Introduction

From late December 2010, KAREN will be running on a new national and international network, and be supported nationally by a new service management partner. This means that during the later part of 2010, REANNZ will be transitioning KAREN to new technical and commercial arrangements. This refresh will provide added value and flexibility for all KAREN members.

Background

REANNZ aggregates demand from its members to purchase networks and services from the market to provide KAREN.

REANNZ’s commercial arrangements for KAREN’s national and international connectivity were up for renewal in 2010. A robust RFP process has been completed and has resulted in the following arrangement for services:

• KAREN national network, awarded to FX Networks
• KAREN service management, awarded to Datacraft
• Supply of core switches, awarded to Fujitsu
• KAREN international network, awarded to TelstraClear

Detailed planning is now in full swing to transition to these new arrangements.

KAREN from 2011

As a result of significant contributions from KAREN member representatives and REANNZ staff, we now have new arrangements for KAREN’s national and international connectivity in place that will provide great value and flexibility for KAREN members. For end users, KAREN will run just as efficiently and seamlessly as before. What you will notice is increased international capacity, enabling even more and better communication with the rest of the world.

Our new arrangements with TelstraClear increase our international capacity to Sydney and to our new landing point in Los Angles to 1Gb/s each. As always, from these points our members can reach over 50 countries around the world via the international Research and Education Network community.

FX Networks will provide the national network for KAREN. The arrangement secures the continuation of KAREN’s existing 10Gb/s backbone connectivity and footprint around the country. There are also options to move KAREN to a dark fibre-based network in the future. Activities running in parallel to the transition will expand the reach of KAREN through the addition of new PoPs and regional spurs. This will bring the number of PoPs to 23 by October 2010. To view this extension, see our the KAREN network map.

As our new national network service manager, Datacraft will provide day-to-day network monitoring activities, issues management, and KAREN member help-desk support. Datacraft will also develop tools providing real-time visibility of KAREN's performance and activity for all members to view from their desktop, as well as supporting the existing KAREN Weathermap.

New Brocade MLX Ethernet switches for the core national network (to be provided by Fujitsu New Zealand) will serve KAREN’s switching needs with an economical and flexible growth path in the future while sustaining the present architecture and member needs.

On moving to the new network, REANNZ will put into effect a new Network Access Policy. This new policy will provide greater flexibility to REANNZ and KAREN members around access, and use of the network.

Time frames

The new national and international network for KAREN will be in place by the end of 2010. The transition to the new international network will take place first, followed by the new national network. Detailed time lines and critical dates for each organisation will be provided to KAREN members directly.

An outline of the time line for transition is provided below:

International connectivity

Activity for the transition of the international network will take place between 7 – 14 November. It is expected that the new network will be operational from 15 November 2010.

National connectivity

FX Networks will provide the national network for KAREN from December 2010. Activity for the transition will take place in the staged fashion between 15 November and early December. It is expected that the network will be operational around the country by mid-December.

Transition Steering Group

To ensure the transition goes smoothly, without disruption to service and with all members’ needs in mind, a Transition Steering Group has been established. The group will provide direction and input into the high level plan for the transition. REANNZ or our contractors will carry out any detailed work required in the plan. The group will also lead regular communication with KAREN members on transition activities.

Members of the Transition Steering Group:

• Phil Mansford, Victoria University of Wellington (Chair)
• Anthony Cole, NIWA
• Keith Linforth, Massey University
• Stuart Innes, Plant & Food Research
• Richard Hanschu, University of Canterbury
• David Browline, REANNZ
• Mark Cordy, REANNZ
  

Communicating with members

The Transition Steering Group is communicating directly with KAREN member senior managers and key technical staff on a regular basis to ensure they are well informed on transition activities.

REANNZ also holds weekly question and answer sessions via the KAREN Video Conference Service for member technical staff so that they have all the information they need about the planning, process and execution of the transition.

If you have an urgent inquiry and would like to join these weekly Q&A sessions, please contact the group at: transition@reannz.co.nz

Documents

2010 KAREN RFP documents

National Connectivity RFP (pdf, 422KB)
National Connectivity Contract (doc, 388KB)
International Connectivity RFP (pdf, 335KB)
Service Management Services RFP (pdf, 328KB)
Service Management Services Contract (doc, 232KB)
Supply of Switches RFP (pdf, 310KB)
Supply of Switches Contract (doc, 104KB)

Updated 2 September 2010