Segment Updates | CENIC

Date:


High-speed Broadband Extended to the University of California Researchers in Rural Sites Across California

The Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC-ANR) is a statewide network of University of California researchers and educators dedicated to the creation, development, and application of knowledge in human, agricultural, and natural resources. There are nine Research and Extension Centers throughout the state. These facilities have been hampered by poor Internet connectivity in their support of the 700 UC academic researchers who are engaged with community and industry partners to ensure that California has healthy food systems, environments, and communities. In 2016, CENIC began working with UC-ANR to connect these centers to CalREN, and six centers have been connected to date:

  • Hopland (Mendocino County) at 500 Mbps
  • Desert (Holtville, Imperial County) at 500 Mbps
  • Kearny (rural Fresno County) at 1 Gbps
  • Westside (western San Joaquin Valley) at 1 Gbps
  • Intermountain (Tulelake) at 100 Mbps
  • Sierra Foothills (Browns Valley) at 250 Mbps

Work is still in process to connect the three remaining centers:

  • Hansen Center (Santa Clara Valley) at 100 Mbps
  • South Coast Center (Orange County) at 500 Mbps
  • Lindcove Center (Tulare County) at 250 Mbps

The Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station in Riverside County, near Mt. Rubideaux, has also been connected, at 100 Mbps, and UC-ANR is connecting Elkus Ranch, the environmental education center for Bay Area youth, at 250 Mbps, and the UC-ANR headquarters at UC Davis at 1 Gbps.

Earlier this year, 30 UC Cooperative Extension sites were added to the list of sites to be connected to CalREN. CENIC is in the process of seeking quotes for service to these sites.

Upgrades to California State University Campuses Underway

  • San Diego State University: Planning for a 100 Gbps dark fiber connection has begun. The primary DC connection was upgraded to 2×10 Gbps in October 2017 over existing dark fiber.
  • Humboldt State University: Evaluating options to upgrade the existing 10 Gbps connection to 100 Gbps. Efforts are underway to replace existing high cost 10 Gbps with most current 10 Gbps technology at one-tenth the cost.
  • California State University Chancellor’s Office: The existing 1 Gbps circuit will be upgraded to 10 Gbps.
  • San Bernardino State University, Palm Desert Campus: The existing dark fiber connectivity to CENIC node sites at Riverside and San Diego is being used to upgrade connectivity from 1Gbps to 10 Gbps.
  • CSU Customer Premise Equipment Refresh Initiative: Twenty-one sites are updating hardware to allow for the CENIC Network Operations Center and the hardware vendor to support these sites. Nineteen of the 21 sites are completed.
  • CSU Common Management System (CMS) relocation: CENIC is supporting the CMS team as it plans the relocation of the CMS systems from Salt Lake City, Utah, to an Equinix co-location facility in Santa Clara, California. Circuits to both Sunnyvale and Los Angeles are completed. Hardware equipment has been procured and shipped to Santa Clara. The CENIC team is working closely with the CMS team to ensure a successful migration.
  • 100 Gbps dark fiber upgrade is being planned for seven campuses. Carrier quotes are completed, and hardware quotes will be completed shortly.
  • CSU Chico 10 Gbps contract renewal planning is in progress.
  • Quotes are being sought for upgrades for the CSU Humboldt Marine Lab.

Redundancy Restoration and Bandwidth Upgrades for California Community Colleges

The California Community Colleges enroll more than 2.1 million students on 114 campuses and together constitute the largest system of higher education in the United States. Using new funding, CENIC has been working closely with the CCC Chancellor’s Office to significantly upgrade the system’s connections to CalREN.

  • Connectivity on every main campus is being upgraded to 10 Gbps.
  • A number of campuses are being provided with a second 10 Gbps circuit to ensure that connectivity is not lost in the case of a service disruption to the main circuit.
  • All off-site centers are being upgraded to 1 Gbps.
  • To ensure the most reliable connectivity, CENIC engineers are working with leaders in the California Community Colleges Technology Center to deploy a ring design for connectivity.
  • In addition to these upgrades, 15 sites are being connected to CalREN for the first time.
  • Work to upgrade California Community Colleges will be ongoing until 2019.

