December 2006 / January 2007
ORION announces new fee structure
More affordable for small organizations to connect
ORION is revising its fee structure after recommendations from the user community which will, among other changes, make it more affordable for smaller institutions to connect to the network.
The changes, effective in 2007, follow recommendations from a Working Group of 10 volunteers from the university, college, hospital and regional advanced network communities.
There was a consensus that the original fee structure, developed in 2001 primarily for colleges and universities, is no longer appropriate for ORION's current and future research and education user organization base.
"The new structure sets ORION fees over the next three years, allowing organizations to plan their budgets," says Sophie Maksym, ORION's Director of Corporate Affairs and Finance.
In looking at the current fee structure, the group determined that although a tiered, flat-rate pricing model remains valid, the current model can be a barrier to smaller organizations. The group also concluded the model needs to accommodate organizations as they expand in size.
As a result, a more equitable set of six price tiers is being implemented, accommodating very small organizations to very large institutions.
The new approach subdivides user organizations into eight sectors, and determines the price tier levels based on sector-specific metrics, such as enrolment, research funding, size and other factors as they may apply.
For example, the metrics for colleges and universities include provincial government operating funding, full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolment, and total sponsored-research funding. For hospitals, ORANO will use the classifications as assigned by the Public Health Act. Metrics for the remaining segments will be developed over time.
For most institutions, there will be no change to their existing price tier. For the few institutions where fees may be significantly affected, increases will be phased in over a period of two to three years.
The 18 per cent discount ORION provides to institutions connecting through a Regional Advanced Network (RAN), such as LARGnet in London or GTAnet in Toronto, will remain in place for the next three years.
The working group, however, established clear definitions to determine if an institution qualifies for the RAN discount. For instance, the RAN must be a legal, not-for-profit entity managed and governed with its own formal governance structure separate from its member institutions. It must have three or more ORION-eligible members connected to ORION at all times, and have an infrastructure that mediates traffic between its members and aggregates traffic to ORION.
Changes announced this week do not affect school boards. Their fee structure will be reviewed in 2007.
ORANO has committed to a consultative review of the fee structure again in 2009.
A more detailed summary of the changes affecting ORION users can be downloaded here.
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