FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 28, 1997

STATE NETWORKS LEAP FORWARD

By the end of this year, the state will have taken a giant leap forward in how its computers talk to each other. Three state agencies have agreed to form a new partnership. Their plan will increase by 100 times the capacity for state networks to talk and exchange information. The plan will produce a ten times greater capacity for the state's links to the Internet. The plan will also bring the latest in educational resources to all levels of state schools.

"And," says Curt Pederson, the state's Chief Information Officer, "It will be done almost entirely with existing resources at bargain basement rates." Pederson also noted that the new system will provide more than one path between most sites. If one route is down, another will be used. That will greatly increase the reliability of state communications.

The three partner agencies are the Department of Administrative Services, Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN), and the Oregon State System of Higher Education. Each of the agencies adds elements to the plan and each reaps rewards from it.

Under the new plan, Higher Education will give its partners access to its powerful network, called NERO. Through NERO, OPEN will be able to provide far greater local school services. OPEN will be able to connect services like audio and video that require fast, high capacity links. The state will be able to move high volumes of data. It will be able to do so internally, with network service providers, and with other firms. NERO will gain increased connections and routes within the state and a wider funding base.

The State System of Higher Education operates NERO. NERO is the Network for Education and Research in Oregon. NERO is a state of the art telecommunications system. It was funded, in part, by NASA. NERO has been used by state colleges and universities as a high tech laboratory. It is an advanced testbed where researchers try out new technologies. NERO is also used for telecommunications among the state campuses. Under the new plan, NERO will act as a kind of super-network for state government. It will link smaller state computer networks together. In turn, those state networks link thousands of computers together.

The Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN) connects the Internet and other computer networks to K-12 schools. OPEN, itself, is a government partnership. It is a service of the Oregon Association of Education Service Districts, the Oregon Department of Education, and the Department of Administrative Services. OPEN helps to bring worldwide educational products and services to Oregon teachers and students. According to Pederson, it would take tens of millions of dollars to expand OPEN's capacity to achieve what the new partnership will provide.

The Department of Administrative Services is the central support agency for most of state government. Among other services, it provides a wide area network or WAN. Most agencies link their computers together into one or more local area networks. The local networks reach each other through the department's WAN. They also connect through the WAN to the Internet and to state mainframe computers. Like most organizations, the state is straining to keep up with its growing need for computer connectivity. The new plan will carry agencies years ahead of where they could afford to go on their own. The website for the department's telecommunications is at http://telecom.das.state.or.us/.

Pederson said, "the new partnership will move us much further toward the network power the state and its schools need. And, we will not have to spend the tens of millions of dollars that other states have had to spend. We are going to be able to do things we could never do before. We will also be able to do our routine tasks more efficiently."

Some of the benefits will be highly visible according to Pederson. "Students and teachers will see the system bringing the world to their classrooms." But, the benefit may be more subtle to many office users. "Some state offices," he said, "are in great need of the new capacity. Others may just find that their computers work as quickly when they connect outside the office as they now do within the office."

The three state partners may be just the start of the new plan. Other public agencies and educational institutions will be invited to look at the new partnership to see if it would help them as well.