"The mix of education, libraries, and municipalities provides an incredible foundation for fascinating conversations. I think as more municipalities get involved the dialogue will expand even further. The venue, vendors, and CEN staff were tuned in, very helpful, and communicative." 
 
The 2014 Member Conference has concluded and there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback from our attendees, presenters, and vendors who helped put on the event. We want to thank everyone who made it possible and will continue to make improvements to fulfill our members wants and needs.

We have provided resources to our members that will help capture the great times had at this conference. We have photos as well as Powerpoint presentations and full length videos available for some of our sessions. 

 
Save the date for the 2015 conference! Next years event will take place on May 15, 2015 at the Connecticut Convention Center. Stay up to date with additional information on our website and social media accounts. We will shortly be pulling together the conference planning committee, and are already starting the process of of securing presenters and sponsors for the event. If you are interested please contact Melanie.Raczkowski@uconn.edu for more information.
Important New Network Support Information

 

CEN will have a new method of contact to request and receive support. For many years we have used the GlobalNOC for after-hours support. Recently we have tasked them with supporting our network 24x7x365.

 

We have moved to a single reach number for all services, and that number connects you to either the DAS-BEST Help Desk or the GlobalNOC Service Desk. The new number to dial is 860-622-4560. Once on the line you will have the option to dial 1 for the DAS-BEST Help Desk or 3 for the GlobalNOC Service Desk. The email address for the DAS-BEST Help Desk will remains BEST.Helpdesk@ct.gov. The email address for the GlobalNOC Service Desk is servicedesk@cteducation.net.

 

DAS-BEST Help Desk will continue to handle all application issues. You can email or call them as needed. Examples of application issues are filtering, DNS changes, video conferencing, misc questions, etc.

 

GlobalNOC Service Desk handles all network related issues. Examples of network related issues are if your site is down, circuit is down, site has no Internet access but switch is up, fiber cuts, etc.

 

Below is the new help desk contact/escalation sheet with all the necessary contact information. 

 

Escalation Sheet

 


Spotlight Member: Cheshire Academy

 

Cheshire Academy is one of CEN's newest members to connect to the network in 2014. Founded in 1794, Cheshire Academy is a college-preparatory school featuring students from all over the world and enroll in grades 8 through postgraduate.

 

Cheshire Academy is using our network for there main ISP, and will look to roll out a 1:1 iPad initiative much like the Coventry Chronicles featured in our last newsletter. 

 

After hearing an ample amount of positive feedback from Cheshire Academy, CEN has reached out to Russ Ford, the Technology Director at Cheshire Academy, to ask a few questions about his experience with the network.

 

What is your role and how did you impact the decision to go with CEN?

 

My role is the Director of Technology for Cheshire Academy, with responsibility for all technology related decisions at the School. I have explored the possibility of connecting to the CEN several times in the past and the time was finally right considering we were ending our current contract with another vendor and the value proposition of the CEN services. Once all of the numbers were in and I presented the proposal to our CFO, the decision to move forward was a no-brainer with less than a 24 month payback and the prospect of very affordable bandwidth for continued growth moving forward.    

 

Why did Cheshire Academy choose to go with CEN?

 

Cheshire Academy chose to move forward with the CEN for three main reasons. Cost, value and growth. The overall cost of the service to connect and the recurring monthly charges are far less than what we were paying before. The value is incredible considering that we now have access to many educational resources that we did not have previous access to. The third reason, growth, is amazing considering we are able to burst above our committed contract rate during peak periods while remaining under our monthly bandwidth consumption contract.  

 

How are you utilizing CEN and what have been some of the benefits over your old ISP?

 

We are utilizing the CEN as the School's main ISP and look forward to having the CEN network in place as we roll out our 1:1 iPad program this fall. The ability for the CEN to handle the bandwidth demands considering the introduction of hundreds of new devices to our network will be critical to the success of the program and our students. With our previous ISP, we would have had to spend thousands of additional dollars each month to meet the bandwidth demands of our students, faculty, and staff, in addition to being strictly policed as demand increases resulting in additional bandwidth management constraints and cost.

 

What would you like to see from CEN in the future?

 

I would like to see the CEN be the catalyst to bring all educational institutions, whenever possible, closer together to increase collaboration among its customers for the benefit of all. CEN is in a unique position to do this considering their customer base consists of K-12 (public and private) schools as well as higher education institutions. 

 

Is your organization interested in being a spotlight member? We would like to hear from YOU about something exciting your school or organization is doing. Tell us about how you are using CEN, an accomplishment you have recently achieved, or how you are integrating general technology in a new way. It's easy to reach out to us. All you have to do it fill out this form, and if we like what we see, you will be featured in an upcoming newsletter!

 

 


 

CEN is now hosting its own Netflix Cache!! So what does this mean for you? 

 

Instead of CEN acting as a hub between the Netflix servers and the user, it now acts as the Netflix server itself. Anyone connected to the CEN Network will see faster loading times and better quality video when watching Netflix.

 

Netflix joins Akamai and Google as the three major outlets to be cached on the network. Akamai is well known for its delivery of ESPN content, while Google will provide these benefits while using youtube and any other google based application. 

