CENIC News

I have previously reported on the status of broadband connectivity in the US as compared to other nations. Such data shows that the US is not in a leadership position.

I have recently had an opportunity to understand up close how two other countries are attempting to change their broadband penetration thanks to my participation as a speaker and participant in a one-day conference in Chile, ActivaChile 2011, with side meetings taking place during the second day.

Normally I do not attend many conferences as either speaker or participant unless there is direct applicability to CENIC and California, but I accepted the invitation to participate in this conference because of the stature of the attendees and because of the increasing importance of Chile to astronomers and other scientists due to the numbers of new telescope being built in Chile and their need for network connectivity. And, as I learned while there, there was indeed direct applicability of this conference to California.

The conference was focused on helping Chilean officials identify means to increase broadband speeds and availability throughout Chile. Currently, Chile has the greatest broadband penetration in Latin American but lags other parts of the world, including the US. Among the speakers were Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in Australia. As some of you may know, the Australian Parliament recently passed a major broadband initiative for the creation of the National Broadband Network, at a cost of AUS$43 billion. The result will be 100 Mb/s broadband to 90% of the premises (homes and businesses) via fiber. The remainder will be served by wireless and satellite at approximately 12 Mb/s. My sense is that Chile will not launch such a sweeping governmental funded initiative, but hopefully the conference will help establish an initiative to help improve broadband in Chile.

My presentation focused on CENIC support for researchers and educators in California. In doing so, I received a very pleasant surprise in learning how many representatives from other countries know about CENIC and our work. I’m pleased to say that I was also able to establish some new relationships with those involved in building some of the new telescopes in Chile including the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope of LSST, a partially NSF-funded project and instrument, the networking needs for which I was able to learn about. The LSST, an 8m telescope, will generate 30 Terabytes of data per day. Understanding and helping create solutions for the transmission of that data is to the US and elsewhere is the next step.

CENIC will definitely be involved in that exercise, enabling researchers and educators in California to take advantage of these globally available instruments.

Video of the conference presentations that took place at ActivaChile 2011, including mine, can be found online.

April has seen segment-specific activity for the California K-12 System in a new Gigabit connection from the CalREN backbone node at Corning to the Glenn County Office of Education, and a new 10 Gigabit connection from the Tustin backbone node to the Garden Grove Unified School District.

For the California Community College System, the Los Rios Community College District, comprised of American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, and Sacramento City College, received a new Gigabit connection to the CalREN backbone, providing the District with diverse CalREN connections featuring node site diversity.

CENIC also completed transition of campus-managed CPE routers to CENIC-managed CPE routers at various CSU campuses connecting to CalREN via SONET circuits.

Lastly in terms of connections to CalREN, CENIC also completed a connection for the California Telehealth Network in Los Angeles to the DC tier of CalREN, the tier used by CENIC Associates for day-to-day educational and administrative purposes and providing them with connectivity to the commodity Internet.

Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), Internet2, National LambdaRail (NLR), and The Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) are partnering with SCinet to provide wide area network services support for the SC11 conference in Seattle, Washington. In order to plan the WAN and metro resources required to support conference participants, exhibitors and network entities are required to identify their WAN circuit requirements into the Washington State Convention & Trade Center no later than June 15, 2011. WAN circuits are needed for any exhibitor that requires point-to-point connectivity to a remote location to support a large-scale booth demonstration.

The SCinet WAN Transport Group will work with ESnet, Internet2, NLR and PNWGP to implement the required circuits for SC11 from the PNWGP in the Westin Building to the Washington State Convention & Trade Center Center. The following WAN services are planned to be available: ESnet's IP Network and Science Data Network, Internet2's IP Network and dynamic circuit ION Service and NLR's PacketNet and FrameNet. Commodity Internet services will also be available.

If your organization will make extensive use of the previously mentioned service or will require additional WAN circuits (i.e. NLR WaveNet, Internet2 WaveCo, etc), please respond to this message with the details of your particular requirements and include the following information:

• Circuit type and bandwidth: (i.e. OC-48c/STM-16c, OC-192c/STM-64c, OC-768c/STM-256c, GigE, 10GigE-LAN, Fibre Channel (specify type), HDTV, etc.)
• Carrier or provider: (i.e. Level3, Qwest, NLR, Internet2, etc.)
• Circuit origination point: (i.e. Level3 POP in Seattle, Level3 Sunnyvale, MANLAN in New York, etc.)
• Circuit termination point on the SC11 show floor: (i.e. SCinet Layer2 network, directly to exhibitor booth via dark fiber, etc.)

Even if you are unable to provide all the above details please contact the SCinet WAN Team with your intentions as soon as possible. The deadline for submitting your organization's WAN circuit requirements is June 15, 2011. Unless otherwise expressly agreed to by the SCinet WAN Team, all WAN circuits will be terminated at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center and all WAN circuits into the Washington State Convention & Trade Center will be served by the PNWGP pop located at 2001 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA.

