2016 2017
ANNUAL REPORT LEADERSHIP
PAUL SCHOPIS Interim Executive Director & Chief Technology Officer (614) 292-1486 | [email protected]
MARK BEADLES Chief Information Security Officer (614) 292-8217 | [email protected]
LETHA BUTCHER Client Services Manager, Government & K–12 (614) 292-9545 | [email protected]
MARK FULLMER OARnet provides Network Director (614) 292-8165 | [email protected] the vital statewide
GARY GOETTEL connections and Network Operations Manager (614) 247-8032 | [email protected] resources that DENIS WALSH Chief Relationship Officer allow Ohio students, (614) 292-9037 | [email protected] faculty and staff to ANN ZIMMERMAN Client Services Manager, Higher Education collaborate, learn, (614) 292-9022 | [email protected] research and innovate.”
— John Carey, Chancellor, Ohio Department of Higher Education
OARnet: Connect. Aggregate. Collaborate. Our powerful trilogy of goals provides the 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 the country and around the globe to spur communication and collaboration.
Ohio Technology Consortium: Governed by the Chancellor of the Department of Higher Education, OH-TECH serves as the technology and information division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The consortium comprises a suite of widely respected member organizations unsurpassed in any other oar.net state: OSC, OARnet, OhioLINK and eStudent Services.
PHOTO {TOP} // CHANCELLOR JOHN CAREY DIRECTS THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND OVERSEES THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES OF THE OHIO TECHNOLOGY CONSORTIUM AND ITS MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE STATE’S TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS. FROM THE 2016–17 HIGHLIGHTS Reduced internet fees DIRECTOR OARnet’s new fiscal model reduced internet rates across the state and aligned user tiers with current usage and demand, including the addition of a 10-gigabit tier. 2017 represents OARnet’s 30th anniversary, a time in Commodity internet rates will drop by 15 which we will celebrate many of the milestone events percent in the coming year, and rates will that mark the organization’s history. include even more services than before. We marked another anniversary of sorts this year, as the 20-year leases of dark fiber that now constitute Reactive DDoS roll out the backbone of OARnet’s statewide network will The new reactive DDoS service is now end within the next five years. Those leases allowed bundled with commodity internet at no OARnet to jump from expensive provisioned circuits to additional cost to clients. This service has the massively scalable solutions of fiber-optics when unlimited capacity by offloading filtering the new network was launched in 2004. The move to to upstream carriers at the expense of all dark fiber also allowed us to innovate by using virtual impacted services for the victim IP address. routing and optical infrastructures. Data traveling along our 2,240-plus miles of fiber backbone now move at IntraOhio Content Subscription a blistering 100 gigabits per second. We have started service a success a five-year process of negotiating with many of our The new IntraOhio Content Subscription service providers, seeking arrangements that will best service was a huge success in 2016–17. serve our various client-communities for many years Over 30 gigabits was subscribed across 33 into the future. schools participating in the service. This While the fiber, the routers, the switches, the repeaters service helps Ohio schools avoid large and the myriad of other advanced networking hardware download demands on the commodity have revolutionized network speed and reliability, internet from Ohio-based servers of content the largest sources of innovation have always been providers such as Netflix and Google, people—our members, partners and staff. For 30 years, saving them substantial internet expenses. we have listened closely to our clients’ needs. Most recently, this has resulted in improved service offerings, such as reactive DDoS services and NG911. We also have sought out and hired the most skilled and helpful staff, and they have spearheaded initiatives such as disaster recovery and portal development. As a result, our partners have approached us with numerous innovative services, such as eduroam’s global wireless acess and virtualization, and we’ve launched the ones that best serve our communities.
This focus on people and community has served OARnet well since our founding in 1987, and it will serve us well as we look to the years ahead.
