UK MANs Group

Notes of meeting held on Friday 19 February 1999 at City University.

1. Administration

The following were present

Apologies were received from

The group again discussed it relationship with other groups. Whilst formal reporting to other bodies was not appropriate, it was agreed that it would be useful to circulate the minutes of the meetings to JISC, ACN, UKERNA, UCISA etc for information.

2. Telecommunications Licensing

Chris Cheney had circulated details of the relevant issues by email. The situation was complex and unclear. An EU directive meant that Oftel could no longer offer specialised licences to individual organisations and that existing specific licences would be withdrawn, though this requirement had been deferred for six to twelve months. This affected specific licences issued to HEIs and MANs.

There were difficulties for both HEIs and MANs operating under class licences. The SPL only applied to a single organisation and the TSL to less than 20 sites. It was understood that an HEI class licence was under preparation, but this would not help MANs. The other option for MANs was the minor PTO licence which may have onerous obligations.

There had been a suggestion of a clause in the TSL that would allow provision of service to a larger number of users as a closed user group, but this had not been found.

A letter from the DTI to FaTMAN had said that they would consult later and had no intent of enforcement. However, there had been little evidence of interested in the issue from the DTI, who had not attended recent JISC meetings. The JISC had indicated that they were happy for the UK MANs Group to discuss the issue with Oftel.

Phil Brady reported on a letter from the Welsh Office indicating government encouragement for collaboration with FE, schools, libraries etc. This would not be possible without an appropriate licence.

It was noted that UKERNA used to have a SPL licence, but now had a PTO licence.

Mick Kahn agreed to investigate the implications of using minor PTO licence.

Action: Mick Kahn

Each site should prepare a brief (max 2 sides A4) of current and planned position with respect to licencing, in particular giving any reasons why the current proposals were inadequate for the MAN.

Action: all

Dave Vinograd agreed to collate these.

Action: Dave Vinograd

Phil Brady and Chris Cheney agreed to draft a letter to Oftel.

Action: Phil Brady + Chris Cheney

There was a loosely related licensing issue with the provision of dark fibre by PTOs, in that they could not use their code powers to install it unless they lit the fibre. A proposal to treat dark fibre as a telecommunications service was now on hold.

2. HEFCE MAN Initiative

The 1999 round of the HEFCE MAN Initiative was due out. There would be 5 million pounds available. HEFCE wished to see as many sites on MANs as possible and first connections to MANs for HEIs would be eligible for funding this time. Bids for FE and hospitals would not be allowed and halls of residence would not be favoured.

Network management systems would again be excluded. However, Phil Brady reported that the JISC was establishing a working party with Peter Kemp to look at the management of MANs in the broadest sense. He asked for proposals for membership from the group. It was agreed that MANs from different countries and organisational structures should be represented. Colin Tennant, Ian Griffiths, Linda McCormick, Dave Vinograd, Ed Carter and David Harrison were willing to serve on the working group.

3. Further Education and other communities

FEFC would be joining the JISC and appropriate representation of FE funding bodies from other countries was expected. A programme to connect all FE colleges to JANET was expected to start later in 1999. These are likely to be primary connections rather than sponsored connections and UKERNA’s preferred method of connection will be through MANs.

One issue will be the different requirements and technical skills of FE colleges. Some are very well resourced and others are not.

FE colleges will wish to have representation on the management committees of the MANs. Appropriate representation models will have to be devised as one board member per institution will be unworkable with the increased number of institutions. It was agreed that appropriate representatives of the FE community should be invited to the next meeting.

Action: Dave Vinograd

Jon Duke had circulated a report to UCISA of meetings with groups related to CVCP and the Library and Information Commission (LIC). The initiative to build a New Library Network was an opportunity for JANET and the MANs. It was agreed to make contact with the LIC with a view to inviting them to the next meeting of the group or sooner depending on timescales for the library network.

Action: Mick Kahn

There was a brief discussion on connecting schools to MANs. This was though to be less clear. In Bristol the LEA had been provided with a primary JANET connection, with the schools as sponsored connections at a significantly reduced charge. Peter Walker drew attention to a paper from Edex proposing a national infrastructure for schools.

The group was not aware of any non HE based MANs in the UK except for Sohonet (http://www.sohonet.co.uk), which connected video companies in London. It was proposed to invite someone from Sohonet to the next meeting.

4. Contract with UKERNA

UKERNA had not made any progress with the contract to replace the MAP contacts, which would include depreciation of equipment etc.

5. National Network Model

It was noted that the national network model was changing with the growth of MANs. UKERNA did not wish to see MANs connect together except through the SuperJANET backbone. Issues that needed to be addressed were institutions that spanned two MANs and the potential for resilient connection to JANET.

6. News from MANs.

There was not yet a MAN in North Wales, though there were some opportunities with Bangor Council and the Capital Challenge Fund.

Aberystwyth were interested in connecting to the South Wales MAN.

There were plans to migrate the Welshnet video to the MAN. Collaborative services were a news server and Computer Based Teaching with shared licences for technical courses. A BUFVC/JISC video project operated over the MAN.

There was no MAN in the South East yet, but plans were developing to link 11 HEIs in a ring.

The YHMAN was enabling distributed centres of excellence. The separate company allowed rapid decision making. A web cache was being provided for FE. YHMAN is working with the RDA.

EaStMAN was busy with the changes to bring in the resilient connections within Scotland. All non HEI connections were currently sponsored connections.

The last few links of NorMAN were now in place.

The London MAN now had 30 members and was slowly moving away from UKERNA management to an independent company. A London Higher Education Consortium had been established by VCs, which the London MAN would work with, but not be part of.

Loughborough and De Monfort had connected to the East Midlands MAN. The topology of the network as a long line of sites caused some concern. A joint medical school with Warwick, which was connected to MidMAN would raise interesting issues.

Bath and Bath Spa University College had joined BWEMAN, along with a number of FE Colleges. The possibility of merger with SWAN to create a single network within the South West government region was being considered. 150 schools in Bristol were being connected via a primary connection to the LEA.

Coventry and Warwick would be connected to MidMAN in March. The West Midlands Government Office, public libraries and the city were interested.

ClydeNet were also busy with the SHEFC funded upgrades. They were having difficulty finding an appropriate model for new connections. The MAN cache was charged on the basis of number of accesses.

AbMAN would be loosing one member due to a merger of HEIs.

FaTMAN would also loose a member due to mergers. A usenet service was provided, but not heavily used. A shared helpdesk server had been successful. Dundee schools were interested.

The Kentish MAN had shortlisted four suppliers and was issuing a full Operation Requirement.

The potential East Anglia MAN had issued an RFI. It was likely to also include Luton and Cranfield. Enhancement of SuperJANET connections may provide the best value for money.

7. Date of Next Meeting

It was agreed that future meetings should not be held on Mondays or Fridays as this was difficult for travel. Tuesdays were the preferred day. The group would meet four times a year, three times in London and once in Edinburgh. It was agreed that meetings should be set well in advance. Dates would be circulated by email.

Action: Dave Vinograd + Mick Kahn