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Rob SymberlistSchools Networking CoordinatorUnited Kingdom Education & Research Networking Association

r.symberlist@ukerna.ac.uk

Accessing Content via the UK Schools Education Network

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• JANET - UK Education & Research Network• Extending JANET• Interconnecting Schools• Requirements of Schools• Extending JANET Services for Schools• Videoconferencing Services Pilot• International Collaboration• Further information

Outline

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JANET

Joint Academic NETwork• UK National Research & Education

Network (NREN)• All UK educational organisations are

eligible for a JANET connection.• SuperJANET backbone (SJ4)

– 8 Core Points of Presence– 10Gbps, 2.5Gbps to Regions– 20 Regional Network Operators– Transition to SJ5 in 2006

• Connections to other NRENsand to the Internet

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Extending JANET

Adult and Community Learning Centres– Some to have Primary Connections – Learning & Skills Council

Specialist Colleges (not schools)– All to have Primary Connections – Learning & Skills Council

Museums, Libraries and Archives– Primary/Sponsored/other connections– Most are not connected to JANET– Department for Culture, Media & Sport

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Scottish Schools Digital Network– 2,780 Schools; 720,000 pupils; 32 Authorities– Scottish Executive Education Department; LTS

Classroom 2000 (Northern Ireland)– 1,280 Schools; 330,000 pupils; 5 Authorities– Department for Employment & Learning; C2K

Lifelong Learning Network for Wales– 1,950 Schools; 500,000 pupils; 22 Authorities– National Assembly for Wales; Becta

National Education Network (England)– 23,500 schools; 7,500,000 pupils; 150 Authorities – 10 Regional Broadband Consortia– Department for Education & Skills; Becta

JANET Interconnections to Schools

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National Connection Target for Schools

• Most schools were connected by ISDN• In November 2002 the Prime Minister set a

target: that “all schools would be connected to Broadband (IP) by 2006”.

• DfES recommended bandwidths:– 2Mbps for Primary Schools– 8Mbps for Secondary Schools

• To be delivered by Local Authorities (LAs) and Regional Broadband Consortia (RBCs) of LAs.

• RBCs/LAs to be Interconnected via JANET• Currently 100% Secondary and 70% Primary

schools.

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Connection Technologies

• Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL)• Leased Lines (2/34Mbps)• Short Distance Ethernet (10/100Mbps)• Long Distance Ethernet• Satellite• Wireless

• Local Loop unbundling

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Needs of Schools – Access to Content

Access to local, regional, national and global educational resources from school and home, by pupils and teachers

• Connection to the local authority– For local resources and support

• Interconnection to other schools, universities, colleges, museums, libraries, galleries, archives and other educational content providers– For collaboration and access to resources– Via local, regional and national networks

• Connection to the Internet– For access to resources not available via the “Education

Network”

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Needs of Schools - Quality

But, all of these must be• Safe

– Content filtering; Local Authorities have a “Duty of Care”• Secure

– Authentication and Authorisation, Shibboleth• Trusted

– Nationally Quality Assured resources• Reliable

– If the technology is not reliable, teachers will not use it• Standard

– To ensure technical interoperability, optimise ease of access and use, and to enable seamless collaboration

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JANET Services

Standard Services for JANET Primary Sites • Advisory Services• DNS• JANET-CERT• Mail Services• Network Status• Networking Support Services• Usenet News Services• Videoconferencing Services• Web Services (optional)

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National Requirements of Schools

• DNS Services• IP Registry • Support for closed user groups (VPN)• Support for disaster recovery• Internet transit• Transit to other NRENs• Network monitoring• CERT• QoS/class of service• Videoconferencing plus…

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Extending JANET Services

• Content Services• Media Streaming • Directory Services• Videoconferencing IP-ISDN Gateway• Gateway to the Health sector

• Authentication and Authorisation• Single Sign On

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Content Services

• Management of nationally licensed content– Content Access Service for licensed content– Content Access Registry approach while awaiting

AA• Based on IP addresses• Audio Network, Pathé News Archive• Another 10 being implemented in the next 12 months

– Freely available• Curriculum OnLine• BBC Digital Curriculum (in development)

• Need Authentication and Authorisation

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Video Streaming Services

• Encoding and hosting services– Popular proprietary formats– Standards-based formats

• Multicast live– Events– Broadcasts– Videoconferences

• Unicast on demand• Main issues surround Copyright and IPR• Need Authentication and Authorisation

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Directory Services

The process of “Collaboration” dictates the need for two distinct types of Directory

• Directories of people– Need to find others for collaboration– Collaboration Service being piloted by three RBCs

• Directories of equipment/venues – Videoconferencing endpoint/venue directory

• JANET Videoconferencing Service• Group facilities need to be booked

– Could be linked to Collaboration Service

• Need Authentication and Authorisation

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Videoconferencing Services

• Booking and scheduling service for teaching• On Demand services for ad hoc sessions• Multipoint service• Dial-out service from MCU

– Improves security and ease of use• IP-ISDN Gateway service

– Many content providers still use ISDN– ISDN Billing

• Quality Assurance Assessment service– QA gives content providers confidence!– Schools seem reluctant (?) to use QA service – Automatic QA Check?