Paul Schopis Interim Executive Director
1 FINANCIAL IMPACT
OARnet promotes community and economic development by SUBSCRIPTIONS expanding access to affordable technology. The network value for our clients is based on three guiding principles: • Increase access to affordable broadband service 20% • Reduce technology costs via aggregate purchasing • Maximize shared-service opportunities OARnet’s updated subscription-based pricing and service 46% model keeps commodity internet competitive, aligns the business model with the cost to provide services and allows customers an affordable way to meet the demand for bandwidth. 13% 14 15 16 17 18 14 15 16 17 18 14 15 16 17 18 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F Higher Ed K–12 State Local Gov t ADDITIONAL ROIS
$1,254,744 savings 34% total bandwidth 50 – 84% expected for all clients (2016 –17) increase for all clients (2016 –17) savings when buying more bandwidth thru new IntraOhio Content Subscription service
28% bandwidth increase 18% increased bandwidth 79% bandwidth increase for State & local government for higher education (2016 –17) by K–12 schools (2016 –17) (2016 –17)
$76,800 savings for state $904,344 savings for $273,600 savings for of Ohio agencies (2016 –17) higher education (2016 –17) K–12 schools (2016 –17)
2 GRAPHS // OARNET’S NEW SERVICES FEE STRUCTURE RESULTED IN AN INCREASE IN COMMODITY INTERNET SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR ALL COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AND K–12 SCHOOLS. COMMUNITIES 630+ K–12 Schools 30 Large Urbans + ITCs OARnet connects Ohio’s education, health care, public 600+ School Districts broadcasting and government communities through more than 2,240 miles of fiber across the state. These organizations chose to participate in OARnet’s shared services programs because of the benefits and value- added services they receive. 310 Higher Education 85 Main Campuses 225 Regional Campuses 66 Healthcare Facilities 10 Institutions 56 Sites 8 Research 8 Research Facilities 4 Industry Partners 9 Broadcast Stations Key Broadcast Educational Media Local Commission (BEMC) State K12 Broadcast Higher Ed Medical & Research 55 Local Entities 55 Local Governments 64 State & Federal Govt. 62 State of Ohio Agencies 2 Federal Government
3 OARNET SERVICES
Through the power of its 100-gigabit-per-second backbone, OARnet enables businesses, government and education to realize high-speed solutions every day. Recent value additions to the OARnet network include bundled commodity internet and reactive DDoS service and the addition of a 40-G port connection to 1-, 10- and 100-Gbps offerings. The extremely successful IntraOhio Content service introduced last year is now a standard service offering, and clients can now purchase security scanning.
4 Internet Internet2 Efficiency in Higher Education. OARnet’s new model for fiscal As Ohio’s Internet2 connector, OARnet provides cost-effective year 2017 reduced internet rates OARnet reduces the cost connections back to your and aligned user tiers including of connector fees through organization via OARnet's high- current usage and demand, with the aggregate purchase of speed network. Other options the addition of a 10-gigabit tier. Internet2. Internet2 allows of co-location may include For fiscal year 2018, commodity Ohio’s higher education space, cabinets and power. internet rates will drop by institutions to receive research Virtualization 15 percent, and pricing will support and to collaborate include OARnet’s new reactive at a state and national level Virtualization allows IT DDoS mitigation service. without having to worry about departments to create virtual infrastructure or the boundaries environments, which can IntraOhio Content of commodity internet. reduce the number of physical Subscription servers or computers needed, Security/DDoS while still maintaining quality In its first year, this new service performance levels. OARnet’s was extremely successful, with Now bundled with OARnet aggregate purchase of VMware 33 schools participating. With commodity internet, reactive results in license cost-reduction streaming services at $1 per DDoS services provide manual of 25 percent and maintenance megabit, institutions save 50 intervention to support null fee reduction of 35 percent. An to 84 percent per Mb from the route signaling from clients. expansion of VMware products previous year. This moves large- This capability has unlimited now includes Airwatch and scale traffic from Ohio-based capacity by offloading filtering to vCloud Air for on-demand servers belonging to such content upstream carriers at the expense storage and servers. providers as Netflix and Google of all impacted services for the off of commodity internet and victim IP address. OARnet offers Gateway Service onto the OARnet backbone. This, proactive DDoS static filters and in turn, provides customers with policers to automatically mitigate OARnet recently added a client more bandwidth for every dollar these attacks upon request portal protected by two-factor spent and positioning our clients from clients for an added cost. authentication, enabling clients to effectively satisfy the ever- to self-administer their contacts increasing demand for bandwidth. NG911 and provide easy access to OARnet works closely with each Next Generation 911 takes statistics reflecting their use of client to determine the right emergency response operations OARnet services. OARnet uses IntraOhio Content Subscription. from analog to digital, providing the self-administered contacts to faster, more reliable services keep a client’s organization up to IntraOhio Private when communities need it most. date with important maintenance Cloud Service Working with the Department and outage communications. By connecting through OARnet’s of Administrative Services, eduroam & InCommon private cloud, our clients can OARnet is expanding a two-phase avoid the cost of purchasing pilot program to bring Ohio Currently, 24 OARnet member additional connections to access counties on to NG911 to improve institutions participate in public clouds or other services. emergency communications and eduroam, which provides This shared-service approach mapping. Phase One is pre-ESInet secure, global wireless access is the underlying principle for and is currently under way. for eduroam members. Through overall reduction in the cost of this service, faculty, staff and broadband services for Ohio Data Center Services students can access the wireless and is especially valuable OARnet supports an array of network while on site at other when used in conjunction with co-location options to meet member institutions with their high-demand services such client needs for geographical home login credentials. OARnet is as disaster recovery, cloud- diversity, based on the also working on a legal framework based compute and storage recommendations of the Ohio for a consortia purchase of or other service offerings. Task Force on Affordability & InCommon certificates.
