Mobility and the Future of Integrated Communication

Strategies

Mike Staman – Macon State

Jim Jokl – University of Virginia

EDUCAUSE 2003

What are Integrated Communication Services (ICS)?

• Many definitions over the years– Financial perspective

• Lets run our telephone system over the data network– Voice over IP (VoIP)

• Can’t we also run video over the data network?– H.323, MPEG, Real Networks, Quicktime, etc

– Services perspective• Can we link our voice mail and email?

– Unified Messaging products

• Can videoconferencing enhance productivity / avoid travel?• What are the new “killer applications”?

What are Integrated Communication Services (ICS)?

– Technology perspective• What services should we deploy for our users?• How do I keep my school from falling behind?

– “They” are doing wireless, so we should be too

• Should we deploy Skinny or SIP or H.323 for VoIP?• What are the implications for the campus network?

– Basic question• How do we keep up with growing user expectations?• Especially hard in the current fiscal environment

User Expectation Trends

• Access many services from one workstation

• Access the same services from many devices

• Location independence– Wired office network connection– At a wired network café– On the wireless LAN– In a home office– Out of town

A refined vision for ICS: Support for Nomadic Computing

• Access to voice, data, and video communications applications via device, location, transport, and media independent mechanisms

• Implies services such as locating a person via one of many devices, at any location, originating ID portability, integrated or find-me messaging, authentication and privacy, etc

Today’s Agenda

• We’ll discuss some of the implications of meeting these user expectations– Technical issues– Financial model changes– Policy and organizational aspects– Service examples and planned projects

Technical Implicationsfor the wired campus network

• A stable cable plant and database

• 10/100 switched Ethernet

• A high-capacity network backbone

• Provisions for end-to-end management

• QoS support

• Multicast support

• A wiring closet UPS infrastructure– Backup power is for more than just E-911

Technical Implications for the wireless campus network

• Existing applications use 802.11b• Insufficient even for the near term

– Performance inadequate – 11 Mbps best case– Shared network– Security issues– Poor access control– Lack of available channels (spectrum)– 802.11G helps - compatible with 802.11b

• Up to 54 Mbps• Still a shared network in same 2.4 GHz band

Technical Implications for the wireless campus network

• Fortunately wireless equipment also takes advantage of Moore’s Law

• 802.11n– 100+ Mbps in the 2005/06 time frame

• Wireless PANs– Bluetooth: 30 feet, 64 kbps to 1 Mbps– 802.15.3: up to 55 Mbps, multimedia capable– Coexist with 802.11b/g in 2.4 GHz band

Technical Implications for the wireless campus network

• Wireless VLANs & QoS– Traffic isolation, support for voice applications

• What about 802.11a– Many channels – operates in 5.8 GHz band– Cost coming down; support for b/a/g cards

• Vivato-type technology– Phased-array antenna directs radio energy

where it is needed

Technical Implicationsfor remote network access

• How do we enable the nomadic concept for off-campus students and faculty?– Is this really just plain old telecommuting?– Many campuses have been successful

implementing network peering relationships with ISPs

– Lease copper and install private DSL?– Leverage next generation of wireless technology?

Technical Implicationsfor Wireless Metro Area Networks

• 802.16a WiMAX– The next big thing in wireless space?– Licensed and unlicensed operation

• Unlicensed in the 5.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands

– Near line of sight– Up to 30 miles and 70 Mbps– Will perform well with wide range of packet sizes– Large investments by Intel, others– Mid-2004 for products

Technical Implications for Cellular Device Integration

• User’s desire– Voicemail, paging, and messaging integration– Desk phone calls to reach their mobile device– “Wireless Office” functionality

• Feature transparency & integration

• No per-minute charges for on-campus use

– Wide area coverage– Personal use enabled

• Two numbers, call tagging, etc?

