It was great to “see” everyone for the All Staff Meeting. I am pleased with the turnout we get for our virtual meetings. I know we went over a lot of material, and I hope you found it all informative. I’d like to follow up on a few points:   

• As mentioned, your project manager will follow up with you regarding our business continuity plan, so that we may ensure that we are covered in the case of some sort of disruptive event. This is intended to make sure that we’re not caught flat-footed at any time in the event that our typical day-to-day operations are impeded in some fashion, either foreseen (such as a planned extended absence) or unforeseen.  

• This months’ LinkedIn Learning recommended training circles back to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and the little things we can do to remind ourselves about the importance of promoting these practices every day. The goal continues to be an everyday awareness of DEI, in between the larger ongoing organizational directives.  

• Keep an eye out for those phishing emails! I know we talk about this a lot, but that’s for good reason; they’re out there, the results of bad actors getting access are often catastrophic, and recovery is rarely quick. While we don’t want you to feel too badly about getting “tricked” (social engineering is, by definition, meant to trick you), the idea is to get yourself continuously thinking about emails that might be suspicious in nature, or that simply don’t make any sense for you to be getting. We may never be fully perfect (and the approach vector of threats is ever-changing), but keeping a wary eye on what’s coming into your inbox should always be the goal. And the department who does the best job of successfully weeding out these emails will win a special prize: The “Golden Phishing” award!

• During the meeting I talked a little about the upgrades we made to the lunch area (new furnishings and the whiteboard wall), and said that I would be placing some items in the lunchroom to give staff the opportunity to “unplug.” There are now some puzzles and some coloring books available for your use, and more items will be added in the future. If you have anything you'd like to contribute, please feel free. I have a bin that we can place out there as we get more items.

I hope you found Ginny’s discussion about the budget process to be particularly illuminating. I think sometimes people don’t realize how far in advance that process begins; especially considering we just started the current school year! It is a truly intensive process.   

I hope the start to your school year has been exciting, and I can’t wait to see all the good we’ll do for districts in the coming months. 

Wax and WAN

We talk a lot about some of the most oft-used terms around the CNYRIC, typically denoting departments, services, software, or technologies that we’ve all heard of, but maybe don’t know as much about as we’d like. That trend continues this month, as we talk about one of the most ubiquitous acronyms around these parts: the “WAN.”  

You’ve almost certainly heard of the WAN. You may know that it stands for “Wide Area Network.” You might even have an idea of what that means. But in truth, there’s a lot that goes into the WAN that you may not know about, from the backbone of the service to the management and processes that go on behind the scenes to help operate it. This month, we’ll share some facts about the WAN, and help shine a light on how this hugely important service provides connectivity for districts.  

For those who are unfamiliar with the service, the wide area network directly connects offices and buildings to one another to provide access to the internet in a defined geographic area. It is a somewhat self-contained entity that allows users within the WAN to centralize internet technology and the associated costs with getting people online. In the CNYRIC’s case, the WAN’s service area encompasses almost all of the 50 districts (and their corresponding BOCES) that we work directly with. 

Conceptually, it helps to think of the WAN as being two halves that form a whole; there’s the actual, physical infrastructure (apparatuses like switches, and fiber wired that’s run from location to location, building to building) that connects locations, and the tools that support that physical infrastructure. Some of these tools include: 

• Silverline - The software intended to prevent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
• Firewall IDS/IPS - Provides intrusion detection and intrusion protection software 
• ThousandEyes - Enables the CNYRIC to pinpoint any device(s) within the WAN ecosystem (such as a faulty switch) that may be causing general slowdown of internet traffic  
• Okta - Multifactor authentication is built right into the WAN via virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Likewise, how the WAN operates from a financial/logistics standpoint is also interesting to note. Much like how the CNYRIC utilizes third parties to protect the integrity of the WAN, so too does it collaborate with third parties for the actual physical cabling. Different internet providers actually lease the cost of this physical infrastructure to the CNYRIC on an individual basis, with the sum of those parts comprising the physical WAN map. The big advantage here is that the CNYRIC is able to negotiate lower pricing due to the high volume of dedicated users, the cost for which is shared among all WAN customers. The cable companies who provide the physical framework are then able to take a hands-off approach from dealing with dozens of districts, and instead negotiate through us as a single entity. For our part, the WAN is partially funded by the Federal Communications Commission, and managed through our E-Rate program.

As far as our customers go, a big benefit to being in the WAN is getting access to NYSERNet benefits. The NYSERNet is a private network that our WAN joins, and that provides a “shorter hop” (i.e. more direct connection) to big resources for companies such as Amazon and Google. The NYSERNet is for education and higher education only.

The other huge (functional) benefit is found in redundant connections, meaning that if some malady befell any part of the infrastructure (such as a vehicle hitting a telephone pole and knocking out the internet connection), WAN participants wouldn’t lose connectivity at any point while the problem was being addressed. 

