NSF Funded Northern Tier Planning Grant
In 2004/05 a subset of Northern Tier members from North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho wrote and submitted for consideration by the National Science Foundation a proposal to fund a planning grant to look at advanced networking in the "interior" of the northern tier. In September 2005 the NSF agreed to fund this proposal. Officially the NSF funded this as SCI-0549090 for $197,657, with North Dakota State University being the lead and thus responsible for fiscal management of funds. The primary PI was Bonnie Neas from NDSU, representing North Dakota; additional co-PIs included Warren Wilson from the South Dakota Board of Regents Office (South Dakota), Ray Ford from the University of Montana (Montana), and Glen Wilde from the University of Idaho (idaho). This group (with Harvey Hughett replacing Glen Wilde when Glen retired late in 2005) has subsequently managed the grant to implement the proposed planning activity.
The proposal called for a planning activity managed by an outside consultant. The vision was that the consultant would spend a significant amount of planning time in each state talking to various entities within that state, and ultimately produce a design document for a comprehensive network to serve each state while also connecting at the edges of the overall northern tier. This design document was envisioned as the primary "deliverable" from the consultant to the planning effort, and also the primary artifact produced by the overall grant.
Accordingly, in early Fall 2005 NDSU negotiated a contract with Victor Braud, a national known networking expert, to serve as the project consultant. During 20005/06 Mr. Braud made numerous trips into the region, talking to public, private, and government entities which might utilize advanced networking, as well as commercial providers who might be in a position to provide network services.
The final report prepared by Mr. Braud is now available. Note that in keeping with the vision in the grant, Mr. Braud's design is for the "grand plan" of a network to serve the entire four state region. It includes several north/south and east/west links to tie the northern tier interior to points north (in Canada) and south (Kansas City and Denver), as well as to existing northern tier endpoints in Seattle and Minneapolis. Mr. Braud looked carefully at utilizing network infrastructure where it was known to be available, but also at building links that are needed but for which infrastructure is not currently available. He used standard, conservative cost estimation techniques to provide ballpark cost estimates for each link, as well as for the system as a whole.
The net result is by intent a conceptual design, not an engineering design. All concerned recognize that because of the overall cost the network envisioned in the design is likely to be build in phases as funding becomes available. Similarly, all concerned recognize that the costs are ballpark only -- actual network "construction" is likely to involve cooperation between various public and private entities that should drive overall costs downward.
Mr. Braud delivered a preliminary copy of his report to the grant PIs on October 1st. After several refinements the PI's and Mr. Braud have now agreed on a final version of the report, which is also now available to the public (see below). If you have questions or comments, please contact one of the PIs, whose contact information is listed below.
Bonnie Neas
University of North Dakota
1735 NDSU Research Park Dr
Fargo, ND 58105
(701) 231-8640
bonnie.neas@ndsu.edu
Ray Ford
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr MS 1018
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-2964
ray.ford@umontana.edu
Harvey Hughett
University of Idaho
Information Technology Services
Admin 140
Moscow, ID 83844
(309) 885-7880
hughett@uidaho.edu
Warren Wilson
South Dakota Board of Regents
414 E Clark
Vermillion, SD, 57069
605-677-5047
wjwilson@sdbor.edu
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