Interagency Partnership Agreement

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS), Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN) and the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE) agree to collaborate in the provision of Internet-based services to realize economies of scale and leverage resources. Implicit in this partnership is recognition of the K-20 educational continuum of teaching and learning experiences and of the value in accessability of state government resources.

Under this agreement, the OSSHE Network for Education and Research in Oregon (NERO) will support the aggregation of Internet access circuits and wide area network (WAN) traffic between partner networks, as well as maintaining exchange sites where commercial network service providers or private sector organizations (business, non-profit) can peer. NERO support will include infrastructure, engineering, and operations.

Initial partners in this agreement include DAS OR-NET, OPEN, and OSSHE NERO. Provision is made for other state agencies and educational institutions to participate. The term of the agreement is open-ended, subject to termination by either party with six (6) months' notice.

The technical objectives of this partnership are enumerated and a network architecture is proposed for the State of Oregon to achieve them, based upon the NERO backbone. Designed with the goals of high reliability and high performance, the NERO architecture provides path, switch, and route diversity. With this architecture, interconnection of additional Internet protocol (IP) networks under varying administrative control is both modular and efficient.

A flexible business plan will allow adaptation to the rapidly changing state and national telecommunications environment. Incoming partners will contribute funds at a level approximating their existing Internet access costs and the cost of establishing a connection at a NERO hub (presently Beaverton, Corvallis, or Eugene). Specific costs will vary depending upon initial bandwidth requirements, geographic location, and other contingencies. Thereafter, the cost of participation will be proportional to the partner's bandwidth and quality of service requirements. Where possible, this agreement will build upon the existing State of Oregon Fast-Packet Technologies Contract.

I. INTRODUCTION

The NERO organization is uniquely suited to provide intrastate transit and Internet connectivity for both the DAS and OPEN networks. NERO currently serves this OSSHE system with a highly reliable, high-bandwidth transport facility, and core engineering expertise. Integration of the existing NERO infrastructure with both DAS/ORNET and OPEN offers various economics of scale, including aggregation of intrastate bandwidth demands, transit bandwidth requirements, and engineering resources. In addition to the obvious benefits that result from aggregation of demand and the sharing of engineering and operational expertise, there are several other benefits that will result from this merger. For example, NERO also offers DAS and OPEN staff access to important emerging technologies, including the various video over IP technologies (MBONE), next generation Internet protocols (IP version 6), and resource reservation protocol (RSVP).

II. TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES

The following objectives are intended to represent both the technical basis for network integration and the operational basis for collaboration.

A. OPEN STANDARDS

Establish an open, interconnected "network of networks" architecture and infrastructure based on relevant Internet, telecommunication, computer industry, and education standards.

B. SCALABLE DESIGN

Provide a scalable network backbone design, topology, and infrastructure which is both reliable and cost-effective. Employ scalable, extensible, and granular system components.

C. INTERNET ACCESS

Provide high quality Internet access and transport between the network partners in Oregon, and to other resources accessible using Internet tools such as world-wide-web, including libraries, museums, and federal agencies.

D. NETWORK MULTIMEDIA

Support network delivery of multimedia and packetized video serving and distribution (IP multicast) over the terrestrial internodal infrastructure, including differentiated bandwidth allocation on the basis of quality-of-service requirements.

E. INTEROPERABILITY

Strive to maintain interoperability of Internet-based services with other data, video, and multimedia resources for sharing among partners and/or across the entire network system.

F. REGIONAL EXCHANGE

Ensure open access to and from other institutions and systems to enable broad inter-institutional cooperation. Incorporate regional Internet interexchange point.

G. PUBLIC SWITCHED NETWORK

Maintain interconnectivity with and use of the public switched network. Where possible, build upon the existing state Fast-Packet Technologies Contract.

H. DIGITAL VIDEO

Participate with other distance-learning organizations in the development of appropriate open standards-based video codec and switching infrastructure as well as transport capabilities which permit flexible selection of private and public network transport options.

I. EVOLUTIONARY PATH

Ensure a flexible, mainstream evolutionary path enabling use of industry standard components and market-driven technologies and services.

J. PARTNERSHIPS

Leverage public and private partnerships. Leverage existing state and local resources.

III. INTERNETWORK ARCHITECTURE

A. Backbone Architecture

NERO is designed to be the backbone for intrastate connectivity. That is, NERO is a network of networks (in contrast to a network that directly connects end-users). The NERO core network robustly connects to regional telecommunications transport providers at strategic locations. At the IP level, NERO is designed so that the interconnection of IP networks under varying administrative control is both modular and efficient.

B. High Availability

The NERO architecture is designed to have Order 4 reliability. This means that the network is designed for uptime of at least 99.9999%. Of course, this requires not only robust infrastructure but proactive network operations.

C. High Performance

NERO is designed to provide two orders of magnitude greater intrastate bandwidth than has previously been available. In addition, the NERO design incorporates external ("Internet") bandwidth that is an order of magnitude greater that what is commonly available.

These goals are realized by providing path, switch, and route diversity. A path diverse network will have more than one path to any location (usually so that any single failure does not partition the network). A switch diverse network will have different switching equipment along the different paths. Finally, a route diverse network has more than one source of external routing information (usually meaning the routing domain is multi-homed). [Note that path and switch diversity refer to the physical or transport facilities, while route diversity refers to the Internet Protocol level.] The NERO architecture is designed to be path, switch, and route diverse.

Additional discussion of the technical basis for partnering, the rationale for the NERO backbone architecture, the Oregon Exchange, and the proposed implementation plan are contained in Exhibit I, "An Internetwork Architecture for the State of Oregon" by David M. Meyer.

IV. RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARTNERING AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

A. OSSHE/NERO

Responsible for network engineering and operations on the NERO wide area network backbone, Internet access points (hubs) and Internetwork exchanges (e.g., the oregon-ix at UofO). Responsible for the NERO backbone security and integrity.

B. PARTNERS

Initial partners are DAS (OR-NET), OPEN, and OSSHE (NERO) [and others who may elect to join at the outset]. Each is responsible for obtaining, operating and maintaining agency network infrastructure and remote access services; systems and user support; and other resources (e.g., on-line database subscriptions). Each is responsible for security and integrity of the agency/organization networks (WAN/LAN). Partners will support the cost of establishing and maintaining an access connection to a NERO hub and will contribute funds to OSSHE NERO in support of aggregated Internet access, initially at a level approximating present investment and subsequently in proportion to the bandwidth and quality-of-service levels that they require.

V. TERM OF AGREEMENT

This agreement shall commence on the date of execution and continue until rescinded. State agencies other than those listed (DAS, OSSHE, OPEN) are subsumed under DAS per Oregon SB 994 and are therefore eligible to participate at any time for the duration of the agreement. The agreement may be rescinded by written notice of either party to the other with a minimum of six (6) months of lead time.


Exhibit I

"An Internetwork Architecture for the State of Oregon" by David M. Meyer,
http://www.nero.net/oregon/internetwork