MERC

April 4, 2008, Institutional Representatives Meeting Notes

9:15 - 10:30 a.m.

Attendees

• Robert Athearn, East Central College
• Todd Bossaller, Missouri Valley College
• Greg Burris, Missouri State University
• Russell Helm, University of Central Missouri
• John Klinger, Concordia Seminary
• Craig Klimczak, St. Louis Community College
• Rick Kubb, Maryville University
• Joel LaReau, Ozarks Community College
• Mark Mabe, Missouri Western State University
• Bob McGlasson, Southwest Baptist University
• Kevin Palmer, Columbia College
• Robert Paulson, State Fair Community College
• Jon Rickman, Northwest Missouri State University
• Chad Shepherd, St. Louis College of Pharmacy
• Al Stadler, Missouri Southern State University
• Dan Uetrecht, Missouri University of Science and Technology
• Ken Voss, University of Missouri - St. Louis
• Greg Wirth, St. Charles Community College

MOREnet Staff: Megan Barney, Dave Byland, Bill Giddings, Bill Mitchell, Hank Niederhelm, Nancy Piringer, Greg Silvey

Welcome and Introductions – Joel LaReau, VP Information Technology, Ozarks Technical Community College and Chair, MERC Board of Directors

Joel LaReau opened the meeting by welcoming all of the participants and asking them to introduce themselves to the room.

MERC/HELIX Financial Reports – Greg Silvey, Director of Fiscal and Contractual Services, MOREnet

Silvey gave a brief review of the MERC Financial Report for the year ending June 30, 2008. He reported that Member Service Revenues were down about $48,000 from the original budget, and that revenues from the Shared Network Funding Assessment and Connection related fees were on target and in line with the original budget as of February 29, 2008.

Next Generation Network Update – Hank Niederhelm, Director of Infrastructure, MOREnet

Niederhelm summarized the goal of the Next Generation Network project as a way to provide increased bandwidth over the backbone while limiting and flattening ongoing costs. Niederhelm reported that AT&T and SURA (Southeastern Universities Research Association) along with Show-Me Technologies would be the primary vendors for the fiber backbone along I-70 and the area south of I-70 and within the metro areas. Niederhelm also reported that the optical equipment that would be used would create lower overhead and decrease ongoing costs. The backbone will be implemented in several phases: Phase 1 will be the I-70 area and will occur during the summer of 2008. Phase 2 will include the area south of I-70 and Phase 3 is being planned for early spring of 2009. Niederhelm added that there are several areas south of I-70 that require Show-Me to complete construction on huts and that weather factors may cause delays.

Niederhelm added that NGN is a partial solution to the problem of increasing costs and increasing demand for additional bandwidth, however the majority of costs are tied up in tail circuits. For the 2008 fiscal year there was an increase in tail circuit capacity of approximately 40 percent. As demand for increased tail circuit capacity grows, ongoing costs for those tail circuits will also increase. Costs are highest in rural areas.

Niederhelm was asked if there was a typical size for MOREnet tail circuits and if standardizing tail circuits would also help to flatten costs. He replied that they range all the way from 3.0Mb to 100Mb and some are even higher. There really is no way to standardize bandwidth for Tail circuits, however MOREnet is moving towards getting tail circuits switched to Ethernet when circuits are upgraded or renewed where possible.

Legislative Update – Bill Mitchell, Executive Director, MOREnet

Mitchell reported that the Governor’s recommendation was that MOREnet receive flat funding for the 2009 Fiscal Year, no increase in funding was recommended for MOREnet. With a recommendation for flat funding MOREnet must look for ways to reduce increasing ongoing costs. Projects like NGN Phase 2 are targeted at reducing ongoing and increasing costs. Mitchell also added that advocacy by members in the legislature is a key to getting our voices heard, although it is often challenging to continue to meet and connect with the legislature due to their turnover of staff.

Higher Education Subcommittee – Joel LaReau, VP Information Technology, Ozarks Technical Community College and Chair, MERC Board of Directors

LaReau reported to the group that he had recently been selected to serve on the Higher Education Subcommittee for campus security. The subcommittee will examine the issues regarding security needs and identification of resources within the higher education community in the state of Missouri. LaReau added that the subcommittee, which is chaired by Robert Stein, will be publishing the information they put together and in order to do so are in need of a website. LaReau asked the group for permission and financial support (not to exceed $1,000) to create a website and survey. The survey would be sent out to all higher education institutions in the state and results would be posted to the website. Greg Burris motioned that MERC provide financial assistance to the Higher Education Subcommittee to be used for the creation of a website and survey in an amount not to exceed $1,000.00. Craig Klimczak seconded the motion and all were in favor.

MERC Bandwidth Survey & Revised MERC Participation Agreement – Nancy Piringer, Higher Education Program Manager, MOREnet

Piringer reminded the group that the purpose of the MERC Bandwidth Survey was to gather information on MERC members’ current and future use of technology at their institutions that has or will change their bandwidth usage. Piringer reported that 8 of 13 public 2-year institutions, 6 of 13 public 4-year institutions, and 17 of 42 independent institutions responded to the survey. Highlights from the respondents included the most commonly limited or blocked application is peer to peer file sharing. Also, video streaming was commonly reported as consuming bandwidth. Finally, packet shaping was the most common method reported used to block peer to peer and provide priority for academic applications. Piringer also provided the results from the survey participants that reported their additional projected bandwidth needs in the next 12-18 months:

10Mb – 8
15Mb – 2
20Mb – 7
30Mb – 1
45Mb – 3
60Mb – 2

Piringer reminded the attendees that new MERC Participation Agreements had been mailed out to all the organizations on March 21 and she encouraged all of the Institutional Representatives to sign and return them to MOREnet no later than May 1, 2008.

MHEC Presentation – Grant Crawford, CIO, Midwestern Higher Education Compact

Crawford informed the group that the goal of the MHEC is to promote interstate cooperation and resource sharing in higher education. MHEC attempts to accomplish this through three core functions: cost savings programs, student access and policy research. MHEC is one of four interstate compacts in the nation and is the largest interstate resource-sharing commission for higher education in the Midwest.

MERC Nominations for FY09 Board of Directors Slate

Nominations were held for the following positions:

• Chair-Elect
• Independent Director-at-Large
• Public two-year/technical college Director-at-Large

Voting will be held electronically and open for a period of 30 days.

Respectfully submitted, Megan Barney