Circling back to funding conversation: We mentioned that we deal with both cable companies and third parties who provide software safeguards when configuring the two main parts of the WAN. How these prices are determined is the question, and the answer? Competitive bids.  

Each aspect of the WAN is determined by a three-year fixed price cycle, culminating in a bidding process that will fix prices for the following three years. These numbers, when finalized, then determine what districts pay into the WAN as part of the service. As of this writing, most districts factor in costs to receive one gigabyte of bandwidth, though a couple of districts have opted to pay for two gigabytes in high-traffic locations. 

Currently, the CNYRIC is negotiating with cable providers on the cost of fiber connections for the next three-year cycle. Concurrently, the CNYRIC is also negotiating with third parties on supporting software and tools for the next three year cycle (such as the aforementioned DDoS protection). Regardless of the CNYRIC’s satisfaction level may be with a current product, due diligence demands that competing bids be taken very seriously should they offer “more” product at the same price, or even less.

Assistant Director Kevin Clapp noted that in past years, there have been targeted goals through the bid process, though that isn’t always the case.  

“Last go-round, we were really focused on making sure we could add strong redundancy throughout the WAN,” said Kevin. “This time, we’re happy to not have any new, big, or outstanding concerns, outside of getting great value from our partners. We will add some services, like ThousandEyes, to help analyze the health and performance of our WAN. We’ll also be taking a closer look at the current state of our DDoS protection, and analyze where that protection is at, and where it’s going.”

Lastly, it’s important to note that since practically every district buys into the WAN, they do so with full transparency as to what they’re actually purchasing for the cost. Decisions are made collaboratively, between the Technology Planning Group, the CNYRIC Advisory Council, and other districts. This helps ensure everyone understands exactly what is going into the purchase price for a product that provides service to a lot of people. 

A Little Bit of Sunshine

The Sunshine Committee has been busy coming up with fun employee-focused events and philanthropic activities for the fall! As for the immediate future, here's what's on the docket for the fall:

"Snacketizer" Event:

Reminder: The "Snacketizer" event is Sept. 28, from 11:30 - 1:30 in the Ontario Conference Room. Please adhere to your department's guidance for lunch breaks.

September 50/50 Raffle:

This month's 50/50 raffle ends soon! The Sunshine-half of the proceeds collected by the committee will be used to procure items for future events. The raffle winner will be announced following Sept. 28's Snacketizer event. Please reach out to Fran Meehan (x2212) or Mechel Aldrich (x8369) to purchase tickets in Rodax 2, or Courtney Geers (x2292) in Rodax 7.

October:

• SPCA Drive - This year's SPCA drive will run from Oct. 2-27. Donations boxes will be placed in the break room. Please check out the CNY SPCA Wishlist for ideas of what the organization is currently looking for.

• Halloween Fun! On Friday, Oct. 27, employees are welcome to don work-appropriate costumes for Halloween! Departments are also welcome to put out snacks and treats for any visitors who stop by!

November:

• This year's Clothing Drive will run from Monday, Oct. 30 through Friday, Nov. 17. Donation boxes will be placed in the break room.

• A holiday raffle will run from Oct. 30 - Nov. 15. The proceeds collected for this raffle will be put towards a $50 Wegman gift card; just in time for holiday meal prep! The drawing will be held on Nov. 15.

There are even more exciting events coming down the pipe. Please keep an eye out for flyers, and on digital signage (and this space) for more news on Sunshine Committee events!

LinkedIn Learning: Featured Training

We’ve spent some time talking about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices over the past year, in addition to learning about unconscious bias. This month’s recommended LinkedIn Learning training focuses on the former, offering helpful tips for holding yourself accountable toward creating equitable, inclusive workspaces outside of organizational initiatives!

Individual Accountability for Equity and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are increasingly critical constructs central to optimizing organizational functioning.

While systemic approaches at the organizational level play a central role in DEI efforts, this work must start at the individual level. In this course, Dr. Nika White explains the importance of individual accountability in creating equitable and inclusive workspaces, regardless of your organizational role.

She starts with the basics of this complex topic, breaking down the definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion—three related but distinct concepts, and explains why they’re so important. She explains how you can equip yourself to accept individual accountability, including how to educate yourself and others, examine your own privilege, and own the impact of your actions.

Join Nika in this course to learn more about your personal accountability in your organization’s DEI goals, and how to get more comfortable confronting frequently uncomfortable realities.

Staff Suggestions

For those who may not have been aware, the CNYRIC houses a digital "Staff Suggestion Box" on the website. This allows employees to directly (and anonymously, should they choose) make suggestions that will be sent directly to CNYRIC Director Chantal Corbin.

You can access the Staff Suggestion box from the "Staff Only" page of the CNYRIC website, or directly by clicking here.