambdaRail– CIC Group—Big 10

(IU lead)

Other:– Carnegie Mellon/PSC

(purchase services)– NCAR/UCAR—CO

(potential)– Texas Group

(potential, UT Austin lead)– New Mexico

(potential, UNM lead)

December 4, 2003 10

NLR Goals and Uses

Research! (including Network Research)

Experimentation in networking and in education

Education

Support of GRID computing

Academic Medical Center driven Clinical activities

Development & implementation of network & computing technologies not otherwise likely to be generally available commercially as early as needed in R&E

December 4, 2003 11

NLR footprint and physical layer topology

15808 Terminal15808 OADM15808 RegenFiber routeLeased waves

Note: California (SAN-LAX-SVL) routes shown are part of CalREN; NLR is adding waves to CalREN systems. Also the CENIC SVL-Sacramento (SAC) ELH route will become part of NLR SVL-SEA in exchange for a SVL-SAC LH route NLR is building (not shown here).

ATL

POR

RAL

MEM

NASPHO

OLG

CHICLE

KAN

OGD

BOS

NYC

WDC

STR

DAL

DEN

LAX

SVL

SEA

SAN

PIT

JAC

BOI

December 4, 2003 12

NLR footprint and physical layer topology – Phase 1

ATL

POR

RAL

CHICLE

KAN

OGD

WDCDEN

LAX

SVL

SEA

SAN

PIT

JAC

BOI

15808 Terminal15808 OADM15808 RegenFiber routeLeased waves

Note: California (SAN-LAX-SVL) routes shown are part of CalREN; NLR is adding waves to CalREN systems. Also the CENIC SVL-Sacramento (SAC) ELH route will become part of NLR SVL-SEA in exchange for a SVL-SAC LH route NLR is building (not shown here).

December 4, 2003 13

NLR Partners and Costs

NLR technology partners– Cisco Systems (electronics/optronics)– Level 3 (fiber)

~$80 M over 5 Years

December 4, 2003 14

NLR Status

1st link from Pittsburg to Chicago brought up mid- NovemberPhase 1 build-out to be completed by July 2004NLR has recently been designated the largest, fastest scientific network in the worldNLR is negotiating with SURA on a partnership for Phase 2 to complete the southern route back to Atlanta...that could come right through Tallahassee!

December 4, 2003 15

FLR: The NLR Build Out In Florida

FLR, Florida LambdaRail

FLR equity participants are all public corporation or 501(c)(3) entities

Current members:FAU, FIT, FIU, FSU, Nova SE, UF, U of Miami, UCF, UWF

Expect FLR build out to be in the $20M range over the next 5 years

FLR is a LLC with plans to seek 501(c)(3) status

December 4, 2003 16

FLR Goals and Uses

NLR connectivityBuild a high-speed FL network for education and researchPut FL universities on an equal footing with the best research institutions in the nationInitial services: 10 Gb shared IP fabric with– Commodity ISP aggregation– Internet2 aggregation

Potential for corporate partnerships and economic development

December 4, 2003 17

FLR Goals and Uses

For the first time, Florida has a node on the leading edge Research and Education networking infrastructure– Was not true with Internet2, NSFNet, or SURANet– Supports nominally $1B in research funding at Florida’s

research universities

December 4, 2003 18

One FLR Build Out Option

December 4, 2003 19

FLR Status

Still in start-up mode– Company formed– Initial equity participant solicitation closed– Will submit 501(c)(3) application shortly– Negotiating with fiber and optronics vendors– Establishing initial contracts for support services

December 4, 2003 20

FLR Timeline

Dec. 2003: Order finalized for FLR backbone fiberJan. 2004: Order finalized for FLR optronicsMarch 2004: Build and lab test Layer 2/3 transport equipmentApril 2004: Order commodity Internet and Internet2 aggregation servicesJuly 2004: NLR Phase 1 build-out of completedAug. 2004: Begin testing Layer 2/3 infrastructureSept. 2004: Begin connecting participants to the FLR infrastructureNov. 2004: Production operation

December 4, 2003 21

Tallahassee Fiber Loop

Tie together local education entities

Provide FLR/NLR connectivity

Potential participants: DOE, CCLA, FAMU, FSU, NWRDC, TCC

Managed by NWRDC

Status: negotiating with potential providers

December 4, 2003 22

In Summary…

Many details yet to be worked out, e.g., inter-city fiber, optronics, and metro fiber solutions

Expect members will provide connection to other entities

For FSU, will provide a nominal 100-fold improvement in network speed!

…which will fundamentally redefine our ability to collaborate and compete!

Questions?

www.flrnet.org

www.nationallambdarail.org