Management Committee 2004 meeting minutes

*** APPROVED ***

IHETS Management Committee

September 21 , 2004

Boardroom

PRESENT:

Patrick Alles, Independent Colleges of Indiana

Vernon Houchins, Vincennes University

Mike Huffman , Indiana Department of Education

Ed Kinley, Indiana State University

Robert Long, Purdue University

Fred Nay, Ball State University

Phil Repp, Ball State University

David Ross, Morgan County Public Library

Robert Ruble, University of Southern Indiana

Robert Slayton, Vincennes University

Richard Tully, Ivy Tech State College

Brian Voss, Indiana University

STAFF: Tim Fisher, George Jensen, Rauf Khalid, Tim Ping, Susan Scott, Kevin Siminski, Shawn Solomon, Ed Stockey, Susan Sullivan, Lynn Ward, Julie Wheeler

Chairman Kramer called the meeting to order at 10:05am. The minutes of the May 18 meeting were reviewed and Houchins moved that the minutes be approved as distributed. Long seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

Kramer introduced Rauf Khalid who is the new Assistant Director of Data Networks, replacing Siminski.

Kramer reported that the Executive Director's contract with Purdue is reviewed for approval annually. He noted that King spends 90% of his time at IHETS and 10% at Purdue. Alles moved that the group approve the contract for Dave King to continue his appointment as Executive Director for the academic year 2004-05. Houchins seconded the motion at it was unanimously approved.

I-Light2 – Siminski reviewed a listing of cities where the nodes will be located within the coming months, although we are still negotiating one of the contracts so there is some room for change. He added that we don't have specific addresses at this time. One telecom contract has been negotiated so we have started piecing together parts of the dark fiber network. We are very close to releasing the first equipment RFP, after which time we would start bringing on institutions and other communities of interest to the network.

Siminski reviewed a map which illustrates the logical representation of what we believe the network fiber will look like. The map shows major node locations and some of the secondary points of interest that might be regeneration points. While this doesn't depict the actual addresses, it will give some concept of the layers of redundancy that will be built into the network. The only deficiency so far is the fiber across the southern part of the state. Siminski explained that when we put out the RFP we were told my numerous vendors that getting across 64 to link Evansville to New Albany or Jefferson would be difficult. That is continually being echoed as there are very complex right of way issues that will need to be worked out. We are currently looking at some other alternatives to close that loop in southern Indiana to create a totally redundant loop across the state. He added that a couple locations will have fiber coming right through campuses. Discussions about co-location at campuses, requirements for equipment access, power requirements are on-going.

Siminski noted a slide showing all higher education institutions across the state and added the approximation of where the I-Light2 nodes are located and put out a five, ten and 20 mile radius, in order to give an idea of how close the nodes are to the institutions.

King noted that the lines are the ones that we know are currently in place based on current signed contracts. The lighter lines indicate the ones that are about to be completed within a few days.

The last slide illustrates the categories of where I-Light, I-Light2 and Indiana Telecommunications Network all fit together. He noted that I-Light showing Indiana and Purdue are the cutting edge of research and development with the highest levels of bandwidth requirements. The intersection with I-Light2 that in essence becomes a new backbone for the state and the foundation is the Indiana Telecommunications Network connecting libraries, K12, higher education and state government. This represents how we expect this to play out in the near future.

King stressed that there will be some opportunities for institutions that are only connected to ITN now to move up into the I_Light2 infrastructure and have direct connections to Purdue, IU as well as Internet2 and the national Lambda rail.

King reported that we are working on a business plan with the State Budget Agency that proposes moving away from the circuit-based structure and works on something more like a membership fee which would provide basic service and cost recovery for the connection. We will be calling on many institutions as we prepare the business plan. King noted that although things are changing, the model that we have used with ITN will be maintained for current ITN members.  The proposed timeline is to have the network fully operational in March 05, and will be expanded out in increments prior to that time.

INTELENET Commission Relationship with IHETS – King reported that issues with Intelenet have been raised in the newspaper. There is an overall sense that Intelenet is not managing and keeping resources in line. ITN is a partnership with Intelenet, years higher education, k12 , libraries, state agencies, and public broadcasting. There have been a significant a number of changes to the Intelenet Commission. One of current members resigned and four of the current members were not reappointed by the Governor. There are now five new members of the Intelenet Commission, and a new Executive Director at Intelenet, Sean Fahey.

