Oarnet Annual Report 2014–15
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Annual Report 2014 –15 OARnet Leadership: Chancellor John Carey directs the Ohio Pankaj Shah Department of Higher Education and oversees the strategic initiatives of the Executive Director, Ohio Technology Consortium and its Ohio Supercomputer member organizations in support of the Center and OARnet state’s technology infrastructure needs. (614) 292-1486 [email protected] Letha Butcher Senior Business Relationship Manager, Government & K–12 “OARnet connects millions of Ohioans, (614) 292-9545 [email protected] enabling them to learn, collaborate, Gary Goettel research and celebrate in incredible ways.” Optical Engineer — John Carey, Chancellor, Ohio Department of Higher Education (614) 247-2563 [email protected] Mark Fullmer Network Architect (614) 292-8165 [email protected] Paul Schopis Chief Technology Officer (614) 292-1956 The Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH) represents the technology [email protected] arm of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. OSC, OARnet, OhioLINK, eStudent Services and the still-in-development Research and Innovation Denis Walsh Center comprise a suite of technology and information member organizations unsurpassed in any other state. Their consolidation under the OH-TECH banner Chief Relationship Officer allows each organization to harness boundless synergies and efficiencies. (614) 292-9037 [email protected] Ann Zimmerman Senior Business Relationship Manager, Higher Education (614) 292-9022 Connect. Aggregate. Collaborate. Our powerful trilogy of goals provides the [email protected] necessary technology infrastructure to assure a prosperous economic future for Ohio and beyond. At the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), we connect our clients—found throughout education, healthcare, public broadcasting and government—by increasing access to affordable broadband service. We reduce the cost of vital technologies for our members through aggregate purchasing. We collaborate with peers locally, within the state, across oar.net the country and around the globe to spur communication and collaboration. 2014 –15 Highlights PRICE & PROVISIONING State on backbone institutions, including four new schools, are participating in Through a $3.2 million the $175,000 Esri Contract for agreement, Ohio government is ArcGIS Software, used to create per gigabit cost moving to the OARnet backbone. maps and share intelligent More than 700 circuits have been visualizations. An aggregate transitioned, and nearly 2,300 purchasing agreement with $6.88/Gb end sites will be connected once Salesforce Inc. provides a 65 in FY2015 fully integrated. Layering in the percent discount on licenses. connectivity of federal entities, such as Wright-Patterson Air K–12 upgrades Force Base and NASA-Glenn Economies of scale have allowed Research Center, makes OARnet’s Approximately $7 million OARnet’s Internet pricing to 2,240-mile backbone a very was awarded to upgrade 29 decrease 97 percent since 2002, unique, stakeholder-driven information technology centers while aggregated subscriptions asset. The state’s investment (ITCs) and large urban districts have increased more than 8,300 in OARnet shared services has from 1 gigabit per second percent over the same period. further reduced costs for all broadband speed to 10 Gbps. of OARnet’s communities. With upgrades completed in early 2015, OARnet is now 75 Gb/second Aggregate software seeking funding for last-mile in FY2015 upgrades. OARnet provides purchasing broadband connectivity to over total purchased Organizations that purchased 700 of Ohio’s K–12 schools bandwidth VMware through OARnet’s through a partnership with shared service offering have ITCs and large urban districts, saved an estimated $4.3 million. a deal that saves them an Additionally, 38 higher education estimated $8 million annually. 1 OARnet Services OARnet delivers technology-based solutions that reduce costs, increase productivity and improve customer service—and has done so since its creation in 1987. Ohio’s education, health care, public broadcasting and government communities voluntarily participate in OARnet’s shared services programs because of the benefits and value-added services they receive. Aggregation Internet IntraOhio OARnet negotiated highly OARnet reduces the cost of competitive, aggregate pricing on Internet services for its clients by Internet rates for all stakeholders offering this in-state service that in FY2016. This shared approach connects only to other locations secures Internet access at a price that are linked to OARnet’s that would not be attainable network. This makes dedicated on an individual basis. OARnet bandwidth between schools Several OH-TECH organizations works with multiple service more affordable by provisioning