Convergence

1
Convergence

• One unfrozen cavemans thoughts
• on what it might mean for UIUC

with apologies to Phil Hartman
2
Preview

• The types of Convergence
• Whats interesting to UIUC
• What are the enabling technologies
• What are our plans for those enablers
• Wireless Alphabet Soup
• The Next Steps
• Questions - Discussion

3
Types of Convergence

• Voice and data on same wire
• Video, voice and data on the same wire
• Voice and data on same wireless device
• Voice mail available through email
• A personal phone number that follows you

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Voice Data on the same wire

• Wired Voice over IP (VoIP)
• Feature rich, enables new work flows
• UIUC cable plant not ready yet
• By end of 2007, the cabling in most major
  buildings will be ready
• CER power and space issues
• Not addressed by Campus Upgrade
• WTC analysis - more expensive

5
Voice Data on the same wire - 2

• Alumni Association is taking the Cisco VoIP
  plunge on their dime
• Does not use campus phone numbers efficiently
• Cant scale to entire campus
• Problems with call detail records from the SBC
  phone switch

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Video, Voice Data on same wire

• In the future, Video will simply be a high
  bandwidth application on the network
• Two separate types of IP Video
• Video conferencing
• Remote learning via IP Video
• Live or asynchronous

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Video, Voice Data - 2

• Video Conferencing
• Large scale video conferences
• CITES is looking at systems that would parallel
  existing audio conferencing services
• Peer-to-peer - such as Apples iChat
• Simple enough for faculty to set up and use on
  their own

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Video, Voice Data - 3

• Remote Learning
• Campus Helix license
• Moving streaming forward
• Some units doing live and on-demand IP
  video-based classes
• Look for future direction in the Campus IT
  Strategic Plan

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Video, Voice Data - 4

• High Definition IP Video will require wires for
  some time
• 18 Mb/s per HD IP Video stream
• 3 HD IP Video streams could saturate any current
  or planned UIUCnet Wireless Access Point
• Continuing to build out UIUCnet with
  ever-increasing backbone capacities positions us
  well for IP Video and HD IP Video

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Voice Data on the same wireless device

• Wireless Devices
• Smart phones
• WiFi/Cellular dual mode phones
• Laptops with cellular cards soft phone software
• This may be where campus converges first

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Smart Phones

• Blackberry Palm Treo
• Useful, addictive - Crackberries
• Rely on cellular service
• Service is not available in all areas of all
  campus buildings
• Not financially scalable to the whole campus
  community
• UIUC does not control the cellular frequencies in
  Champaign-Urbana
• Must partner with cellular

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Dual Mode Phones

• 802.11x (WiFi) and Cellular
• Use WiFi when available
• Reduce Cellular airtime costs
• Better coverage in UIUC basements
• Use Cellular network when no WiFi network is
  available

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Dual Mode Phones - 2

• Coming very soon to a cellular vendor near you
• UIUC is not yet positioned to support this
  technology, but could be by augmenting the
  existing phone data systems
• How do we recover costs from cellular vendors for
  originating terminating cellular calls on
  UIUCnet?

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Laptops, Cell Cards Soft Phones

• Cellular data cards
• Provide an almost ubiquitous wireless IP network
• Soft phone software
• Uses your laptops microphone speakers to
  emulate a phone
• Portable, but not really mobile
• Hard to hang on your belt
• Same cellular coverage holes

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Voice Mail via Email

• Voice mail is saved as a digital audio file -
  WAV, MP3, or X
• Sent or streamed on demand to your email account
• You select the listening order
• You can forward and archive - just like email
• Speech-to-text could allow you to read your voice
  mail in meetings

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Voice Mail via Email - 2

• Available anywhere you can get email
• Often comes with VoIP, but UIUC can also augment
  the current phone system to provide this service
• An optional service enhancement for an additional
  fee?

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Follow-Me Phone Numbers

• You have a single virtual phone number
• You control with a web or telephone interface
• Can ring on your cell phone, or on your office
  phone, or on your home phone, or on your
  computer, or on all of the above at the same
  time, or go directly to your unified voice mail
  account

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Follow-Me Phone Numbers - 2

• They shorten the electronic tether
• Often come with VoIP, but UIUC can also augment
  the current phone system to provide this service
• We currently lack enough phone numbers for a full
  campus-wide deployment
• An optional service enhancement for an additional
  fee?

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Quick Summary

• What I see as the most interesting convergence
  areas for UIUC
• Dual Mode Phones
• Unified Voice Email
• Follow-Me Phone Numbers
• These technologies all depend on the wired data
  network

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Quick Summary - 2

• These technologies are all tied to our next phone
  system
• The next phone system could look a lot like our
  current phone system, or it could be very
  different
• These technologies all have wireless components

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The Enablers

• The UIUCnet wired data network
• The Network Upgrade is moving right along
• Our SBC CENTREX contract expires in July of 2007
• Lots of options for what follows
• UIUCnet Wireless will play a key role
• Wireless Alpha-Numeric Soup
• New UIUCnet Wireless Meru hardware

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Campus Network Upgrade

• Gaining speed
• 22 buildings completed, 17 buildings are in
  progress
• Most major buildings will be upgraded by the end
  of 2007
• Campus backbone was upgraded this Spring to 10
  Gb/s

