Ohio Digital Government SummitBroadband and Wireless in OhioOctober 16, 2007

Stanley C. AhaltExecutive Director

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Broadband in Ohio• Broadband is vital to economic growth and opportunity

– Access to high-speed networks is as critical to advanced technology and service industry employers as are roads, rails and electric service to manufacturers.

– Broadband Ohio is key to the Governor’s Turnaround Ohio plan to create a competitive, well-connected state economy.

– Ohio already has become a national leader in broadband networking and innovations.

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Gov. Strickland’s Vision• The Broadband Ohio initiative will

achieve the following goals of Governor Ted Strickland’s Turnaround Ohio Plan:

– Establish Ohio as a world-class competitor by making Ohio the national leader in the deployment and effective use of broadband networking.

– Develop jobs of the future by leveraging the state’s investment in broadband infrastructure to create a competitive, well-connected economy in Ohio.

– Create cost avoidance through the coordination of Ohio’s public broadband resources, leveraging the state’s significant investments and more efficiently operating and spending limited resources.

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Vision (cont.)• A digital divide exists in which many areas of the State

remain underserved by broadband, while affordable access to computing and networks remains out of reach to many Ohioans.

• Gov. Strickland seeks to improve Digital Inclusion in Ohio through strategic broadband investments and planning.

• Full participation in the digital society is crucial so that Ohio emerges as a global leader in: economic development, education, healthcare, innovation, world-class research and efficient delivery of state services; thereby powering Ohio’s economy and connecting to world markets.

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Vision (Cont.)• When fully implemented, the Broadband Ohio initiative

will ensure that all Ohio’s citizens, businesses, governments, educational institutions, non-profits and healthcare facilities have viable access to superior broadband services.

• Gov. Strickland signed an executive order July 26, 2007, that:

– Established the Ohio Broadband Council to coordinate Ohio’s significant broadband investments.

– Created the Broadband Ohio Network, comprised of the new NextGen Network and OSCnet.

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Ohio Broadband Council• The OBC will direct a unified, statewide effort

– The Council will unite key state agencies to direct significant broadband investment and develop the phased implementation of Broadband Ohio.

– The Council will be responsible for the development of a strategic plan for statewide broadband deployment, determining the resources necessary for its implementation.

– OBC will coordinate all broadband activities that receive State appropriated funds and work to pursue new federal investments in broadband.

– The Council will establish policies that promote new public and private broadband and networking investments and develop a strategic plan to address digital divide.

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Ohio Broadband Council

• OBC will be co-chaired by:– Ohio’s Chief Information Officer – Executive Director of the Ohio Supercomputer Center

• OBC will include representatives from:– Ohio General Assembly– Governor’s Office of Appalachia– Board of Regents– Public Utilities Commission– Ohio Department of Agriculture– Ohio Department of Commerce– Ohio Department of Development– Ohio Department of Education– Ohio Department of Health– Ohio Department of Job and Family Services– Ohio Department of Public Safety– Additional appointments by Governor

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Ohio Broadband Council supports implementing Broadband Ohio plan

• Coordinate investments

• Identify resource needs

• Pursue new federal investments

• Promote public

and private broadband services and investments

• Expand access

statewide

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Broadband Ohio Network• NextGen Network

– provides broadband services to all state executive agencies, boards and commissions

• OSCnet– formerly the Third

Frontier Network– focuses on

innovation, research, education and economic competitiveness

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NextGen Network• The State currently maintains a number of distinct,

independently operated, leased networks carrying data traffic of state agencies and connecting them with each of Ohio’s 88 county governments.

• Improved service and significant cost avoidance will quickly be realized as the state transitions from current expensive leasing arrangements.

– In the first year alone, state agencies should realize cost avoidance of $1 million, and within three years, cost avoidance of $6 million annually.

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NextGen Network• NextGen Network, to be managed by the Office of

Information Technology, will provide broadband services to state executive agencies, boards and commissions.

– OIT will work with all state and local agencies to coordinate an orderly transition from legacy networks to the NextGen network to ease planning and avoid disruption of services.

– Non-executive state agencies and organizations are strongly encouraged to connect.

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OSCnet• OSCnet will continue to be managed by the Ohio

Supercomputer Center and focus on innovation, research, education and economic competitiveness.

– OSCnet is the nation’s most comprehensive statewide fiber-optic-based research and education telecommunications network to promote economic competitiveness.