 

CEN is in the process of adding additional CDN's & peerings to continue the premium overall user experience on the network. If you have any questions regarding CDN & peering services please email Michael.Pennington@uconn.edu. 

Featured Upcoming Events 
 
Edcamp Connecticut
August 15, 2014
The Ethel Walker School - Simsbury, CT

EdCamp is "free, democratic, participant-driven professional development for teachers by teachers." (via @dancallahan)  Unlike conventional conferences, EdCamp "unconferences"  are organized and driven by the attendees.  Participants arrive ready both to lead and learn from conversations. Attendees create the agenda the morning of the event.  If a discussion goes in a direction that doesn't meet your learning needs, you are expected to move to one that does. No hurt feelings - this is self-directed, professional learning at its purest.  Each interaction offers the opportunity for educators to share, teach, learn, expand their personal learning network, and re-energize for the start of a new school year.
 
Operating Innovative Networks (OIN) Workshop
August 26-27, 2014
University of New Hampshire - Durham, NH (Holloway Commons / Squamscott Room)

 

The Operating Innovative Networks (OIN) workshop series is designed to equip university and laboratory network engineers with the knowledge and training needed to build next-gen campus networks that are optimized for data-intensive science. 

 

Presented by experts from the Department of Energy's ESnet, Indiana University and Internet2, the workshop series will focus on Science DMZ network architectures, perfSONARperformance measurement software, Data Transfer Nodes, and emerging Software Defined Networking techniques. Combined, these technologies are proven to support high-performance, big data science applications, including high-volume bulk data transfer, remote experiment control, and data visualization. 
 
CECA/CASL 2014 Conference
October 20, 2014
Mohegan Sun Conference Center - Uncasville, CT
 

CECA/CASL 2014 will be a gathering of technology integration specialists, library/media professionals, educators from all walks of life, and IT support personnel who want to share their ideas, news, expertise, products and productions.   This joint conference will provide a wide variety of professional development and activities in the form of: presentations, hands-on workshops, round-table discussions, speakers, exhibitors, and our annual recognition awards.

 

The 2014 conference will be held on October 20, 2014 and our theme is "Initiate, Investigate, Innovate Technology & Information in a Mobile Age" which focuses on using and integrating technology in all grade levels and educational environments.  In one day, we will provide approximately 60 concurrent sessions and workshops, and an estimated 60 exhibit booths.

 
 
Lightning Fast Speed!

CEN is continuing process of connecting new members as well as providing upgrades to our current ones. We have been upgrading most of our sites to Cisco ME3600 switches that will increase internet handoff speeds from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Some of the other upgrades include IPv6 connectivity and library upgrades from DSL to fiber.

 

 Since May 1st CEN has upgraded 6 sites and connected 1 new member! 

  1. **J.M. Wright Technical High School - Stamford (10Gbps New Connection)
  2. Berlin Peck LIbrary - Berlin (IPv6)
  3. Housatonic Community College - Bridgeport
  4. Otis Public Lbrary - Norwich
  5. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Hartford 
  6. UConn West Hartford Branch
  7. University of Hartford
Municipality Expansion Project

 

Update: On May 22, 2014 Governor Malloy announced the first wave of grants associated with connecting Municipal Town Halls across the state with the Nutmeg Network. Of those applying, 58 towns have had their grant requests accepted by the Office of Policy and Management (OPM). The towns that have chosen to utilize the grants are starting to receive their grant funds. A full list of these towns can be found here

 

The year two round of Municipal Grant Funding will have a deadline date of 12/31/14 to submit a Notice of Intent to Apply (NIA). To date, 13 municipalities have been connected to the network.

 

What is the Municipality Expansion Project? 

In July of 2013, state legislators passed new legislation (PA 13-247) that has accomplished two major items. First, it allows all municipalities and regional councils of government (RCOGs) access to The Nutmeg Network at a discounted rate. Second, it has created a grant fund that municipalities and RCOGs can apply to for achieving connectivity to the fiber optic Nutmeg Network. The legislation states that there has been funding made available for two years, and that the Department of Administrative Services / Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology (DAS/BEST) is responsible for assisting the municipalities and the RCOGs to get their connections up and running.

 

The Connecticut Education Network (CEN), which reports up through DAS/BEST and UConn, has been tasked by DAS/BEST to assist in the execution of this legislation.  CEN has historically been focused solely on schools, libraries and research organizations. By providing connectivity to all of the municipalities and RCOGs, it broadens the member base for The Nutmeg Network. It also increases utilization of the state's multimillion dollar fiber optic asset, brings in more revenue for a better sustainability model for the entire network, and increases the ability to share applications and other resources across the state.

 

CEN is also looking to provide all of its members additional services above the network layer.  Some of these services include web filtering, video teleconferencing, DNS & firewall services, etc. Sharing applications and services across the state will provide an opportunity for Nutmeg Network members to cut costs by sharing resources, streamlining business processes and creating additional collaborative opportunities.

 

For more information on this project, please contact Wendy.Rego@uconn.edu or click here

 

 

STAY CONNECTED
www.cen.ct.gov

Like us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   View our profile on LinkedIn