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Campus Network Upgrade - 2

• Network Upgrade connectivity goals
• 1 Gb/s to each campus building
• 100 Mb/s to each desktop
• Some units are paying for faster connections
• 10 Gb/s building connections
• 1Gb/s desktop server connections

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Campus Network Upgrade - 3

• Illinois Campus Communications Network
• Will connect 3 U of I campuses to each other and
  to national research networks at 10 Gb/s or
  better
• The BOT has approved both the dark fiber and the
  electronics purchases
• Test light on the ICCN fiber in 2006, production
  services in 2007

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Campus Network Upgrade - 4

• The bottom line on the network
• For the last several years, CITES has been
  planning for the future connectivity needs of
  campus
• CITES is executing those plans
• Those plans are working

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Next Phone System Options

• Stay the course - CENTREX
• Maybe for a short time longer
• Can be augmented to get advanced services
• Buy and operate our own phone switch
• Supports analog and VoIP
• Many peer institutions have done this

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Next Phone System Options - 2

• Jump into wired VoIP
• Cost/benefit analysis is weak
• 27,000 new handsets and end user training?
• Unresolved issues with Alumni Associations VoIP
  deployment
• CITES is exploring all three of these options

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Next Phone System Options - 3

• We will be issuing an RFP this Fall for phone
  services past July 1, 2007
• Even if we chose to buy a switch or to migrate to
  VoIP - July 1, 2007 is not that far away....

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Next Phone System Options - 4

• We may need to continue CENTREX service for
  another year or two past 7/1/2007
• Gives VoIP technology more time to mature
• Gives us time to get the data cabling in more
  buildings ready for VoIP
• Gives the campus more time to plan

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UIUCnet Wireless

• The key to voice-data convergence at UIUC
• UIUCnet wireless will have at least some coverage
  in more than 110 buildings by the end of 2006
• The BOT recently approved funding for new smart
  controller wireless hardware from Meru

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UIUCnet Wireless - 2

• As dual-mode handsets mature, so will the UIUCnet
  Wireless network
• Each month, additional buildings have UIUCnet
  Wireless coverage added to their public areas
• Limited dual-mode trials?
• Cisco and Nortel are pitching plans
• IlliniBerries?

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The Wireless Alpha-Numeric Soup

• WiFi - 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
• CITES deploys all three today
• The As will inherit the bandwidth
• A works in the 5 GHz frequency bands
• More discrete channels available
• Better high density solutions
• But A penetrates objects less well than B or
  G
• Reduced range

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Wireless Soup - 2

• Coffee shops favor B G
• Work in the 2.4 GHz frequency bands
• Fewer discrete channels available
• More interference
• Cordless phones, microwaves
• Penetrate objects better than A
• Built into most new laptops

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Wireless Soup - 3

• 802.11n - MIMO
• Coming in 2007
• Final stages of becoming a standard
• Uses multiple antennas to take advantage of
  multi-path reflections
• Faster speeds
• Better distances
• Will CITES deploy it?

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Wireless Soup - 4

• 802.16 - WiMax
• Two flavors - fixed and mobile
• Fixed - 802.16a is available today
• Last Mile for wireless ISPs
• Building-to-building technology
• No laptop cards
• Backbone for wireless mesh?

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Wireless Soup - 5

• 802.16 - WiMax
• Mobile - 802.16e is a work in progress
• Promises 30 Mb/s at 60 MPH
• Useful for UIUC green space coverage?
• Quads, South Farms, Sports Stadiums

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Meru

• New controller-managed wireless system
• Smart controllers - dumb/thin access points
• Cheaper to add new wireless technologies such as
  802.11n or 802.16
• The controllers dont care
• Only need new radios antennas

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Meru - 2

• Best density solution available
• Solution for Foellinger Auditorium large
  classrooms
• Helps with handoffs between APs
• Similar to cellular handoffs
• CITES is eating its own Meru dog food in DCL

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Meru - 3

• Capable of supporting multiple wireless networks
  from a single Access Point
• UIUC Visitor access SSID?
• New service in the works
• Dual Mode Phone access SSID?
• Could handle authentication issues
• Exploring dual services in Beckman, NCSA and
  Siebel

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Meru - 4

• Remote tunneling back to campus
• BYO mini Meru AP when you travel for UIUCnet
  Wireless access from anywhere you have Internet
  access
• Meru was founded by former UIUC ECE professor
• Performed very well in our bake-off
• So far, tastes good in DCL

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Whats Next?

• Deploy Meru hardware and continue to build out
  the UIUCnet wireless network
• Students want wireless everywhere
• Continue the Campus Network Upgrade
• For now, wireless networks run on wires

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Whats Next? - 2

• Connectivity goals are moving targets
• Wireless keeps getting faster
• Campus requirements keep growing
• 100 Mb/s to the desktop today
• 1Gb/s to the desktop tomorrow?
• Campus will require a robust wired infrastructure
  for the foreseeable future

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Whats Next? - 3

• RFPs for new or continued voice service past
  7/1/2007
• Dual-mode handset trial projects
• Cisco, Nortel and ???
• Explore Unified Messaging
• Resolve issues with the Alumni Associations
  Cisco VoIP deployment

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Questions and Discussion
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