– The Ohio Supercomputer Center will develop and deploy new technology that focuses on the retention, enhancement and attraction of high-quality jobs to Ohio.

– OSCnet will continue to serve the needs of higher education, K-12 education, public broadcasting, healthcare, agriculture and research (local, state, federal).

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Backbone Specifications• Consists of more

than 1,850 miles of fiber backbone– Uses DWDM to create

a 2.5 Gbps OC-48 or – Two OC-48 Gbps

networks (K-12 & higher ed)

– Funding for upgrades to 10 Gbps OC-192 network

– 84 Cisco 15454s switches and 31 Juniper M Series routers

– Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) implemented and operational

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• OSC’s mission is to:– Provide highly scalable network connectivity to Ohio’s

higher-education community– Support the educational, research, health care, and

economic development missions of the state’s universities and colleges

– Support the state agencies that provide networking support for other parts of Ohio’s public sector

OSCnet: A national leader

Ohio is a national leader in the deployment and effective use of broadband networks.

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OSCnet: Serving Higher education

• OSC’s networking area serves 84 Ohio higher education institutions

– 13 four-year public universities– 1 stand-alone medical college– 22 two-year public community and technical

colleges– 36 four-year private colleges and universities– 5 seminaries and theological schools– 1 proprietary college– 2 aeronautical institutions– 2 federal research facilities– 2 statewide higher education utilities

(OhioLINK/OLN)

• University System of Ohio

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OSCnet: Serving K-12 schools

• OSC serves K-12 and public broadcasting stations

– Provides the backbone network through agreements with ODE and eTech

– eTech is the state agency responsible for supporting K-12’s use of educational technology and maintaining a public broadcasting network

• OSC manages the K-12 network at the optical layer, while eTech manages the network’s higher layers and contracts last-mile providers

– 611 K-12 school districts– 3879 K-12 school buildings

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OSCnet: Serving Healthcare

• Seven medical college clients and four hospital clients

– In addition to hospitals connected to the medical colleges (e.g. OSU Med Center)

• OSCnet identified as the means for inter-connecting the state’s regional health information networks

• OSC provided letters of support to Northeast and Southeast Ohio health care consortiums in their efforts to win the FCC Health care connectivity solicitation

• As the use of information technology for health care is promoted, OSC expects it will connect a growing number of health care organizations to OSCnet

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Enables efficient connections between researchers across the country and the world.

OSCnet: Research networks• OSCnet connects network

members to other national and regional Research and Education (R&E) networks:

– Internet2/NLR– MERIT– Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center

(PSC)– OMNIPoP in Chicago (under

construction)

OSCnet/MERIT Partnership MERIT/Chicago Partnership Possible Future Partnerships

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OSCnet: Commodity Internet

• Member of the Quilt

• Four OC-12 Internet and two Gigabit Ethernet drains– Columbus, Cleveland,

Toledo and Cincinnati

• Redundant paths to the commercial Internet

• A total of 4.5 Gigabits of commodity bandwidth

Fourth-largest higher education ISP in the country

~20% consumed by Ohio

Month/Year Inbound (Gbps) Outbound (Gbps)

2006 23.0 23.0

2005 22.3 17.8

2004 18.5 16.6

2003 14.2 14.0

Dec 2002 12.3 12.8

Jan 2002 5.3 5.3

May 2001 2.1 2.0

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OSCnet: Videoconferencing

• NOC for Internet2 Commons

• Statewide videoconferencing services – Site certifications– Site coordinator certifications

• MCU management

• Giga- and MegaConferences

• World Bank conferences

• HD videoconferencing

• Advise Regents on telepresence, etc.

OSC-hosted videoconferences

MegaConference27 countries, 5 continents

MegaConference Jr.170 sites, over 16 countries

Indo-US program on HIV-AIDSWorld Bank, ERNET, NARI, JHU

Global eHealth ForumInternet2, World Bank

South Asia MeetingMultiple South Asia countries

eHealth – East AfricaORENEA, GDLN, SICOT, Internet2

Global Forum on Road Traffic TraumaWorld Bank, 6 countries

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OSCnet Example: Connecting Rural Ohio improves prospects for Appalachian neighborhoods

• Hybrid networking: Satellite and wireless• OSC and OSU-CIO installs satellite dishes,

