Transcript Slide 1

The Florida LambdaRail (FLR)
A Research and Education Network for Florida
Veronica Sarjeant
Chief Operations Officer
Community College CIO Meeting
April 21, 2004
The Florida LambdaRail (FLR)
Part of a larger national fiber optic network, the
National LambdaRail (NLR), linking research institutions
around the country with connectivity to international
research networks
Establishes a foundation for the next-generation
networks needed to support large-scale research,
education outreach, public/private partnerships and IT
infrastructure essential to economic development
FLR
Nine Florida universities financially committed
Participating universities are: FAU, FIT, FIU, FSU, NSU,
UCF, UF, UM, and UWF
November 2002 – Formed consortium
May 2003 – Incorporated as the Florida the Florida
LambdaRail, LLC (non-profit limited liability corporation)
February 2004 - Applied for
recognition
501(c)(3) tax-exempt
Governance & Organization
Members are accredited investors
One, two, three or four Units of ownership
Based upon level of interest in participating in the NLR and other
national research activities
Centralized authority and oversight and invested in a Board of
Directors
Setup to operate as a highly outsourced company - there are no
employees
Governance & Organization
Contracted services provided by member institutions
Three primary sets of services:
•Business leadership, management & operations
•Technical leadership, operations, & services
•Financial management & procurement
Initial Infrastructure
Dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) based
optical footprint
Capacity of 32 wavelength per fiber pair.
To be deployed over 1,540 routed miles of dark fiber
20 years irrevocable right to use.
At startup only one wave to be installed
Support transmission at 10 billion bits per second (10
Gbps).
Operated and maintained by the FLR
Initial Infrastructure
Initial Infrastructure
Shared IP fiber backbone
Links Jacksonville (NLR node), to Orlando, to
Melbourne, to Ft. Lauderdale, to Miami, to Tampa, and to
Tallahassee with spurs to Pensacola, and Gainesville
Member campus to have a single, 10-Gbps connection
Further subdivided as needed into 1-Gbps dedicated
circuits.
Initial services to include both dedicated and switched
(bandwidth on demand) 10-GE or single GE circuits
Implementation Status
Vendor negotiations for the dark fiber and optical and
transport equipment completed
Final contracts not signed
4th Quarter, 2004 target date for production network
Services
Operating agreement allows for Non-equity participants
Considered customers purchasing services
Identified services:
IP connectivity to NLR
IP connectivity to Internet
IP connectivity to Internet2
Share IP transport between member institutions
Share Peering between the FLR network and other state
networks (e.g., FIRN2)
Dedicated wavelengths between FLR members and other
FLR or NLR institutions
Opportunities
Collaboratories – researchers & work teams in multiple
locations sharing work and interacting in real time through
video, audio, shared whiteboards and shared laboratory
notebooks available to all collaborators online
Interactive distributed simulations – linking high-powered
computational resources with remote users and other
computers
Processing and visualization of large data sets – distributed
computation
Distance Learning – delivery of courses and programs over
the Internet extending the reach of education to wider
geographic areas and demographic populations
Opportunities
Access to digitized databases – researcher accessing
supercomputing resources across the country without
leaving their offices
Video teleconferencing – bridging time and place for
geographically dispersed work teams via transmission of
video via high-speed connections
Expected Outcomes
100-fold improvement in network speed
Scalable network solution that meets long-term requirements
Aggregation of Internet and Internet 2 connectivity
Lower costs due to collective purchase of bandwidth
Future cost avoidance through the reduction of networkrelated costs and combined network capabilities
Growth and development in innovative teaching approaches
and techniques
Ability to collaborate and compete redefined!
Questions?
Board of Directors
Larry Conrad, Assoc. VP Tech Integration and CIO, FSU, Chairman
Dr. Jeff Schilit, Assoc. Provost and CIO, FAU
Dr. J. Richard Newman, Assoc. VP and CIO, FIT
Dr. Joel Hartman, Vice Provost, UCF
Stewart Seruya, Chief Security & Network Officer, UM
Michael F. Dieckmann, Associate VP for IT and CIO, UWF
Dr. George Hanbury II, Executive VP for Administration, NSU
Dr. Charles E. Frazier, Vice Provost & Sr. Assoc. VP for Academic Affairs,
UF
Julio Ibarra, Director, Center of Internet Augmented Research &
Assessment, FIU
http://www.flrnet.org
Contracted Agents
Veronica Sarjeant, FSU, Chief Operations Officer
Steve Haring, UM, Chief Financial Officer
Dave Pokorney, UF, Chief Technology Officer