• Need Authentication and Authorisation

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Videoconferencing Services Pilot

Aim:• to identify suitable technical and operational

mechanisms for national-scale videoconferencing services, over and above those being developed regionally

Scope:• All 10 RBCs and 4 of 11 “opt-out” LEAs in England;

Potentially 25,000 schools; Est. 2,000 endpoints (Nov03)

Timescales:• March 2004-May 2005; • Piloting with schools Sep-Dec 2004 and Jan-Apr 2005

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Videoconferencing Services Pilot

Main Outcome:• The initial survey in April 2004 revealed a variety

of regional videoconferencing solutions, not all standards-based. Apart from two regions that shared the same infrastructure and supplier, there was no inter-regional videoconferencing, except occasionally via the Internet.

• In May 2005, nine of the ten RBCs and four “opt-out” LEAs are able to videoconference with one another using a Standards-based solution via the RBC/LEA Interconnects to JANET.

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Videoconferencing Services Pilot

Directories, Quality and Security: The requirements for two types of National

Directory were identified: a Collaboration Service and a Videoconferencing Directory;

Most of the problems with videoconferences during the pilot have arisen where school venues have not been Quality Assurance Assessed;

All videoconference calls with schools are initiated by JVCS on a dial-out basis, which provides some level of security and can provide RBCs/LEAs with a single trusted source (JVCS MCU) of incoming calls.

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Videoconferencing and Interoperability: Almost 350 videoconferences amongst 250 school

endpoints, during two school terms (Sep-Dec 2004 and Jan-April 2005) ;

Around 50% of calls were for teaching, the remainder for QA/system testing; used the IP-ISDN Gateway; the remaining calls were IP-

IP; Bandwidth generally 384kbps or 768kbps National-Regional MCU Interoperability tests; Development of a National ISDN Billing solution; Launch of JVCS-OnDemand and JVCS-Check in July

05

Videoconferencing Services Pilot

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Content Providers: In March 2005, UKERNA announced that all

national and regional museums, libraries, galleries, archives and other educational resources (Content Providers) that provide national content could use the national facilities of the JVCS.

IP connectivity in this sector is a major issue. UKERNA is working closely with content

providers to help them connect to JANET.

Videoconferencing Services Pilot

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National and Regional Advice, Guidance and Support:

Regional Support Centres/Centres of Excellence JANET Videoconferencing Service

Management Centre Booking Service; Scheduling of videoconferences

Operations staff Help with problems at the start of videoconferences Undertake Quality Assurance Assessments

Video Technology Advisory service Experts in networking/videoconferencing Visited every region and participating local authority

• Getting the support right has been the key to success.

Videoconferencing Services Pilot

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Gateway to the Health sector

• Children’s Hospital Schools – Some children cannot be moved

• Education must be brought to them– We are working with hospital schools in London

• Some are connected to JANET, some are connected to N3

• Medical Training – Hospital medical school in Cardiff

• Streaming technology can deliver content• Videoconferencing can deliver content and

enable interaction – Discussing a Gateway between Health MCU and JANET

MCU• Need Authentication and Authorisation

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Authentication & Authorisation

• JISC has selected Shibboleth for HE/FE• RBCs have selected Shibboleth for schools

– Becta is running two pilots to confirm Shibboleth is appropriate

• London Grid for Learning– Regional federation of 33 London LEAs plus 7 other

LEAs. 1.5 million users and 2 content providers hosting multiple servers.

• West Midlands Broadband Consortium

• Current Issues – Multiple Federations; Certificates– eduPerson attributes, Date of Birth

• Shibboleth is being implemented in the JANET Videoconferencing Service

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International Collaboration

There is a rapidly growing demand in schools for international collaboration using videoconferencing

• If you would like to try international videoconferencing between schools, please contact – Rob Symberlist, r.symberlist@ukerna.ac.uk– Tomi Dolenc, tomi.dolenc@arnes.si

• European Schoolnet could help support this with expertise and partner schools– eTwinning (www.etwinning.net) – Science (http://xplora.eun.org)– Roger Blamire, roger.blamire@eun.org (European Schoolnet)

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Further Information

JANET Schools www.ja.net/schools

Network Guidance documents for Schools,UKERNA & Becta documentshttp://getconnected.ngfl.gov.uk/index.php?s=network

Videoconferencing Services Pilot for Schools in Englandwww.ja.net/schools/vc/

Rob SymberlistSchools Networking Coordinator

r.symberlist@ukerna.ac.uk