NETWORKS

The Third Frontier Network (TFN), along with the Cincinnati Education Research Fiberloop (CERF), will help create the nation’s most advanced research network. Eventually, TFN and CERF will serve libraries, hospitals, cultural institutions, and corporate research communities. The CERF project, activated in February 2003, began with Procter & Gamble (P&G) donating a pair of optical fiber cables to Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CSTCC). Realizing that potential uses for the fiber exceeded the needs of CSTCC, Cincinnati State approached the University of Cincinnati (UC), OARnet, and other southern Ohio higher education institutions to develop a consortium to use and manage CERF. CERF will connect to the Third Frontier Network and Internet2 later this year. Mark Faulkner, UC Director of Network and Telecommunications Services, said discussions with CSTCC began about two years ago. In July 2002, Blackwell Consulting Services took the project lead for CSTCC and collaborated with UC to bring it to fruition. Faulkner said CERF provides significant benefits to education and research institutions in the Cincinnati area and the southern Ohio region. In particular, it will allow UC to support Genome Research Institute development as a world-class research facility. “This research facility provides an opportunity for UC to unite groups of highly qualified investigators,” said Faulkner. “These investigators will develop a nationally competitive biomedical presence in Cincinnati and the Tri-State region.” Historically, higher education institutions have dealt with bandwidth constraints by leasing or purchasing expensive circuits from local telephone carriers. When connection to the TFN is established later this year, it will launch unlimited possibilities. “It will provide the foundation for institutions to share disaster preparedness facilities and give researchers available bandwidth to share instruments, computing cycles and other applications on an information technology autobahn,” said Charlie Moran, Vice President of Education Industry Consulting, Blackwell Consulting Services. Using CISCO Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) electronics, the fiber loop is currently configured with one 2.5 Gbps lambda throughout the 60-mile ring. CSTCC’s main and Evendale campuses are on the fiberloop, and UC’s main and north campuses are online, routing all data traffic over the fiberloop. Plans call for connecting the new National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a research and educational museum to be built in Cincinnati, to CERF. Faulkner said the CERF project has been a team effort in every aspect. Identifying an affordable architecture for the organizations involved was also a key component. “In early discussions, it became evident that partnering with CSTCC was beneficial to both institutions. Governance, operations, equipment architecture, and implementation were critical issues to work through,” Faulkner said. During this massive multi-year project, the Third Frontier Network is being built in four phases that include the following segments: Phase 1: Establish a statewide core backbone to hubs in major Ohio cities; Phase 2: Connect Ohio’s major research universities to these hubs; Phase 3: Connect Ohio’s small- and medium-sized colleges and universities; Phase 4: Connect Ohio’s corporate research centers with the academic research community. Paul DeNu, Dean of Information Technologies and Engineering Technologies at Cincinnati State, said, "CERF will provide a tremendous opportunity for Cincinnati State's multimedia programs to access and distribute media over the Internet and ultimately result in dramatic improvements in the College's distance learning courses." More information on TFN is available at www.tfn.oar.net.