Please send your circuit requirements, questions or concerns to the SCinet WAN Team at wan-team@scinet.supercomputing.org.

Since 2000, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Technology Awards program has honored individual leaders that have identified and solved significant problems with ingenuity and resourcefulness. Through these awards, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office seeks to acknowledge individuals within or external to the California Community College System who have made significant contributions to the California Community College System.

The California Community College System has decided to honor CENIC President and CEO Jim Dolgonas with its 2010 CCC Chancellor's Office "Excellence in Technology Leadership" award.

As selected by the Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Committee (TTAC), this years' recipient is Jim Dolgonas, CEO of CENIC. CENIC is a nonprofit regional optical network created and operated by the four segments of education in California (CCC, CSU, UC, K-12), along with Stanford, Caltech and USC. CENIC provides internet connectivity for all CCC campuses to a shared fiber backbone that connects all education segments together and aggregates their Internet traffic to access the commercial Internet.

As originally developed, the CCC system was not a part of CENIC. When Jim took over as CEO in 2002, he quickly realized that the networking services procured by the CCC system could be easily aggregated under CENIC, thus providing CCCs with a much lower cost of operation and expanded bandwidth to all campuses. Thus in FY 2002-03, the CCCs were transitioned to CENIC.

Shortly thereafter, Jim requested that the CENIC Board add the Community College System as a full charter member. Since then, the CCCs have played a major role in the ongoing governance of CENIC.

Facing major budgetary challenges in 2009, the CCC system had its Telecommunications and Technology budget reduced from $26 million to $15 million. In response to this, Jim developed an action plan to have all CCC circuit costs reduced by 50% by having them reimbursed through the CA Public Utility Commission's California Teleconnect Fund (CTF). This action alone moved $5 million per year out of the CCC system budget and onto another funding source ongoing. A few years later, under Jim's vision and leadership, all CENIC backbone fees were moved to a 50% discount model supported by the CTF, saving another $2 million annually.

Over the past decade, CCC district offices, campuses, and offsite centers have greatly benefited from excellent service, steadily increasing bandwidth, and increased network efficiency while greatly reducing the amount of CCC funds necessary to provide connectivity. Under Jim's leadership, the CCC system has been given equal access and governance rights and a key role in the network hierarchy. It is estimated that the CCC system has saved tens of millions of dollars in the past decade under Jim's leadership.

The Excellence in Technology Leadership Award recipients are nominated and selected by the members of the Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Committee (TTAC). Leadership Awards are selected on the basis of effective educational technology leadership at the institution, district, region or system level. Also considered, is the mentoring of other professionals, visionary achievements and effectiveness in identifying and advancing technology opportunities for the various needs of higher education.

In the July 6 issue of CENIC Today, readers learned of the latest developments for the planned Thirty Meter Telescope or TMT to be built on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Astronomy, like many other Big Sciences such as ocean observing and high-energy physics, often depends on remotely located, extremely complex observing instruments that require advanced networking to make their data available to scientists all over the globe.

Joining the TMT in the planning phase is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope or LSST, to be located atop Chile's "high and dry" Cerro Pachón and mentioned in this month's President's Message above. Given that many of the US's top astronomers are located in California, including top planet-hunters and cosmologists, California's advanced networking and its international connections will play an enormous role in ensuring that the vast amounts of data generated by the LSST will be highly available to CENIC Associate researchers.

The LSST is projected to generate tens of Terabytes of data each night, as the synoptic survey defines a deep, layered six-color picture of the universe to unprecedented depths. Such data will rapidly accumulate to the Petabyte range, particular given that the raw data will generate enormous amounts of reduced data in and of itself.

Processing such a large volume of data, converting the raw images into a faithful representation of the universe, automated data quality assessment, and archiving the results in useful form for a broad community of users is a major challenge. There will be both mountain summit and base computing facilities, as well as a central archive facility and multiple data access centers, all supported by fiber-optic links from South America to the US.

The LSST's data management will also feature an ability to alert researchers of changes in the sky within one minute of their having occurred. This ability, shared by other facilities, has already helped to transform astronomy from its early days of slow, patient data-gathering over multiple nights to a real-time science. Thus, the networking connecting the LSST with its interested researchers will need to handle not only large volumes of data but do so quickly and reliably. The data is anticipated to be openly available to the public as well, with an invitation to amateur astronomers to participate in the data reduction.

On May 3, the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 15 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Given California's prominence in global research and innovation, it's no surprise to see that researchers from CENIC Associate institutions have been honored in significant numbers. We're proud to serve such illustrious pioneers in so many fields of endeavor, and we look forward to empowering their discoveries in the future. Among the honorees are the following from CENIC member institutions in California -- and one honoree from CalREN Associate the University of Arizona:

Demmel, James W.

Dr. Richard Carl Dehmel Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, department of mathematics and the computer science division, University of California, Berkeley

Dosher, Barbara A.