Technical Implications for Cellular Device Integration

• Integration with campus WLAN– Some new cell phones support 802.11b VoIP– Relationships with carriers essential– Colorado State, Virginia, others working on

procurements in this area

• Integration with campus LAN– Bluetooth phones for remote data network

access

An Interesting Wireless Integrated Solution: Vocera

• 802.11b WLAN badge• Voice recognition activated• Integrated services

– Voice over WLAN– 2-way telephony integration– Voicemail– Audio email– Text messaging– Group broadcast– User location feature

Wireless Impediment: Security

• Security problems can devastate a campus wireless LAN– Wireless has low capacity and is a shared media

– Wireless QoS is in its infancy

– You often can’t shut down an offending computer• Rogue access points

• Ad-hoc mode

– Poor vendor security architectures

• Need a security model that spans network transport

Wireless Access Control and Data Privacy

• Common mechanisms– VPN, LEAP, EAP-TLS, PEAP, etc– Vernier, Bluesocket, etc

• Remember limitations of special devices– PDAs, cell phones, VoIP phones, Vocera badges

• Design infrastructure to support many mechanisms

Will we do a lot of planning only to be overtaken by events?

• In which multimedia transport should you invest?– Cisco’s skinny VoIP protocol– H.323– Wait for SIP to be deployable on a large scale?

• What about Skype?

Skype

• A peer-to-peer system for Internet telephony– From the people who developed KaZaA

• Designed to work in the presence of firewalls, NAT, PAT

• All traffic is encrypted and better voice quality

• Technical implications– Network infrastructure needs are similar– but P2P applications are harder to support

Some Financial, Organizational and Policy Implications to Consider

• A fundamental change in user relationships?– We already consider the whole student experience

• Can we strengthen it further with new technology?• Retain their interest better after graduation?

– Is the technology about to make this possible for faculty and staff?

• How are you organized?– Voice, data, video integrated?– Cell phones in purchasing?– Support as network complexity continues to grow

Some Financial, Organizational and Policy Implications to Consider

• Do you recover costs for the right services?• Typical schools charge for items such as

– Telephone– Network jack– Backbone– Internet capacity– Monthly cell phone and airtime minutes– Wireless LAN service– Remote access– Cable television

Some Financial, Organizational and Policy Implications to Consider

• Do voice recoveries help pay for LAN or wireless– What about Skype or Windows messenger?

• Current cost recovery practices are often a disincentive for Nomadic Computing– We want users to have their phone number everywhere

• Wireless devices, cell phones, desk phones, soft phones, telecommuting, etc

– Enabling personal use should be a goal• Money can be saved by both the school and the individual

Some Financial, Organizational and Policy Implications to Consider

• An alternate financial model: might per-person cost recovery work?– Fund a basket of basic infrastructure services– Automatically scales like per-device charges– No disincentives for multi-device nomadic users– Use financial motivators to limit excess consumption

• One-time charges for expensive phones, software licenses, items such as Vocera badges, etc?

• Normal billing for excess needs such as large numbers of network jacks, high Internet capacity, etc?

Some Financial, Organizational and Policy Implications to Consider

• Many possible financial alternatives– Focus on overhead-type funding?– Per-user instead of per-device charges?– Continue with per-device charges?– Ensure that charges reflect the true cost of a

service• Avoids providing a financial incentive for users to

do the wrong thing over the long run

Coming Events

• What is next for the ICS Group

• ECAR Project– Research report on Integrated Communications

in Higher Education

• Future Meetings– Changes in standard meeting schedules

• Is your campus working in these areas or is it an interest of yours?– Consider joining the ICS working group

• http://www.educause.edu/netatedu/groups/ics

• Next meeting – Tempe AZ - February– Topic

Thank You

• Krystal Bullers• Douglas Carlson• Michael J. Enyeart• Mark Katsouros• Holly King

• Christopher Peabody• Steve H. Updegrove• Jose J. Valdes, Jr• Wendy Wigen

• Questions and discussion

Special thanks to the ICS Steering Committee