Attendees: Jim Halley, Steve Foehr, Lee Rabbitt, Bill Fiske, Mike Shaughnessy, Jim Monti, Joe Caparco, Melanie Turcotte, Mike Calabro, Sharon Hussey

Approval of October 31, 2003 minutes.

Board members reviewed and approved the minutes as is.

New Business

Secondary ISP

Board members discussed the following considerations:

• Strategic goal is to have secondary supplier
  Genuity contract ends 12/31/2003
  
• I1 Bandwidth demand 60+ Mbps
  
  • Currently using only 5 of 25 purchased through June 30 from OSHEAN
    
  • Router can be rebalanced to use more of the 25
    
• ISP alternatives: Verizon vs Cox
  
  • Cox - won't build into Washington St. until after April 2004
    
  • Verizon - Rapid implementation and competitive pricing at 40 Mbps

A motion was made to purchase 40 Mbps I1 service from Verizon, seconded and approved. I1 and I2 traffic will be monitored to assess the bandwidth needs and buying alternatives for FY2005.

Core Relocation

Joe presented the following considerations for relocation of the core:

Currently sharing space with URI and RIDE at 80 Washington Street

• Space is limited; we need to find alternate space with AC to correct current facility problems
  
• 24/7 access is difficult
  
• Cost of transport lines from ISP's

Proposed sites include ISP 'hotel' at Foundry and Cox collocation facility in W. Cranston
Foundry is attractive because:

Building was designed to be a telecommunications collocation
Climate controlled
Back up power generators
Easy 24/7 access - card swipe access, entrance monitoring
Cox, OSHEAN, Genuity have POP's
Eliminates some OC-3 transports

Discussion followed and members pointed out that:
The requirement from the PUC to allow multiple telecommunications providers to provide services to the schools, districts, and libraries would be better satisfied at a vendor neutral collocation facility.

A motion was made to move the core from Washington Street to the Foundry sometime in July. The motion was seconded and approved.

24/7 NOC services
Sharon described municipal request to have expanded NOC coverage (beyond RINET hours of operation) and the proposal under consideration from Atrion to extend RINET's monitoring and troubleshooting of transport circuits from 3:00 pm to 7:00 am. It would be provided on an optional basis as an aggregated service.

Recommendation from RINET:

• Present proposal to HEALTH to fund 7x24 coverage. Proposal will include a startup fee and support for 40 routers priced per device per year for municipalities. RINET will charge an administrative fee to recover costs associated with participation in the program.
  
• Upon approval, enter into agreement with Atrion and bring on municipalities as they sign on for RINET service.
  
• Advertise the optional service to schools and districts and bring them on as they choose the option.

Members asked questions related to depth of service, e.g., response to router outages during off hours. They suggested taking a look at local district contracts with the aim to buy those contracts and consolidate the service. RINET will continue planning and bring proposal forward at a later date.

Unfinished Business

• Managed Services
  
  • Firewall Services

  Discussion:
  SLD has defined firewall services as integral to Internet Access. RINET plans to continue experimenting with and gaining credentials related to firewall implementation for possible service offering for FY2006.

  • Internal WAN Management
    SLD has defined new Priority 1 eligibility for on-premise WAN equipment based on leased services for a certified ISP. To this end, RINET will offer a lease option for routers at buildings internal to community clouds. The depth of this service offering requires a discussion from several representative districts. Lee Rabbitt, Steve Foehr, Jonathan Gallishaw and other interested parties will meet next Wed., the 10th , to discuss.

Reports
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Discussion

Data Project

Jim Halley summarized various discussion ongoing between the SLC, RIDE, and other interested organizations. Those organizations include Cisco, Anteon, and CompuClaim.

Anteon Corp. willing to develop a partnership with the SLC, RINET, and RIDE. They propose to seek funding from RI Senators' discretionary budgets (Congressional Add) to establish the data warehouse and mining tools described in the RIDE proposal to HP.

Cisco is interested in broadening educational planning for technology and the implication is that there would be a deeper discount for equipment (60%?)

CompuClaim is also interested in a partnership and proposes to send its lobbyists to the State legislators to obtain funding for a data warehouse.

Members discussed the importance of RIDE and its goals. RINET particularly desires to partner with RIDE, not to work in opposition to and competition with the Department.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:00 pm