5 OARNET WHO: The Cleveland Museum of Art HELPING (CMA) is expanding its global reach while enjoying safe and secure storage of its digitized CLEVELAND materials through an innovative MUSEUM OF data storage solution. ART ACHIEVE WHAT: Customized solutions have GLOBAL improved data security, compression and access REACH speed for CMA’s historical and mission-critical assets, allowing access to world-class art for viewers around the world.
IMPAC T: OARnet provides redundancy by transporting CMA's digital repository art collection from BlueBridge Networks in Cleveland to the museum’s secondary connection at the Cologix data center in Columbus.
6 CLIENT PROFILE // CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART The OARnet topology throughout the state of Ohio helps in a web, data-centric world.”
— Kevin Goodman, managing director and partner at BlueBridge
At any time of day or night, exponentially. In-house we had “It’s used a lot by school groups you can step inside the some ways of doing that, but the that come in,” Hood said. “They Cleveland Museum of Art scale was growing, and it was can rent iPads or use their own (CMA) with nothing more really difficult.” devices on a lot of the tours our than your smartphone, thanks education department gives.” to an "always-on" assurance OARnet provides redundancy provided by OARnet. by transporting CMA’s primary The educational aspect is what digital repository art collection brought in OARnet—which Using the CMA's ArtLens app, you from the BlueBridge data center serves Ohio's education, health can view sculptures by Auguste to the museum’s secondary care, public broadcasting and Rodin, experience one of the backup location at Cologix data government communities— finest Asian collections in the center in Columbus. OARnet’s because CMA is a non-profit world and even enjoy guided 100-gigabit per second backbone educational institution. tours in which researchers explain provides instantaneous recovery significant details of artists and capabilities in the event of an “Without OARnet it would have their works. outage; the collection can be been cost prohibitive based on transported and replaced without the topology alone,” said Kevin The vastness of the Cleveland interruption for viewers. OARnet’s Goodman, managing director and Museum of Art’s digital repository involvement reduces costs for partner at BlueBridge. art collection is breathtaking and CMA, while increasing efficiency. is helping the museum expand Goodman said that OARnet’s role its global reach. The digital “It’s about adding more capacity in helping institutions like CMA collection—kept on the cloud- and storage, and to make sure the helps the state on a larger level. based system Piction—is safe storage we had is properly backed “Any time you can improve and secure through an innovative up if something happens here in efficiencies and reduce costs, and reliable data storage solution Cleveland. So, we can make sure you’re going to create opportunity, constructed by BlueBridge we have constant access to our you’re going to create education, Networks in Cleveland and image repository data,” Hood said. you’re going to create learning,” supported by OARnet. Some of the technology CMA Goodman said. “So, the OARnet “Anybody in the world can search patrons enjoy include the ArtWell topology throughout the state of our collection,” said Tom Hood, app, the interactive Collections Ohio helps in a web, data-centric director of technology operations Wall and Gallery One, which world; helps throughout the at CMA. “The database has been often introduces visitors to the state of Ohio. Businesses and in place almost 10 years now, museum’s art and helps them institutions compete in a global but within the past three-to-four understand many aspects of the marketplace more effectively.” years, it has really taken on a life collections. Three years ago, CMA of its own. opened Gallery One, which helps visitors maneuver the gallery and “The importance of needing a build their own tours via the redundancy system has grown Collections Wall.
