November / December 2005
ORION engineers pressed into service
Helping Ontario institutions connect to global networks
Organizations in remote locations may be able to link to ORION and access global R&E networks, and ORION's engineering team is being pressed into service to help them connect.
Although ORION has points of presence (PoPs) in 21 Ontario cities, many eligible organizations may be too far away to easily connect, or to connect at GigE or faster speeds, says ORION Senior Director of Operations Sam Mokbel.
"It is not critical that organizations connect to us at a GigE speed," says Mokbel. "We encourage them to consider ORION's connection alternatives, which includes making arrangements with a local provider to connect back to the closest ORION PoP, at locally available connection speeds."
ORION estimates many eligible organizations could easily connect to ORION, at locally available speeds, with a relatively affordable managed service from a commercial provider. Such organizations may include school boards, remote labs, distributed campuses or operations of eligible institutions.
They would not only gain access to ORION's standard IP-based network and Multicast and IPV6 capabilities, they could link to all of ORION's connected users, including all Ontario universities, most colleges, several teaching hospitals, research facilities and school boards.
They would also connect to CA*net 4, Canada's national backbone which connects all of the provincial networks and other global networks including Internet2 in the United States, GEANT in Europe and APAN in Asia.
The basic requirements needed to connect to ORION at speeds of 10 or 100 Mbps are a BGP-capable router with at least two fast Ethernet interfaces and an Ethernet circuit available from a local provider. However, the cost to acquire, maintain and light up dark fiber increases with the distance between the member site and the ORION PoP, says Mokbel. "A managed network service from a commercial provider to connect back to an ORION PoP may be viable solution."
ORION's engineering team is available to work with individual institutions wishing to connect. "We have among the most capable telecommunications engineers in Canada, with a wealth of experience and expertise," says Mokbel.
They can help identify local circuit providers and go over technical or operational issues and suitable connectivity options. "We help connecting institutions make informed decisions," he says.
Learn more at www.orion.on.ca/services.html.
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