California Public Libraries Being Connected to CalREN

CENIC has had a long-standing interest in and commitment to connecting public libraries to CalREN. Work began in 2012 with library leaders across the state to conduct a needs assessment and secure the funding necessary to add public libraries as a new segment. In the fall of 2014, the California State Legislature approved funds for this purpose and the California State Library announced that all public libraries would have the opportunity to connect to CalREN. Califa was appointed to act as the administrative arm of the California State Library to work with CENIC to carry out this work. Below is an update on the status of the project:

  • 2016-2017: 12 jurisdictions will establish a new connection to CalREN in Year 3 of the project. 18 previously enrolled jurisdictions have expressed their intention to upgrade the connectivity of their branches. All contracts have been signed, and circuits are being ordered.
  • 2015-2016: 51 library jurisdictions signed contracts for service during Year 2 of the project. 44 of these jurisdictions have had their circuits completed and handed off to the library jurisdiction. Of these 44, 43 have completed their migration to CalREN.
  • 2014-2015: 44 library jurisdictions signed contracts for service during Year 1 of the project, and all circuits have completed migration.
  • Before the start of the project: 35 jurisdictions were previously connected to CalREN via their relationships with other CENIC members.
  • When work begun in 2016-17 is concluded, 142 California Public Library jurisdictions will be connected to CalREN.

K-12 Update

Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant (BIIG) Program

CENIC and its partners are overcoming barriers to Internet connectivity in California’s hardest-to-reach public schools. Working with the California State Legislature and the Governor’s office, CENIC and K12HSN were able to highlight the need of all K-12 public schools for high-speed broadband to help educators implement the Common Core and improve teaching and learning. Initial funding was appropriated to assess need. In 2014, based on this assessment, the Governor and the legislature funded the initiative. Additional funding was approved in 2015.

To date there have been three phases of connectivity upgrades to a total of 358 schools:

  • BIIG 1: Of the 165 sites approved for upgrades in this phase, 156 are completed and passing data.
  • BIIG 2: Of the 143 sites approved for upgrades in this phase, 118 are completed and passing data.
  • BIIG 2 Wave 2: Of the 49 sites recently approved for upgrades in this phase, one site is completed and passing data, and the others are in process.
  • To date, 356 schools have upgraded capacity or are in process.

The BIIG program has been particularly beneficial in rural counties, where there are many obstacles to high-speed broadband connectivity. Of the 92 public schools in Humboldt County, for example, 42 are participating in the BIIG program. Of the 15 public schools in Plumas County, 8 are participating in the BIIG program.

CENIC works closely with commercial service providers to find the most cost-efficient and direct connection to CalREN. Some hard-to-reach sites have been bid out multiple times to give commercial service providers an opportunity to work to find a solution. To date, only one site has received no valid bids. CENIC will continue to work in partnership with commercial service providers to find a solution for all school sites in need.

Node Site Upgrades

Node sites are points of intersection/connection within a network where multiple circuits are aggregated. In 2016-17, five circuit upgrades have been completed:

  • 10 Gbps Mendocino County Office of Education (COE) to Lake COE
  • 10 Gbps Kern COE to Bakersfield
  • 100 Gbps Fresno COE to Fresno
  • 100 Gbps Alameda COE to Emeryville
  • 100 Gbps Contra Costa COE to WSAC

And two are pending:

  • Humboldt COE 10 G (Dec 2017)
  • North Humboldt UHSD 10 G (Dec 2017)

Also, one dark fiber circuit upgrade, 100 Gbps DF Los Angeles COE to Los Angeles, has been completed and five are pending. Dark fiber circuits are leased for an extended period and lit with CENIC-managed equipment.

  • Chaffey JUHSD (Dec 2017)
  • San Bernardino CSS (Dec 2017)
  • LAUSD Van Nuys (TBD)
  • LAUSD – Beaudry (Jan 2018)
  • Santa Clara COE (TBD)

A total of 15 circuit upgrades and one dark fiber upgrade are planned for 2017-2018.

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

7 Things To Know About Recycling EV Batteries

Electric vehicles (EVs) are surging in popularity, which...

What Now for the Orca and the Snake? –

It’s said a picture is worth a thousand...