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Networking Project

PROJECT GOALS

1. Undertake an active campaign to serve local communities from the existing educational capacities of the campuses.

2. Expand program offerings to provide a greater range of choices to those individuals residing in the region.

3. Provide educational opportunities to non-traditional students through the use of non-traditional delivery mechanisms.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. Build an advanced, cost effective distance-learning network linking 15 colleges and universities in a 50 county region of rural and underserved East Texas

2. Create a state-of-the-art video conferencing classroom at each location and provide mechanisms for integrating legacy equipment.

3. Design the network for future scalability to public schools, healthcare, and other educational consumers in the region.

PROJECT MEMBERS

1. Angelina College
2. Kilgore College
3. Northeast Texas Community College
4. Panola College
5. Paris Junior College
6. Sam Houston State University
7. Stephen F. Austin State University
8. Texarkana College
9. Texas A&M – Commerce
10. Texas A&M – Texarkana
11. Texas State Technical College
12. Trinity Valley Community College
13. Tyler Junior College
14. The University of Texas at Tyler
15. The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler

PROJECT AGREEMENTS

The network RFP was issued in two sections: (1) video conference classrooms, wireless networking, and overall project management, and (2) wireless network tower space.

VIDEO: Contract awarded Fall 2000 to Southwestern Bell Datacomm

Wide area routing network and local area infrastructure

15 videoconference classrooms

Installation and configuration services

Technical support training and complete network documentation

3 years of full operation for no additional expense, including towers

3 additional years of operation at rates guaranteed in writing, including towers

3 years of maintenance on wireless network

24x7x365 remote monitoring of wireless network infrastructure

Coordination of all FAA, FCC, and other regulatory applications

TOWER: Contract awarded Spring 2001 to American Tower Corporation

Tower locations at strategic points in support of a fully wireless network design

Custom service agreement for 1st carrier space on 10 new tower installations

Custom service agreement for 2nd carrier space with specific constraints

Rented space on existing tower locations

Shelter space included

PROJECT MAP

The map (at right) depicts a high-level wireless network design. The heavier black line running from north to south connecting Paris, Tyler, and Nacogdoches forms the network backbone and represents the highest network bandwidth (7 x OC3). The thinner black lines running from the backbone to the remaining sites represents the nominal bandwidth allocation (1 x OC3).

PROJECT MILESTONES

The following dates roughly coincided with the actual 18-month installation schedule.

Dec 2000: RFP bid out and award made.
May 2001: All contracts fully executed. Project announced. Project starts.
May 2002: All new and existing tower space ready for use.
August 2002: All systems installed, tested, trained, documented and accepted.
August 2002: Member institutions began using network.

Click the thumbnail image to view a full-scale topographical map of the NETnet network

Topographical Map of the NETnet Tower Sites

The Northeast Texas Network Consortium Coordinating Office / 11937 Hwy 155 at Hwy 271 / Tyler, TX 75708