“ITnet/HEAnet Integration Project”

Owen Byrne(Managed Network Services)

HEAnet Conference

Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny,

14th November 2008

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Background:

• 13 IoTs included in Project

• DIT & Tipp Inst already HEAnet clients

• 3 x Services– General IP (aka Internet)– An Cheim MIS systems– Commodity IP

A (very) Brief History

• 1998, 1999 ITnet network established (2Mb/s)– Replaced “RTCnet”

• Until recently: access connectivity provided by Eircom – ATM infrastructure (45Mb/s per IoT)

• IP addressing & IP Transit provided via HEAnet

Times Past: ITnet - HEAnet

Then, two reports:

• Commissioned by HEA on behalf of Department of Education & Science

• Sonas & Molloy (2003/2004)– Sonas Innovation: technical review– Dr. Molloy: governance & management structure

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Summer 2005: Project Initiation

• Steering Committee created

• Project team established

• Joint scoping and technical requirements document produced

• Pilot Project commences (ITB, WIT, LIT)– Followed by approval to include all IoTs

Project TeamImplementation Team Martin McCarrick

Brian Boyle

Owen Byrne

Project Manager John Boland

Steering Committee

HEA

DES

Council of Directors

IUA (CHIU)

DIT

Mary Kerr

Ian McKenna

Brendan Murphy, Tim Creedon

Michael Nowlan, Brendan Tolan

David Scott

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Delivering Connectivity

• Fibre Contracts– ESB Telecom – national ring (1300 Km)– e-net – MANs: Galway, Limerick, Cork, Athlone, Letterkenny (200Km)– Public procurement process– BT, UPC, Dublin City Council

• Service Delivery• VLAN and EoMPLS services to implement Point-to-point links• Cisco hardware and CWDM optics• Adva DWDM platform

Government MANs

Wavelength Division Multiplexing

• CWDM in access network (1470nm – 1610nm. 8 x channels, modulated at 1Gbit/s)

• DWDM in backbone. Each channel capable of 10Gbit/s

Separating signals

Combining signals

Different light frequencies (colours) over a single fibre path

Ethernet transmitters

Ethernet receivers

• General IP, Commodity IP, An Cheim peerings all in Dublin

• Connect e|net rings to regional PoP

• Connect regional PoP to national backbone (e|net ring)

• Additional fibre procured from:– Dublin City Council– UPC– BT (Athlone, Carlow, Tralee)

ESBT Backbone

BT Fibre• IT Blanchardstown – Servecentric

• IADT, Dun Laoghaire – Citywest

• IADT – Servecentric (soon)

• Athlone IT – NUI Galway• Athlone IT – Servecentric

• IT Tralee – UCC• IT Tralee – UL

• Carlow IT – Waterford IT• Carlow IT - Citywest

Milestones• 2006: First IoTs connect to HEAnet

– July: Limerick IT & Waterford IT– August: Steering Group approve migration of all IoTs– October: IT Blanchardstown– November: Letterkenny IT– December: GMIT & DKIT

• 2007: Further Migrations & Service Production– Feb: Sligo IT & Cork IT Migrated– April: An Cheim Service goes live– April: Commodity IP peering with GN established– October: Tallaght, Athlone, Carlow IT Migrations

• 2008: Towards Completion– Jan: 24/7 Cover Introduced– Jan: IADT, Dun Laoghaire Migration– Sept: Tralee IT Migration

30-May-06 24-Sep-08

Jul-06 Oct-06 Jan-07 Apr-07 Jul-07 Oct-07 Jan-08 Apr-08 Jul-08

Jul-06

WIT

Jul-06

LIT

Sep-08

IT Tralee

Jan-08

24/7 Cover

Oct-07

IT CarlowFeb-07

Sligo IT

Oct-06

Pilot Complete

Aug-06

SG Approval

Oct-06

ITB

Apr-07

An Cheim Service

Jan-08

IADTFeb-07

Cork IT

May-07

Commodity IP ServiceNov-06

GMITOct-07

Tallaght IT

Dec-06

DKIT

Oct-07

Athlone ITNov-06

LYIT

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Current/Future Work

• Pre 2005:– IoTs, individual clients of ITnet network– Single peering point with HEAnet

• Now:– Established as 13 new individual HEAnet clients– Dual HEAnet connections (5 remain)– Benefit from current & future HEAnet projects

• National Backbone Extension: phases 3 & 4– Point-to-point connectivity (on demand)– 10Gig lambdas for Research

• Equipment/Service Resilience

National Backbone Extension (Phase 3)

• 80 applications received for connectivity (15/05/07)– From 27 Client Institutions– 56 approved by selection committee– 19 IoT circuit requests approved– 3 additional IoT requests approved under NBE-4

• 22 IoT circuits (Total):– Primary Campus Resilience– Off campus transparent LAN services

Connectivity to Remote Campus Sites

• GMIT– Castlebar– Letterfrack– Cluain Mhuire

• Limerick IT– School of Art & Design

• Cork IT– Cork School of Music– NMCI– Crawford College– Blackrock Observatory

• Carlow IT– Wexford Campus– Wicklow Campus (Rathnew)

• LYIT– Tourism & Catering College,

Killybegs

• WIT– TSSG, Carriganore– College St.– Confederation House

Connectivity Solutions

• Public procurement process (RfT) held

• Dark Fibre (BT, e|net, Magnum Opus)– NMCI: Phase I and phase II MAN interconnected

• Managed Ethernet Solutions (e|net, BT)– Typically EoSDH

• Licensed Microwave (Airspeed Telecom, NWE)

Service Resilience

• Path resilience– Currently implemented– Diverse paths into campus

• Power Resilience at PoPs– Backup generators– UPS

• Equipment Resilience– Additional backbone MPLS nodes at PoPs– Duplicate CPE router at client sites

Agenda• Background Info

• Project Initiation/Implementation– Project Team, Steering Committee– Pilot Project Phase

• Delivering Connectivity– Government MANs– ESBT– Other providers

• Current & Future Work– Additional Projects (National Backbone Extension)– Service Resilience (Equipment, power)

• Key Outcomes

• Q&A

Key Outcomes

• Bandwidth• Latency• International Peerings• Point-to-point Circuits

– WIT (10Gig), Berlin p2p• Native service support (IPv6,

Multicast...)

• Efficiencies of Scale– Larger HEAnet client base– Scope for increased

collaboration– Trial projects (IPTV streams…)

WIT

CIT

Summary

• 13 additional HEAnet clients (almost 50% increase)– Intro of 24/7 (note: with feedback from existing client base)– Radically different network architecture than pre-2005

• Patience & cooperation of all stakeholders– Provider delays– Inconvenience of civil works etc. on campus– Scheduled maintenance to migrate services

• Further work– Additional connectivity to remote campuses– Service resilience– Existing HEAnet service suite

• Questions?