Suppliers of network infrastructure and networked education services are invited to attend a NEN workshop. These workshops, to be held 15 February - 2 March in five locations across the country, will outline the project scope and the expected timeframe for the procurement of key network components.

Invitation to National Education Network Workshops

Suppliers of network infrastructure and networked education services are invited to participate in a workshop to discuss the implementation of a National Education Network.

In December last year, we advised suppliers that REANNZ had been tasked by the Ministry of Education with the central procurement of services for the National Education Network (NEN) trial extension.  We also indicated that we would be arranging workshops for interested suppliers during February 2010.

These workshops are to be held in the following centres:

• North Shore, Monday 15 February
• Christchurch, Tuesday 16 February
• Wellington, Wednesday 17 February
• Nelson, Monday 22 February
• Palmerston North, Tuesday 2 March

We have scheduled these workshops in the areas where a number of schools are already connected by open-access fibre. Each supplier workshop is scheduled for 7.15 – 9.30 am. A light breakfast will be served.

Workshop content

While we are still at an early stage of the implementation of the project, at the workshops we would like to outline the project scope and the expected timeframe for the procurement of key network components, including:

• Provision of cluster/town mass access network devices (distribution routers)
• Provision of school edge Layer 3 devices
• Regionally based support (network cluster wranglers)
• Commodity Internet
• Commodity Internet filtering
• Local access services between the KAREN Point of Presence (PoP) and the schools with a target minimum of 100Mb/s symmetric Ethernet
• Installation and configuration services to ensure the service is connected and configured properly in each school
• Expansion of KAREN to new PoPs for rural clusters, if required

We welcome the involvement of organisations interested in providing services for the National Education Network to join us at one of these workshops to hear more about our plans and share your ideas.

How to register

To register, please contact Martha Bouterey at REANNZ:

phone: 04 913 1090
email: martha.bouterey@reannz.co.nz