CENIC News

Even with only the remote likelihood of new broadband funds becoming available from the Federal government -- at least not until a major economic recovery, which may take several years -- the FCC's National Broadband Plan is likely to result in major changes to broadband deployment in this country. As a result, despite having already addressed the Plan in the December 2, 2009, February 2, 2010, and May 3, 2010 issues of CENIC Today, I feel the need to discuss the Plan further.

Last month, I mentioned that there were intended to be roughly sixty Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) resulting from the issuance of the Plan. To my -- and I think to many others surprise -- the first NPRM was issued on May 20, with a 30-day comment period. This NPRM is focused on improving and modernizing the Universal Service Fund programs, under which the Federal E-rate program operates. As most of you know, the E-rate program provides various telecommunications discounts to schools and libraries.

My first reading of this 81-page NPRM left me a bit disappointed. While it addresses means to streamline the E-rate application process and also addresses the need to update some administrative processes (for example, the disposal of equipment acquired with E-rate funds), I was particularly struck that it did not include references to the inclusion of Community Colleges as eligible for E-rate support. CENIC has been a proponent of including Community Colleges in the E-rate program, but in a way that would not take funding from K-12.

However, upon re-reading the NPRM introduction, I noticed that this is only the first of an anticipated series of rulemaking proceedings on improving and modernizing the Universal Service Fund. So, there is still hope for the Community Colleges' inclusion in the E-rate program.

Another major issue in this NPRM on which CENIC plans to comment is the inclusion of dark fiber as eligible for E-rate discount. The NPRM not only proposes dark fiber as eligible for E-rate, but it also proposes that it need not be provided by telecommunications carriers. Such a provision could greatly assist K-12 in obtaining sufficient funding to retain services acquired by CENIC. CENIC management is currently studying the NPRM and will be proposing to the CENIC Board and/or Executive Committee comments by the 30-day comment deadline. As future NPRMs are issued, CENIC will also review them to determine if comments are warranted.

In the April 2 issue of CENIC Today, we reported on a new 10 Gb/s connection to the CalREN backbone for the LA Unified School District, and in the following May 3 issue, that was joined by a 10 Gb/s connection for the San Diego County Office of Education. This month, both are joined by the Orange County Department of Education which has received its own 10 Gb/s connection.

Many County Offices connect to the CalREN backbone via "rings" that will connect several office to one another, and which are then subsequently connected to the CalREN backbone at two points for maximum reliability. CENIC is constantly examining connectivity options for these rings with the aim of lowering costs to Associates and improving performance, and we are currently finalizing a redesign of the "ring" that is used to provide connectivity to the CalREN backbone for the Fresno and Madera County Offices of Education.

For the California Community College system, May brought a new Gigabit connection to the CalREN backbone node at Oakland for Las Positas College, providing the college with diverse connectivity alongside its existing DS-3 connection to the Sunnyvale backbone node site.

For the California State University, a 100 Mb/s connection to their Office of Federal Relations in Washington, DC was completed, and lastly, bandwidth for Chapman University in Orange, CA has been increased fivefold from its original 100 Mb/s connection to 500 Mb/s.

As well as pursuing optimal connectivity for individual Associates in terms of cost-effectiveness, reliability, and performance, CENIC also engages in network-wide efforts to optimize connectivity. One such effort involves a large-scale analysis and consolidation of Associate traffic on circuits used by certain sites to connect to the CalREN backbone. This on-going analysis has resulted in a significant number of circuit changes this month, with an eye toward providing the most cost-effective connectivity solutions to all Associates. Keep an eye out for future issues of CENIC Today for more updates!

The SDSU Immersive Visualization Center or VizLab has become a nexus for geo-mapped data relating to disaster events, functioning as the central hub for the US Navy in the processing of geo-mapped image data. Its storehouse of images and analysis tools related to events like Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day Tsunami, California wildfire seasons, and the earthquake in Haiti have become gold mines not only for first responders such as in Haiti but for researchers looking to analyze the unfolding of the disaster and the response to it after the fact.

And with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulting in a massive and still expanding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the VizLab is once again in the eye of the storm coordinating an innovative citizen response effort that leverages GPS-enabled smartphones. With the Oil Reporter application for Android and iPhone smartphones, people in the area of the spill are encouraged to snap photos of the affected area, describe the context, and offer additional details regarding wildlife and wetlands impact. The app detects the reporting smartphone's location using its GPS, so the report can be pinpointed on a map and viewed in a context of other reports and information about the area. The resulting storehouse of image and other data will be open to public access online -- and of course, thanks to the high-bandwidth connections enjoyed between CENIC Associates and the researchers with whom they collaborate, the data will be even more amenable to sharing and analysis.

The app was developed by Crisis Commons, of which the VizLab is a part. Crisis Commons is a collaboration between citizen volunteers, crisis response organizations, international humanitarian relief agencies, non-profits, and the private sector to unite communities, seek common ground, and cultivate innovation in the use of technology for mobility and efficiency during crisis.

Keen-eyed readers of CENIC Today remember the overview of CalREN network-wide projects from last issue, a more detailed list of which can be found on the CENIC website. One of the projects mentioned was the CalREN-HPR Refresh, the Layer 2 part of which is currently underway.

