A National Wireless Network for HEI

Glenn Wearen

Terena TF-Mobility Meeting Dec’08.

Agenda

• Campus networks trends

• Wireless strategy

• Tender for national mobile broadband service

• Statistics on NMBS use

Campus Networks are Changing

• On Campus– Wireless has already overtaken wired

at some campuses!– Number of base stations

• Mean 156 • Max 900• Min 16

• Nationally – Comreg Q2 2008– Mobile Broadband 222,330 +394.07%

• Globally – 4 Billion Mobile phones Globally

Sources WINLAB, Telegeography 2007, Mike Norris, Comreg & Fred Clarke UCD

UCD Belfield Wirelss vs Wired Devices

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

Months 2007 - 2008

No

of

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e D

ev

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Wireless

Wired Total

Q: What access network will your users use to connect to your network in 2010?

• Access technologies– Fixed network– WiFi– WiMAX– 3G– LTE(4G)– Combination of all of the above?– Other technologies?

Answer

• A1) Stick with WiFi only on Campus

• A2) Negotiate 3G/4G service and remove WiFi

• A3) Build, wholesale or negotiate a WiMAX service

• A4) Combination of all of the above?

• A5)...

A4) Combination of all

• Introduces issues:– Roaming between WiFi/WiMAX/3G– On Campus and off campus overlap– Provision of services

• Mobile portal? More portals?• Support – IT helpdesk, operator?

– Authentication – SIM, Passwords, Identity Management– Spectrum issues, licensed, unlicensed– Others?

Wireless Strategy Needed.

Two Choices;

1.Develop the strategy within HEAnet with consultation from our clients

2. Engage consultants to develop a strategy

Consultants Brief

• Investigate nationally ubiquitous wireless access to the HEAnet network for all HEAnet clients.

• Identify all potential options

• Identify & Investigate the most feasible options

• Recommend a Strategy

Wi-Fi Peering

Strategy Approach

Widespread Consultation

13 Candidate Solutions Initially Considered

5 Candidate Solutions Investigated in detail

Strategy Findings

• Overwhelming agreement - extend campus cloud

• Quality of Service• Price/Cost• Ease of use• Regulatory Viability

• Commercial Viability– To deliver– To maintain

• Mobility• Ease of delivery• Inability to fund

infrastructure from existing HEI funds

Define the Strategy

• Campuses did not favour any particular technology over another, provided the key objectives were met.

• Strategy could be delivered in phases.

Split the strategy

Phase 1 - Mid 2008 - 2010• Deliver a national high quality and affordable MNO wireless

service – Sept 2008 • Drive adoption – target - 10% of HEI market per annum• DO NOT implement WiFi hotspot peering • Rollout with emerging security middleware strategies

– National Sectoral Federation

– Eduroam

Split the strategy

Bridge to Phase 2• Build sectoral expertise on next generation mobile wireless

(WIMAX or others) by supporting and assessing nominated trials

• Apply to COMREG for sectoral Wireless licences (technology agnostic)

• Conduct annual and mid term review

Split the strategyPhase 2 - 2010 - 2013• Mid Term Review – confirms technology selection• Design, Procure and Deliver an on and off-campus WIMAX (or

other) solution for participating HEI’s to:– Complement Campus WiFi services

– Augment or Replace MNO Service for off campus

• WIMAX Service may either be– Sectoral built (HEI and HEAnet) OR Outsourced to Commercial provider

• Continue to drive adoption for near and off-campus – target 10% per annum

• Continue to drive middleware adoption.

Wireless Strategy

• Phase 1 (2008-2011)– National Mobile Broadband Service– Continued rollout of eduroam– Implement existing middleware strategy to support mobility– Etc.

– Proceed to Tender for NMBS

Tender Objectives

• Provide national coverage• Price point at or below 15 Euro per month• Dongle must not be a barrier to entry• Different Contract options • Available to staff and students• Availability of service / Quality of service• Support for IPsec, IMAP, SSH, Voip etc• Ability to roam• Support• Reporting

O2 & HEAnet Offer

• O2 Clear - 9 month contract - 30 days termination notice

• - E220 Modem. 7.2Mbit/s down, 384kbit/s up - 5GB limit/month, 0.02 Euro/MB over this - Roaming possible but disabled by default - Monthly cost 15 Euro, modem 20 Euro.

www.o2.ie/heanet

• O2 Contract - 12 month contract - 30 day happiness guarantee - E220 modem. 7.2Mbit/s down, 384kbit/s up - 10GB limit/month, fair usage applies - Roaming possible but disabled by default - Monthly cost 13 Euro, modem 20 Euro.

O2 & HEAnet OfferInsight into carriers view of mobile broadband

– Mobile Broadband traffic is growing rapidlySocial networking iPlayer type traffic

– Subscribers are fickleSocial networking applications on devices can lead to long term customer

relationship

– Students are smart15 day happiness guarantee

HEAnet/O2 Mobile Broadband User Statistics

• Total number of users: – September 1314– October 571 (Mid October)– Total today 2700 with approx 50 new/day

• Contract breakdown:– 9 months 8%– 12 months 92%

• Sales channel breakdown:– Campus sales 37%– Retail sales 63%

• Working with O2 to get statistics :– Nationally, users experience average of 30-50% of maximum speed.

HEAnet/O2 Mobile Broadband User Statistics

• Average calls per subscriber per month: – NMBS 55 – General 64– Corporate <

• Average number of minutes online per subscriber per month– NMBS 4150– General 5129– Corporate <

• Average volume of traffic per subscriber per month– NMBS 2.46 GBytes – General 2.94 Gbytes– Corporate <

• Applications declined– Staff– Students

Strategy next steps

• Federation - Identity management and Mobility

• User trials of WiMAX technology in early 2009

• Possible trial of LTE technology late 2009/2010

• Anything else we should be investigating?

Questions?

glenn.wearen@heanet.ie

www.o2.ie/heanet