LAN antennas and learning centers in Appalachian communities

– No current land-based broadband.– New Straitsville, Chesterhill, Vinton– Three new sites in the next 18 months

• Part of effort to link instruction and learning, teachers and students, schools, homes and businesses

• Primary funding from:– American Distance Education

Consortium– Governor’s Office of Appalachia– Ohio Community Computing Network

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OSCnet Example: Cleveland Institute of Music performance empowered by networking

• CIM creates and delivers content for a variety of educational technology applications, including:

– Music master classes with the Manhattan School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the New World Symphony

– Concerts for hundreds of K-12 schools

• In June, CIM performed Ohio’s first live, bi-location concert for OSC’s AT Summit; two musicians in Columbus and three in Cleveland performed together via high-definition video-stream through OSCnet

OSCnet meets the demanding requirements that let music educators reach beyond local boundaries.

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OSCnet Example: Shared Instrumentation

• Example: FEI Sirion Scanning Electron Microscope at Center for Accelerated Maturation of Materials, OSU

• Demonstrated real-time mouse and keyboard control of SEM

• Adding Analytics and Collaboration services: Image analysis and computational modeling

Example of shared instrumentation application: remote access of electron microscope

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OSCnet Example : Columbus Children’s extends neonatology care via OSCnet

• In 2006, the neonatology unit at Adena Regional Medical Center in Chillicothe linked with Columbus Children’s Hospital via high-speed OSCnet connection

– Enables neonatologists at Children’s to examine infants at Adena using telemedicine equipment such as an electronic stethoscope

– Specialists can confer with attending physician, provide evaluations– May improve care and eliminate need for travel for some patients and

families

• Connection made through partnership with Horizon Telecom

• $215,000 grant from Board of Regents for a demonstration project on OSCnet for telehealth applications

– Funding source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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Broadband Ohio Benefits• Benefits to citizens:

– Equitable Access – Broadband Ohio will promote access to nearly all of the state’s citizens.

– Increased Jobs – Citizens can increase their job skills and attract new and expanded businesses.

– Quality of Life – People can more easily locate social services and explore distant resources.

– Improved Health – Health care workers can better consult and share records and instruments.

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Broadband Ohio Benefits• Benefits to governments and community

organizations:– Improved Services – Ohio will provide improved

services and promote stronger engagement.– Consolidated Networking – The state can better

coordinate public broadband resources.– Lowered Costs – State and local governments

will see cost-savings in procurement and services.– Homeland Security – Post-9-11 initiatives will be

more effective with increased connectivity.

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Broadband Ohio Benefits• Benefits to business, industry and the workforce:

– More Business – Ohio will attract new business, retain existing firms and encourage expansion.

– Expanded Training – Increased broadband will increase workforce computer and business skills.

– Productivity Gains – Access will improve supply-chain management, finance and human resources.

– Service Providers – An expanded backbone will improve business case for new private investments.

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Broadband Ohio Benefits• Benefits to education:

– Education – Teachers will use the Internet as a classroom resource to teach students in new ways.

– Collaboration – Connectivity will improve access for students, economic development and synergy.

– Research – Researchers will be able to easily to work with distant colleagues and inspire students.

– Equipment – The initiative will allow researchers to more readily share expensive lab instruments.

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Activities and Timeline• The Council co-chairs currently are working with Gov.

Strickland to identify individuals to be appointed to the Ohio Broadband Council.

• First meeting of the Council is expected in the late Fall.

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Broadband Ohio -- Phase One Funding

• The current budget included $20 million of Third Frontier Funds, which will:

– Leverage the state’s current investment in OSCnet to use available capacity for other state functions.

– Establish a network offering expanded bandwidth usage for state agencies while avoiding future cost increases.

– Establish a foundation upon which access can be extended across the state and support advanced IP technologies.

– Support outreach activities to articulate plans, services and offerings, as well as demonstrate options and share case studies.

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• Future investments will fund additional network activities

– Additional investments will expand the distribution layer (middle-mile access), with the goal of extending broadband access to all 88 counties.

– This effort will focus on using government created broadband clusters of demand in communities to serve as anchor tenants, thereby creating the viable business cases needed for the private sector to invest in extending broadband to businesses and residents.

– Later phases may include an upgrade of the entire network to greater capacities to allow for advanced, higher bandwidth applications.

Future Investments

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Questions?

Contact:www.ohiobroadbandcouncil.org1-888-672-6382