supported Columbus’ successful providers to ensure reliability service over existing connections bid for 2015 Intelligent and implements diverse routing and the in-state backbone. Community of the Year. plans to support the highest service level. Broadband network access Internet2 OARnet connects its OARnet serves as the regional communities using a circuit- optical network connector for aggregation model. With all Internet2 connections in consolidation hubs located Ohio. Through a coalition of throughout the state, this reduces Internet2 member schools, clients’ last-mile circuit costs. OARnet can provide a higher- speed connection to the national research and education network at a cost below that available to any single university. 2 OARnet leadership: (left to right) Letha Butcher, Ann Zimmerman, Pankaj Shah, Paul Schopis, Mark Beadles, Kelly Sitz, Mark Fullmer, (left inset) Denis Walsh and (right inset) Gary Goettel Transport Services Data Centers Virtualization OARnet provides high-speed Connectivity Virtualization allows IT transport service throughout OARnet offers its members departments to create a virtual Ohio by way of its 100 gigabit- access to more than 10 environment at the workstation, per-second backbone. Transport geographically diverse data server or data-center level. With service via IntraOhio connects centers around the state, this technology, organizations eligible members to other from facilities at Wright State can buy less hardware and OARnet sites, resources offered University and Ohio University software, reduce energy usage by providers such as the Ohio to carrier-neutral data centers. and require less staffing Supercomputer Center and to maintain it. OhioLINK, as well as services Co-Location services such as Voice-over-IP, business VMware program OARnet collaborates with Ohio continuity and high-speed universities to offer co-location OARnet, the Ohio Department data transfers. services, which include rack of Higher Education and VMware space, power and access to offer a virtualization program Internet, Internet2 and IntraOhio. that enables OARnet clients to Members are taking advantage purchase virtualization software of these connections to expand and maintenance at significantly cabinet space or implement reduced prices. Through this disaster recovery plans. shared-service offering, clients have saved an estimated $4.3 million. 3 By the Numbers Through OARnet’s flagship shared service, the network and its expansion into other services, OARnet promotes community and economic Salesforce development by expanding An aggregate purchasing access to affordable technology. agreement between Salesforce Consider the following ROIs: Inc. and the Ohio Department of Higher Education, in conjunction with OARnet, the Ohio $8,000,000 Department of Administrative Combined average savings Services and The Ohio State each year on Internet costs University, provides a 65 Partnering to co-host for OARnet’s communities. percent discount on Salesforce 2015 Internet2 software licenses. Carahsoft is managing the state contract Technology Exchange for these services. $47,000,000 Presented by Internet2, this Amount Ohio higher education, Identity Management annual technical event convenes K–12 schools and state agencies Offerings the community’s technology have saved through August visionaries from around the Currently, 15 Ohio institutions 2014 on VMware licenses, U.S. and the globe. This year’s participate in eduroam, which maintenance and professional event is hosted in Cleveland, provides secure, global wireless services. The new program with Ohio, by Case Western Reserve access for education. Thanks to a Salesforce Inc., increases the University in partnership with pilot project with the University discount for the state of Ohio OARnet and the Ohio Internet2 of Rio Grande and Rio Grande from 5 percent to 40 percent. members, with local support Community College, OARnet from OneCommunity. is working to offer a VM-based eduroam/Shibboleth server package for members to use. 25% Additionally, OARnet, Internet2 Percentage drop expected on and Ohio University conducted the cost per megabit of Internet, a successful pilot to determine thanks to aggregate demand how to make eduroam available from the state of Ohio, Ohio as a regional offering. higher education and K–12 sites. The large investment 24/7 NOC in OARnet shared services from the state has greatly OARnet clients have access reduced costs for all to outstanding engineering OARnet communities. solutions through the around-the-clock network operations center. 4 Communities OARnet connects Ohio’s education, health care, public broadcasting and government communities through more than 2,240 miles of 100-gigabits- per-second, high-speed broadband fiber. These communities voluntarily choose to participate in OARnet’s shared