In this process there continue to be concerns expressed about the future and viability of Intelenet. At the last meeting we discussed the importance of IHETS having an exit plan in place due to the responsibility to the 1850 organizations that are connected to the network. As these changes occur, we lose large amounts of institutional memory at Intelenet. King talked with Fahey about the concept of spinning off the network as a separate entity because of the uncertainty that Intelenet will exist in three months. We are not assuming anything but network operation requirements between now and the election.

Kramer and King discussed the legal issues on the table and they continue to be discussed in Executive Session. King was told that if he was expecting legal counsel and representation from Intelenet, that would not happen, we should identify our own. Staff contacted a colleague and spent the day with him reviewing the relationship with Intelenet and related processes. His opinion is that as an entity involved in network operations, IHETS doesn't have a significant liabilities and do not have a need for additional legal counsel. IHETS has been in operations since 1967 and has never needed legal counsel. King told Fahey that we need advanced notice of any changes and need to have a plan ready to take over the network if necessary. We will consult with this group as needed. Kramer added that IHETS is staying on top of the situation and prepared to move if necessary.

Satellite to Streaming Initiative – King noted that we are aggressively trying to refocus the name to IHETS Interactive. We are headed toward proof of concept stage starting this fall at Ball State , IU and ISU with seven sites this fall. That will put this into a production environment. King emphasized that this is a major shift and the most dramatic change in technology in the last ten years. This does require some degree of discussion, involvement and interactivity at user institutions. We need to be sure that we are heading the right direction because of that we are offering additional opportunities for testing.

Ward added that the proof of concept stage begins in October and will involve a four- week test period under very controlled circumstances to validate what we believe about the technology and its ability to fulfill this function. In spring we will do a more extended pilot of the technology. Ward noted that we are building this solution on top of a commercial product but the commercial product didn't have all the functionality that we hope to provide, so we are working with a third party developer to add that. In the spring semester we will introduce some new features, and in the fall we will move to a limited production stage. It will be limited in that we won't have full capacity until June 2006.

As we work through this implementation schedule we also are working through migration plans, focusing on bringing on our most heavily used receive sites. Also, a group of managers are analyzing direct and indirect costs, and one-time cost for this project, some borne by IHETS, some by receive sites, to build several business models that we can present to various governance groups for final approval. We are also developing a variety of support models and role-out. We anticipate having a variety of user agreements. We continue looking at training and user support issues, developing concrete training plans and the types of deliverables available, and working through policy issues.

ITC –Nay reported that in addition to discussions about I-Light2 and the Satellite to Streaming Initiative the group has been looking at Disaster Recovery and what others are doing in this area, and gathering information on ITFS channels and network monitoring. The group viewed an incubators demo from Paragent. Nay reminded the group that the Tech Summit will be held November 10.

IPSE – Tully reported that the IPSE group has also been involved in similar discussion as the ITC and at the October 1 meeting will spend a lot of time discussing the proof of concept and the extended pilot in the Spring. Tully noted that the group discussed IDEAS! which provides programming to Public Broadcasting. To date, interest has been somewhat sluggish and staff is looking at different scenarios of what could be provided.

Tully added that the group reviewed and adopted a reported from the Library Services Task Group to meet a goal of making holdings available to all students regardless of which institution they are getting a degree. In addition, the group is looking at policy revisions related to IHETS Interactive, reviewed the ICN report on the migration to IHETS, and saw software systems that make it easier to pre-register and get feedback to students. He added that Grant programs responses were due to reviewers last Friday and are due to IHETS with their comments in about two weeks.

Ward announced the Brownbag Series is a forum for faculty and instructional support staff that will share info what they are doing on campus in the way of using technology for teaching and issues related to that. It was organized by members of the Faculty Services Team and we seem to have very wide spread participation from our member institutions. Contact Ward if you are interested in getting on the mailing list for the Series.

STAFF REPORTS - Scott reported on talks with the Children's Museum and WFYI to host the Indiana Kid's Election on October 4. Channel 20 will be telecasting using IHETS satellite to transmit to schools live from the Children's Museum.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 11:25am to demonstration of IHETS Interactive.