Dean, School of Social Science, and professor, department of cognitive science, University of California, Irvine

Hanemann, W. Michael

Chancellor's Professor, department of agricultural and resource economics, University of California, Berkeley

Harrison, T. Mark

Director, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and professor of geology, department of earth and space sciences, University of California, Los Angeles

Hodgson, Keith O.

David Mulvane Ersham and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor of Chemistry, and associate director for photo science, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Menlo Park, Calif.

Jacobsen, Steven E.

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of molecular, cell, and developmental biology, University of California, Los Angeles

Johnson, Alexander D.

Professor and vice chair, department of microbiology and immunology, University of California, San Francisco

Kingsley, David M.

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of developmental biology, department of developmental biology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Kobilka, Brian K.

Professor, departments of molecular and cellular physiology and medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Levine, Herbert

Professor, department of physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla

Malenka, Robert C.

Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and director, Nancy Friend Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Markman, Ellen M.

Lewis M. Terman Professor of Psychology, department of psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

McCammon, J. Andrew

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Joseph E. Mayer Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, departments of chemistry and biochemistry and the department of pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla

McConnell, Susan K.

Susan B. Ford Professor, department of biology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Moin, Parviz

Franklin P. and Caroline M. Johnson Professor of Engineering, department of mechanical engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Rieke, George H.

Regents Professor of Astronomy, and deputy director, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson

Sandwell, David T.

Professor of geophysics, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla

Shraiman, Boris I.

Suzan F. Gurley Professor of Theoretical Physics and Biology, and permanent member, Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Theologis, Athanasios

Emeritus adjunct professor, University of California, Berkeley

Weingast, Barry R.

Ward C. Krebs Family Professor of Political Science, and senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Wright, Edward L.

David Saxon Presidential Chair in Physics and professor, department of physics and astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles

With the dedication of the New San Joaquin Delta College District Lee Belarmino Sr. District Data Center, the District will begin to enjoy a consolidated center for Information Services, Information Technology and Audio Visual departments in to one convenient location. Not only will this centralized location improve customer service and communication among IT staff, but the center itself has been designed for efficient use of energy -- always a significant cost consideration for data centers, notoriously hungry for cooling power. The Belarmino Data Center will also serve as a model for development of similar facilities for other institutions, enabling the entire California Community College System to benefit from the vision of its strongest champion, San Joaquinj Delta College Vice President of Information Technology Lee Belarmino.

Belarmino is not only Vice President of Information Technology at the College but also the Measure L Bond Program Executive. He is responsible for all information technology services and the success of Measure L, a $286 million bond measure that is providing the necessary funds to expand the district’s educational centers and develop new buildings with classrooms, student services, computer labs, and math and science labs.

Under Mr. Belarmino’s leadership, Delta College has designed, developed and implemented a Student Information System, System 2000, which was a winner of the prestigious DB/Expo Realware Award, and winner of Development Magazine Trend's "Innovator of the Year Award". San Joaquin Delta College has been acknowledged as one of the top ten digital-savvy, cutting-edge community colleges by the Center for Digital Education and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

He is on the Board of Directors of the Kuali Foundation that manages a growing portfolio of enterprise software applications for colleges and universities, such as Kuali Financial System (KFS), Kuali Coeus Research Administration (KCRA), and Kuali Student (KS).

Before coming to San Joaquin Delta College, Lee Belarmino worked for Information Management International, a large Silicon Valley development and service company, as Vice President of Information Services.

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

US & World Networking News:

On April 6, The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego announced plans to establish a new partnership to bring together industry and university research to investigate a pressing business and information technology challenge: how to address both the management and technical aspects of "big data," or the accumulation of massive data sets requiring new approaches for large-scale data storage and business analytics

The University is launching an Online Instruction Pilot Project. Its goal is to test whether online instruction can use technology’s tools to give undergraduates educational opportunities comparable to the superb classroom instruction that helped build UC’s stellar reputation worldwide.

On April 5, as part of the SunShot Initiative, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the selection of up to $112.5 million over five years for funding to support the development of advanced solar photovoltaic (PV)-related manufacturing processes throughout the United States.

Q: What in your background has prepared you for addressing the CSLNet challenge?

My formal education ... prepared me for the challenges that lay ahead in my professional career, from finding "pareto optimal" solutions that create "win-win" situations for diverse groups of stakeholders to thinking critically about the costs, benefits and implications of different policy choices.

The March issue of Government Technology is dedicated to 25 people who cut through the public sector's infamous barriers to innovation -- tight budgets, organizational inertia, politics as usual, etc. -- to reshape government operations for the better. Among those recognized this year is San Diego State University's Eric Frost.

With an overflow crowd of staff and dignitaries in attendance, San Joaquin Delta College officially dedicated its state-of-the-art Lee Belarmino Sr. District Data Center with a recent ribbon cutting ceremony. The data center is exemplary and is considered a potential model for other data centers in the California Community Colleges.

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.

Subscription Information: You can subscribe and unsubscribe to CENIC Today at http://lists.cenic.org/mailman/listinfo/cenic-today.