7 PHOTO {TOP LEFT} // INTERACTIVE DISPLAY PHOTO {BOTTOM LEFT} // EXTERIOR OF CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART PHOTO CREDIT // IMAGES COURTESY OF CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART STATE VIDEO CENTER ENABLES DISTANCE LEARNING FOR SCHOOLS
Professor Chris Stellato waits patiently for his middle- WHO: school student to answer the question he’s just asked her in fluent Mandarin Chinese. She fidgets The Ohio Broadcast Educational Media with the sleeves on her sweatshirt as she struggles Commission (BEMC) harnesses the power of to come up with the right word. Even over webcam, Stellato can tell she’s tired today. He nudges her OARnet’s 100 Gbps statewide backbone to with a verbal clue, and eventually she answers bring virtual educational opportunities to the quietly, but correctly, in near-perfect Chinese. K–12 classrooms of Ohio’s public schools. A few months ago, neither this student nor her classmate could speak a word of the language. However, thanks to opportunities provided WHAT: through the Ohio Broadcast Educational Media Commission (BEMC), school districts across The BEMC Video Conference Network Ohio can offer distance-learning classes with live Operations Center operates and maintains instruction at a low cost. The seamless real-time a statewide video conference network that video conferencing is made possible through OARnet’s high-speed statewide network. provides reliable, multi-point services to more than 1,200 customers in Ohio at no “With a program like this, (a school) may have 10 to cost. Courses such as Mandarin Chinese are 15 kids that want to take Chinese in the whole school. affordable to schools that normally could not So, to bring on a Chinese teacher who may not be able to teach any other classes would be incredibly cover the cost of such programs. expensive,” Stellato said. “But with this, you’re probably looking at maybe a third of the cost. And I think actually it’s just as, if not more, effective.” IMPAC T: Since 2006, the BEMC Video Conference Network Operations Center (VNOC) has maintained OARnet provides a high-speed connection to a statewide video conference network that this state of Ohio service, providing service to provides reliable, multi-point video conference even the most remote areas of the state. services to more than 1,200 customers in Ohio. The service is offered at no cost to Ohio K–12 school districts, Ohio educational service providers and Ohio content providers.
A decade ago, the equipment to operate a class via video conferencing may have been a financial
8 CLIENT PROFILE // OHIO BROADCAST EDUCATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION (BEMC) burden, but BEMC Chief of Operations Jarrod institute uses six instructors, including Stellato, Weiss said that all a school needs today to provide instruction to nearly 825 students. are a computer, webcam and microphone. Through connections to OARnet’s 100 Gbps “The bridging service allows us to add a daily class backbone, live video streaming is not only recording so that students are able to access their possible, but very accessible to rural districts class content after class in the manner of a recorded in even the most remote parts of the state. session, while also achieving live instruction daily.”
“It’s an incredible thing to see,” said Weiss. As Stellato can attest, the service is a boon not “It’s a large, fast internet capability and without just to students receiving instruction, but also it, those schools wouldn’t be able to connect to the instructors teaching into a webcam. to us, and we wouldn’t be able to help them “It’s huge,” Stellato said of being able to interact to provide these educational opportunities.” with students in real-time. “Teaching—there’s The Chinese language classes are taught a huge psychological element to it. With just through the Confucius Institute at the voice, I don’t know what’s going on. So, especially East Central Ohio Educational Service with foreign language, it’s something where Center. Director Michele Carlisle said the I think you need to see the individual.”
It’s a large, fast internet capability and without it, those schools wouldn’t be able to connect to us, and we wouldn’t be able to help them to provide these educational opportunities.
— Jared Weiss, BEMC Chief of Operations
9 PHOTO // PROFESSOR CHRIS STELLATO TEACHES A MANDARIN CHINESE CLASS THROUGH USE OF THE OARNET NETWORK AND BEMC'S SERVICES. [email protected] twitter.com/oarnet facebook.com/oarnet oh-tech.org/blog linkedin.com/company/oarnet oar.net
OH-TECH is the technology and information division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. 1224 Kinnear Road | Columbus, OH 43212 | ph: (614) 292-9191