*****UNAPPROVED DRAFT*****
IHETS Management Committee
March 8, 2005, 10:00am
Boardroom

PRESENT
Patrick Alles, Independent Colleges of Indiana
Don Fluke, Grace College
Ed Kinley, Indiana State University
Bill Kramer, Ivy Tech State College
Abu Moniruzzaman, Ivy Tech State College
David Ross, Morgan County Public Library
Mark Rozewski, University of Southern Indiana
Bob Sorenson, Ivy Tech State College
Dick Tully, Ivy Tech State College
Carol Tully
Phyllis Usher, Department of Education
Brian Voss, Indiana University

David Hensel, Sommer Barnard, legal counsel for IHETS

STAFF:
Tim Fisher, Rauf Khalid, Dave King, Tim Ping, Susan Scott, Kevin Siminski, Ed Stockey, Lynn Ward, Julie Wheeler

Chairman Kramer called the meeting to order at 10:05am.

Approval of Minutes-
Voss moved that the minutes of the January 18, 2005 meeting be approved as distributed. Alles seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

Pending Issues-
Kramer introduced David Hensel from Sommer and Barnard. Hensel was recommended by an adhoc committee and approved by the IHETS Board of Directors. Hensel will represent the IHETS regarding involvement with the Grand Jury investigation and assist with contract negotiations with Intelenet.

King announced that Karl Browning, CIO for the State, has assumed to the role of Executive Director of Intelenet. Kramer invited Browning to attend today’s meeting but he could not attend and will be invited again to a later meeting.

Chairman Kramer adjourned to EXECUTIVE SESSION (Pursuant to IC 5-14-1.5-6.1 (b) (1), (2) & (7) and IC 5-14-3-4 (a) (4) & (5).

Public Session-
Kramer reported that there is no action from the Executive Session. However, we might need to schedule a special meeting in April to review options for responding to the RFP and extend an invitation to Browning to attend. Hensel will work with Browning’s counsel to coordinate a meeting time.

Hensel added that he is working to schedule interviews with the three auditor candidates and members of the subgroup.

I-Light2 Update –
King reported that the ITC will be working to identify what it is going to take to get fiber built to all the campuses. Currently, about 9/10 of the fiber IRU’s have been secured. The IRU’s are currently assigned at the State Budget Agency. The run from Terre Haute, Vincennes and Evansville is Level 3 fiber and we are still negotiating that agreement. That agreement also includes a run from Muncie to Richmond. The next step is to rewrite and release the RFP for equipment to light the fiber. The RFP was released once before and it came back $2M over budget, so we have rewritten the specs and expect to release it again a soon. Siminski and his staff have been working directly with the State Budget Agency to move ahead on this. We continue to be in contact with Browning and the state CIO office.

King reported that last Friday the department of rural services sent out an email to nine “broadband providers” inviting them to make a 30-min presentation on March 18th to tell how we would use I-Light2 to dramatically improve broadband access to rural areas of the state. That information is to be fed directly into the RFP development process. Purdue, IU and IHETS will make a combined presentation at 1:00 that day.

Committee Reports-
ITC- Siminski reported that the major discussion items has been the I-Light2 technology plan and beginning conversations about the connection support for FY05-06.

King noted that this is the time when the ITC would be talking about how to take $1.14M support funds that we use for circuits and decide whether we want to apportion it in the same way we have in the past. We would like to get a picture of where circuit prices would be and if they are down around what we have been supporting T1’s, we might create a proposal using that $1.14M/yr to build or acquire fiber to every campus and uses the support money for down payment.

In essence, we would need agreement from fiber vendors that we can come up with a statewide plan for building the higher education portion. We would begin building it immediately and pay for it over the next 10 years. This plan would commit $1M/yr over next 10 years and apportion the remaining costs monthly or annually that each of the institutions pay. The goal is to make those payments equal or less than what users pay currently. Initially we weren’t sure if we could do it, but conversation with vendor providers look promising.

IPSE - Tully reported that the Learning Services team has been working on the home institution model and we should see some modification to that over the next year or so. Also with First Virtual filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, we are looking for a new platform for IHETS Interactive

At the All Partners Conference each year we present awards in three categories: Support of On-line Teaching/Learning; Teaching with technology; and Technology on campus.
Winners were chosen from 25 candidates recommended for those three categories from 12 different campuses, and will be announced on April 15 at the APC.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 17 at 10:00 with the primary agenda item being the budget.

King congratulated Voss on his new position as Louisiana State’s CIO and thanked him for his strong support during his representation.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 12:05pm