In order to prepare several University of California campuses and sites to more conveniently make use of the enhancements that will come as a result of the HPR Refresh, as well as the ability to provision "waves" on the experimental/developmental network tier of CalREN, CENIC has been undertaking a replacement of certain end-of-life platforms used to provide last-mile connectivity to these sites. The campuses and sites in question were UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, the UC Office of the President, and the UC Davis Medical Center.

This month, we're happy to state that the last remaining UC site was transitioned to the new platform with the completion of work for the UC Davis Medical Center. Keep an eye on future issues of CENIC Today for news about the CalREN-HPR Refresh and other network projects as well!

The ocean is the planet's largest ecosystem. It drives an incredible range of natural phenomena, including our climate, and thus directly impacts human society. New approaches are crucial to bettering our scientific understanding of episodic and long-term changes at work in our oceans.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) will construct a networked infrastructure of science-driven sensor systems to measure the physical, chemical, geological and biological variables in the ocean and seafloor. Greater knowledge of these variables is vital for improved detection and forecasting of environmental changes and their effects on biodiversity, coastal ecosystems, and climate. Partners in the OOI network include the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UC San Diego and UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography under the leadership of Principal Investigator John Orcutt, a professor of geophysics at Scripps Oceanography, a distinguished researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center and a member of the Calit2 Executive Council.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Washington, DC-based Consortium for Ocean Leadership (Ocean Leadership) signed a Cooperative Agreement in September 2009 supporting the construction and initial operation of the OOI. In collaboration with Ocean Leadership, UC San Diego is slated to receive a total of approximately $32 million to develop and construct the science-driven, networked cyberinfrastructure, which ties together all the ocean sensors to be deployed during the next five years. Curious readers of CENIC Today can also keep up with the latest news about the OOI at the project's Facebook page.

To learn more about the other Star Performers that CENIC has featured, please visit our website at www.cenic.org.

CENIC has the privilege of serving all educational segments in the state of California, from the state's K-12 system to postdoctoral and research universities. The means by which the California K-12 System is served by CENIC is via the K12 High Speed Network, based at the Imperial County Office of Education, which administers K-12 participation in CENIC.

One of the most critical benefits of an advanced regional network of the sort that California currently uses is that the network infrastructure itself is something that the typical user need not concern themselves with. With a source of 24/7/365 technical support and network knowledge that is focused specifically on the needs of research and education, the community of users can concentrate their efforts to best effect on applications that assume the reliability and high performance of the network.

With that advantage in place, the K12 High Speed Network has issued a Request for Proposals, Advancing Network Uses. Via this RFP, the K12HSN seeks to make available new, high-quality resources that can be distributed across CalREN for use by teachers, schools, and districts throughout California. In particular, K12HSN seeks proposals that will improve access to online courses for all students in California, enhance the transfer of 21st-century skills to K-12 students, and support staff development opportunities to improve the preparedness of teachers and other staff to support student learning in online environments. Applicants receiving this funding agree to make the resource developed, redesigned, or enhanced by this proposal available to all California public schools at no cost for the usable life of the resource.

More detailed information can be found in the RFP text.

US & World Networking News:

The economic impact of the California State University is unparalleled. The CSU provides jobs, prepares the future workforce, and creates innovative products and services for the state that will build and sustain its economy. Moreover, the research undertaken by the CSU's faculty and staff is solving critical problems for California. The CSU is central to California's economy, and directly or indirectly impacts everyone in the state.

CANARIE is improving support for the IPv6 protocol, where the addressing capacity will be several orders of magnitude greater since it uses 128 bits to assign IP addresses, rather than the 32 bits available with IPv4. However the benefits to CANARIE's key stakeholders move far beyond the almost infinite addressing capacity enabled through IPv6.

It's tough to find a good match, but that doesn't stop some from logging onto social networking sites in search of one. We all want to find that special someone who complements our strengths and shares our interests.

That's why Michael Conlon hopes scientists around the world will someday log into VIVO.

Under a brilliant Mojave sun, the focus was on the power of solar to create jobs.

The occasion was the grand opening of the largest solar photovoltaic plant of its kind in North or South America, at Victor Valley Community College in the high-desert city of Victorville, CA.

Governor Schwarzenegger's May Revision of the state budget continues to include the proposed restoration of $305 million to the California State University's 2010-11 budget, as well as an additional $60.6 million to support enrollment growth across the CSU's 23 campuses.

The Institute for the Future, in collaboration with the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UC San Diego and UC Irvine, and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at UC Berkeley, announced the launch of a project focused on ensuring a sustainable future of California for the next ten years and beyond.

About CENIC and How to Change Your Subscription:

California's education and research communities leverage their networking resources under CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, in order to obtain cost-effective, high-bandwidth networking to support their missions and answer the needs of their faculty, staff, and students. CENIC designs, implements, and operates CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth, high-capacity Internet network specially designed to meet the unique requirements of these communities, and to which the vast majority of the state's K-20 educational institutions are connected. In order to facilitate collaboration in education and research, CENIC also provides connectivity to non-California institutions and industry research organizations with which CENIC's Associate researchers and educators are engaged.

CENIC is governed by its member institutions. Representatives from these institutions also donate expertise through their participation in various committees designed to ensure that CENIC is managed effectively and efficiently, and to support the continued evolution of the network as technology advances.

For more information, visit www.cenic.org.

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