MichNet backbone upgrades

[Jeff Ogden]

It has been about seven weeks since I sent out an update on recent MichNet
backbone upgrades, but that doesn't mean that things haven't been moving
forward.

There are now six T1 circuits (9M bps) running between the MichNet backbone
nodes in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor.

There are now eight T1 circuits (12M bps) running between the MichNet
backbone nodes in Grand Rapids and East Lansing.

There are now five T1 circuits (7.5M bps) running between the MichNet
backbone nodes in Mt. Pleasant and East Lansing.

There are now two T1 circuits (3M bps) running between the GTE Frame Relay
network serving the Grand Rapids LATA and the MichNet backbone in Muskegon.
There is another T1 (1.5M bps) from the GTE Frame Relay network and Berrien
Springs giving a total of 4.5M bps of bandwidth between MichNet and the GTE
Frame Relay network.

There are now three T1 circuits (4.5M bps) running between the GTE Frame
Relay network serving the Saginaw LATA and the MichNet backbone in Mt.
Pleasant.

There are now two T1 circuits (3.0M bps) running between the GTE Frame
Relay network serving the Detroit LATA and the MichNet backbone in Ann
Arbor.

The two backbone nodes in Saginaw (really on the campus of SVSU in
University Center) have been consolidated so there is now a single backbone
node. This node is connected over two T1s (3M bps) to the MichNet backbone
node at the Phone Michigan POP in Flint and also over a T1 to the MichNet
backbone node in Mt. Pleasant.

The MichNet backbone node at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti has
been moved to a new building and a new T1 has been run to Ann Arbor. This
makes three T1s (4.5M bps) avaialble between the new backbone node and Ann
Arbor with another T1 (1.5M bps) circuit linking the new backbone node to
Dearborn.

OC3c ATM service (155M bps) to Ann Arbor and Detroit and T3 ATM service
(45M bps) to Rochester is being tested. We are able to exchange traffic
over the new ATM links, but are seeing some errors. These new attachments
are not yet in production service, but we hope to begin using them for
production service shortly. These attachments will replace the existing T1s
that run between Ann Arbor and Detroit and Ann Arbor and Rochester.

Two new T1s (3M bps) between Dearborn and Detroit have been installed, but
won't be put into production use until the OC3c service to Detroit has been
put into production service.

A new T1 between Jackson and Ann Arbor is installed, but not yet working
due to a configuration problem. When complete this will make two T1s (3M
bps) between Jackson and Ann Arbor.

T3 (45M bps) circuits have been ordered for use between Grand Rapids and
East Lansing, Mt. Pleasant and East Lansing and Kalamazoo and East Lansing.
These circuits will replace the existing multiple T1 circuits on these same
paths, so we will be moving to 45M bps from 12M, 7.5M and 9M respectively.
The availability of T3 or higher speed circuits on these paths is very
limited and we do not yet have firm delivery dates for any of these
circuits. It seems likely that the Mt. Pleasant to East Lansing T3 will be
installed first.

We are in the process of ordering a new T1 circuit between Muskegon and
East Lansing for a total of three T1s (4.5M bps) on that path.

We are also in the process of ordering T3 (45M bps) circuits to link
MichNet to the GTE Frame Relay service in both the Saginaw and Muskegon
LATAs. In the Muskegon LATA saying we have a 45M bps link to the GTE Frame
Relay network is a bit misleading since our Muskegon backbone node is only
supported by a 4.5M bps attachment to the rest of the network. Still,
having a 45M bps link to the GTE network will eliminate the need to
ballance the traffic load between an ever increasing number of T1 circuits
and so should provide better service. Saying we have a 45M bps link to the
GTE network in the Saginaw LATA will be a meaningful statement once the new
T3 between Mt. Pleasant and East Lansing is installed and the comment about
better service resulting from eliminating the need to ballance traffic
across multiple T1 circuits applies here as well.

When all of this work is complete 8 of the 20 MichNet backbone nodes will
connected at 45M bps or higher, all but two of the backbone nodes will have
more than 1.5M bps service and even these two backbone nodes have a primary
and backup T1 attachments.

MichNet remains linked to the rest of the Internet over two T3 (45M bps
each) circuits from Ann Arbor to internetMCI, an OC3c (155M bps) ATM
circuit from East Lansing to the Ameritech Network Access Point (NAP) in
Chicago, two T1 (3M bps) circuits to internetMCI from Houghton and one T1
(1.5M bps) to internetMCI via NorthernWay from Sault St. Marie.

The link to the NAP provides access to several networks with whom we have
non-transit peering arrangements as well as to Winstar/GoodNet from whom we
purchase additional transit bandwidth. Today we exchange between 4M bps and
6M bps of traffic with Winstar/GoodNet, but this will increase to a maximum
of 45M bps once Winstar/GoodNet completes an upgrade to their network in
Chicago. The Winstar/GoodNet upgrade has taken longer that originally
expected, but the most recent indication is that the upgrade should be
finished toward the end of July.

The non-transit peering arrangements at the NAP and the internetMCI and
Winstart/GoodNet transit arrangments carry what has come to be called
commodity traffic. We also exchange non-commodity non-transit traffic with
the NSF supported very High Speed Backbone Network Serivce (vBNS) via the
OC3c to the NAP, but the vBNS is only available for use by Michigan State
University, University of Michigan, and Merit. Wayne State Univeristy will
be able to access the vBNS as soon as the new ATM OC3c attachments to
Detroit and Ann Arbor are working.

Plans for the move of Merit staff and equipment from the Univeristy of
Michigan Computing Center to the Arbor Lakes buidling in Ann Arbor is
moving forward slowly. We do not yet have a firm schedule for the move and
it now seems likely that this move will not take place until December '98,
January '99 or possibly later.

If you have questions about any of these upgrades or our future plans,
please contact your Merit Internet Consultant or send me e-mail.

  -Jeff Ogden
   Merit