Utah Education Network - Interactive Video Conferencing (IVC)

1. Utah Education Network - Interactive Video Conferencing (IVC) LACMA Video Conferencing Workshop May 16-18, 2008

2. Internet, WAN, IVC & More Services UEN provides to it’s stakeholders. • Internet access and research network access via the Front-Range Gigapop, Nat’l Lambda Rail, & I2 • Backbone and WAN connectivity for all higher education, school district offices, secondary schools, and many city & county libraries. • Statewide IVC network connecting over 400 higher education and public education classrooms. • KUEN - Telecourses • Web Conferencing with Wimba (newest service) • Emedia

3. UEN’s Interactive Video Conferencing Network (IVC) The Technical Side • 400+ higher education & public education classrooms throughout Utah • 320 bridge ports currently available - UEN recently transitioned from a distributed bridging platform consisting of seven 48 port Radvision ViaIP 400 Multipoint-Control-Units (MCU) to eight 40 port Tandberg-Codian MCUs. Six of the MCUs are located in Salt Lake City, a seventh operates in southeastern, Utah and the eighth is located in eastern, Utah. Regional MCUs allow regional events to continue in the event of a backbone outage. • Two Codian IPVCRs enabling UEN to record up to 20 conferences/classes at a time. • 1 Tandberg Border Controller for firewall transversal. • UEN launches over 500 events per week.

4. UEN Interactive Video Conferencing (IVC) The People • Two Video Operations Centers providing seamless IVC support from 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM Monday thru Saturday. • UEN Field Operations and Network Operations Center support • Distance Education Specialists/Training • UEN Scheduling – Coordinates the scheduling of events statewide. • Work directly with higher education and public education counterparts coordinating all IVC events.

5. IVC’s Solid Network Foundation • One of the key elements to UEN’s successful implementation and support of it’s IVC network is the Wide Area Network (WAN). • Gigabit Ethernet backbone with a ring topology in key regions of the state. • Gigabit Ethernet to all higher education and most public schools. With a minimum of a dedicated T1 per IVC classroom if broadband is not available. • Close coordination with district and campus network staff

6. UEN Backbone

7. Support Challenges For Video • Campus and District Firewalls • Open required ports (Set range of ports) • Implement secure video VLAN/Firewall bypass • Firewall transversal appliance • Last resort – Solution works best when implemented to support vendor specific end points. To support all h.323 end points additional appliances may be required. • A scheduling and management application that meets the performance requirements of a large enterprise service provider.

8. Firewall Options Best overall solution for UEN is the implementation of a secure video VLAN/Firewall Bypass – not susceptible to changes to firewall configuration High School Video VLAN UEN School District and campus inside and outside switch and firewall Firewall Open select set of ports to support H.323 video

10. Transition to Tandberg-Codian MCU and Tandberg Management Suite • Tandberg-Codian • N+1 MCU configuration • Load balanced management servers • Redundancy wherever possible • Target of 99.99% Reliability • Scaleable – Enterprise solution • MCU supports transparent cascading • UEN classes average 8 to 12 sites per event but some colleges will schedule classes with over 20 sites which often requires cascading.

11. UEN Video Conferencing Requirements • H.264 – MPEG 4 Compression • H.239 – Duo Video/Dual Stream • 16:9 Display w/ split screen for Duo Video when possible • Multiple view options including Continuous Presence (Hollywood Square view) • E.164 Alias – (4 digit dial plan) • Gatekeeper Registration

12. Site Requirements & Certification • Classroom size and configuration • Origination Room • Receive/Simple Room • Lighting and adequate window coverings • Projector or monitor must support 16:9 display and 720P resolution • End point must have dedicated network connection to a managed network switch • Sufficient dedicated bandwidth – (T1 minimum) • Endpoint must test with zero network errors, packet loss, and minimal jitter. • Demonstrated dial-in and dial-out through firewall • VOIP - Telephone for Video Operations Center Support • Gatekeeper Registration

15. Instructor and Facilitator Training • UEN Distance Education Specialists • Coordinate and assist with Instructor Training • Provide all training for public education instructors • Higher education spearheads most of their classroom training and UEN provides a support role • Provide Facilitator Training • UEN requires classroom facilitators in all public education classes to monitor students, proctor tests, and provide first line technical support.

16. Classes offered on UEN’s IVC Network • Higher Education to Public Education • Concurrent Enrollment • Public Education • Inter-District and Intra-District events provide access to quality teachers and classes • Higher Education • Classes offered statewide by the larger universities and regionally by state colleges • Ad-Hoc – Access to video network for meetings and ad-hoc events

17. Examples of class offerings • Health Science • American Sign Language • Political Science • Mandarin Chinese • Medical Coding • World Civilization • Theater • Nursing • Calculus • Special Education – Teacher certifications

18. NextGen Solutions & Requirements • HD – UEN is currently determining timeline for supporting high definition – end points & bridging • HD - All high definition solutions must work seamlessly in a standard definition environment. • Continue to improve management application suite. • Better local control of events and scheduling • Capable of supporting multiple users, up to 50 at a single time • Application and database must support schedules entered from 1 to 3 years in advance.

19. NextGen Solutions & Requirements • Desktop solution that supports H.239 • Local control of events to enable manual switching. • Non-Meshed infrastructure – manual control of MCU in the event of application failure. • Scaleable event recording and archiving with access from both the desktop and an end point.

20. Regional Technical Forums • UEN assigns a Technical Advocate to each region of the state • Advocates coordinate with public education and higher education counterparts monthly or quarterly at technical forums (T-Forums) • Set priorities • Agree to standards • Address issues – Network security, disaster recovery, video, bandwidth requirements, etc. • Determine UEN priorities

21. Building Legislative Support • Established reputation of delivering on promises • Consistency • Follow through • 20 year track record • Provide actual costs for infrastructure, IVC classrooms, and hardware.

22. Funding - Legislative Process • Strategic planning with constituents • Consensus and unanimity with higher education and public education. • UEN priorities reflect the priorities of CAO’s, Continuing Education Deans, District Superintendents. • Work with fiscal analysts and key legislators • Legislators are members of UEN’s Steering Committee • Community support – UEN improvements benefit entire community. • Long term contracts with telecommunication providers insures a strong relationship with business. • Leverage federal funding – 2 E-rate dollars generated for every dollar spent.

23. Funding - E-Rate • UEN is Utah’s E-Rate Coordinator • Priority 1 provides funding for bandwidth to all public schools • Priority 2 provides limited funding for infrastructure/MCUs and end points. • Network planning and implementation • Coordinate E-rate improvements with all school districts • Plan and design with all of Utah’s service providers – Qwest and Utah’s ten rural telecommunication providers • File E-Rate Applications • 470s, 471s & BEAR forms • UEN leverages E-Rate funding when implementing network improvements to all public schools.

24. Funding - Grants • Dept. of Agriculture / Rural Utility RUS DLT Grants • NTIA grants • State of Utah Community Impact Board (CIB)

25. Thank You!