Southeastern UniversitiesResearch Association

• SURA is comprised of 53 colleges & universities SURA is comprised of 53 colleges & universities from 15 states and the District of Columbiafrom 15 states and the District of Columbia

• Primarily leading research universitiesPrimarily leading research universities

• SURA region makes up 35% of US populationSURA region makes up 35% of US population

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative

Gary Crane

Director, SURA IT Initiatives

gcrane@sura.org

www.sura.org

Jefferson Lab: SURA’s Crown JewelJefferson Lab: SURA’s Crown Jewel

• $100M/yr (600-staff) DOE facility ($1M/yr from VA)

• User community of 1,600

• Primary mission: nuclear physics

JLab - CEBAF Center

JeffersonLab

Regional Gigapops

SURA Members NON-SURA Members

Video Working Group

Leadership

Help Desk

DirectoryServices

Abilene/vBNS

TelemedicineCoastal Zone

Sciences

SURA IT Model

IP Telephony WGHigh PerformanceFile Transfer WG

Legal501(c)3

UmbrellaMarketingLicensingContractsProj. Mgmt

Region CERTFunction

Monitoring-Reporting

Acct/BillingProvisioningEngineering

Regional Fiber BroadbandOff-campus

Access

Commodity ISP

DisasterRecovery

Dist.Storage

CacheingNNTPViDENetCert/AuthPKI

CollaborativeProjects

OrganizationalSupport

Support Services

Middleware

TransportServices

Aggregation

Research &Education

Community

……

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative

Basic goal is to gain control of the underlying network transport through:– Partnerships with new and existing fiber owners and

equipment vendors– Creative relationships with carrier hotels– Leveraging SURA regional gigapop facilities, SURA seed

money, SURA member institutions and Presidents and links to Southern Governors Association, Southern Technology Council and everything we can think of.

– Additional information on SURA web site:http://www.sura.org/info_tech/infrastructure/infrastructure.html

Timing Is Everything

• The demand for access outstripping ability to pay• Convergence of aggressive fiber deployment, DWDM,

IP in the WAN changes existing economic models • Shrinking capital markets forcing sound revenue models

and clearly defined markets.• State and local government awareness of the role

networks play in education and economic development.• State and local government awareness of the value

represented by their control of the physical ROW.• Resurgence of the SURA community’s desire to get

involved in a region-wide IT initiative.

Regional Infrastructure InitiativeStatus

• The SURA RII was conceptualized by the SURA CIO community and launched in April, 2000

• RFP for consulting services released June 23, 2000

• October 27 SURA executed a consulting contract with Geo/Matrix LLC for a 5 Phase RII planning effort

• Phase 1 completed December 30

• Phase 1 resulted in creation of a set of initial maps to facilitate discussions with potential partners

Dec Jan Feb March April May June July August

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

SURA Regional Infrastructure Initiative Projected Timeline

January 5, 2001

Gen

eral

Net

wor

k P

lan

Vender Identification and Development

Eng

inee

ring

Fea

sibi

lity

Eco

nom

icF

easi

bili

ty

Fin

al R

epor

t

Regional Infrastructure InitiativeStatus

• Notice to proceed with Phase 2 issued December 30• Completed Phase 2 survey to SURA members and

gigapops regarding current network services and institutional demographics on February 25

• Geo/Matrix proceeding to explore potential partnerships with owners of fiber infrastructure

• Initial response from potential partners is very positive with the promise of some early opportunities for vendor partnerships