Lone Star Light Topology

1
Lone Star Light
Rope the Light
The National Network of Texas
2
Texas Network

• What do you expect from a
• Low Calorie Beer State Network?
• Process Incentives
• RFP generation
• Results

3
Process incentives

• Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund
• NLR
• ETF
• Existing State Networks
• Tex-AN
• THEnet (operated by UT System)
• TTVN (operated by AM System)
• Texas Tech
• NETnet

4
Funding incentives

• Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund
  (TIF)
• Funding for
• Education
• Libraries
• Non-profit hospitals
• 2002 Planned to fund a state optical network
  instead of individual sites

5
TIF RIP

• TIF demise incentive
• 7.5Million MAY be allocated
• New organization
• A total of 7.5 million for the Optical Fiber
  Network may be transferred to a consortium of
  three or more institutions of higher education,
  located not less than 50 miles apart, operating
  under an interagency agreement for the exclusive
  purpose of operating a fiber optic network for
  research and education for use by and for the
  benefit of higher education and affiliated
  entities in the State of Texas. The fiber optic
  network shall not be used, directly or
  indirectly, with or without charge, to provide
  telecommunications or information services to the
  public in competition with the private sector.
• LoneStar Education and Research Network (LEARN is
  BORN)

6
Beneficial Timing

• Texas owes a debt to
• NLR effort
• SURA effort
• Existing State networks
• THEnet
• TTVN
• Tex-An (State Government)
• Others

7
Name the Sites
8
Texas RFP

• Dark Fiber or Leased Lambdas permitted
• Geography JUST TOO Large
• Speed to Service
• Allowed shared infrastructure
• Operator other than Texas
• Guaranteed lambda quantity
• Not restricted to a single vendor fiber topology

9
What we GOT

• Traditional Dark Fiber
• Vendor Topology Restrictions
• Shared Service
• Two Vendors offered 8 or 16 guaranteed 10Gigabit
  lambdas to Education
• Leased Lambdas (20 year)

10
Fiber offerings to Texas
11
Without TIF

• Existing Network Replacement
• THEnet
• TTVN
• 6 Internet2 Connectors
• Grants
• NSF for ETF
• Medical Grants

12
Texas Purchase June 2004
Future- Fiber ? Or Lambda ?
13
Outcomes

• Maximized funding for fiber and Optical equipment
• THEnet and TTVN fund the network
• LEARN consults with the selection
• Fiber
• Optronics
• Multiple Optical Vendor Solution
• NLR in Houston
• ETF from NLR
• Continue to seek solutions for the rest of Texas