Present:

Apologies were received from:

1. Notes of previous meeting

The notes of the meeting held on 9 October 2001 at ULCC were accepted as an accurate record of the meeting

2. Matters arising

                     2.1 FE connections

Mick Kahn had sought further clarification from UKERNA on the charging model for FE colleges multiply connected to MANs. Steve Percival had confirmed that they would be only charged on the basis of the highest bandwidth connection, which would be the main connection (which would be zero in the case of 2Mbps). MANs could still charge the line costs, a management cost and transit costs if appropriate. This situation had arisen following mergers in a number of MANs.

Mick Kahn will write up his understanding of the charging model that applies to FE and will ask UKERNA to either confirm or clarify the situation.

It was noted that in the case of a 4Mbps connection made up of two physical 2Mbps connections that Netsight did not currently aggregate the traffic figures from the two lines, though UKERNA were planning to resolve this.

                    2.2 Signature of contracts

Three MANs had not yet signed either a contract or a letter of intent. EMMAN was having problems agreeing telco costs with UKERNA.

From letters from UKERNA to MANs it was understood that the HEFCE upgrade money had to be approved by 31 March 2002 and paid by 31 July 2002, which meant that claims had to be made by 30 June 2002.

                    2.3 Network Services Agreement

The subgroup had met with Bob Day on 27 November 2001 and the JISC

had agreed to pay DLA £5,000 to represent the MANs. The terms and conditions approach was preferred by UKERNA and MANs, but DLA was uncertain on this. There will be a meeting of the subgroup with UKERNA and both parties lawyers on 16 January 2002.

                    2.4 Sponsored connections

Progress in this area was waiting for the new charging model to be agreed. It was clear that new arrangements will not be in place for some time. In the meantime UKERNA will be asked to formally commit to keeping the current arrangements till July 2003, and to agree to give adequate notice of any new arrangements with appropriate transition plans. UKERNA will also be asked to provide an interim mechanism for MANs to be able to provide sponsored connections as well as individual JANET primary sites.

Action: Scott Currie and Mick Kahn

                    2.5 SLA reviview

The subgroup had met on 7 November 2001 to consider mechanisms, major issues (such as the impact of SLA changes on MAN and telco contracts) and minor adjustments. The first full SLA review meeting will be held on 30 January 2002

The subgroup was asked to consider end to end performance across JANET and MANs.

3. JANET charging

It was reported that 91% of the respondents had supported the UCISA proposal of

charging based on size. The Group also considered that this proposal was acceptable.

Mick Kahn had circulated a draft joint UK MANs response and this was agreed with minor changes. It was agreed to add an additional point that charging for traffic staying within the MAN would discourage collaborative services.

Action: Mick Kahn

Wales and Scotland were lobbying their own funding councils.

4. Transition plans

Dave Vinograd reported that he would be working for UKERNA to assist MANs in developing their transition plans. He can still be contacted on d.r.vinograd@city.ac.uk

There was some lack of clarity on the date that transition plans were required, but UKERNA had indicated that they would like drafts by the end of January 2002. The associated funding will have to be claimed by the end of June 2002.

There were no formal restrictions on what the transition funding could be spent on.

Mick Kahn will re-circulate the paper issued by Tim Kidd dated 10 October 2001. It had not been clear whether this was a draft or the formally issued document.

Action: Mick Kahn

It was agreed that Dave Vinograd will expand this document from the MANs point of view and will create an outline/proforma so that titles of sections or reference numbers across the plans.

Action: Dave Vinograd

Kit Powell agreed to circulate the SWERN draft document.

Action: Kit Powell

It was agreed that all draft transition plans could be shared amongst the Group and UKERNA unless they specifically specified otherwise in order to reduce duplication of effort.

5. News from MANs

LMN had now completed the transition from LMN1 to LMN2, just meeting the 31 December 2001 deadline for the end of the old telecommunications contract. The transition of FECs to LMN was well advanced and a number were upgrading to 4Mbps and 10Mbps.

The Kentish MAN will be signing its MANCo agreement by 31 March 2002. An additional link was being installed to create a resilient ring. Discussions were under way with the RDA on commercial collaboration.

SWMAN had completed the setting up of Welsh Networking Ltd (WNL) at the end of October 2001. David Harrison was seconded to WNL 2 days a week as Chief Executive. The SWMAN2 contract had been awarded to Neos at the end of October 2001 and will be in service by 31 March 2002. It will be an optical 1.2Gbps network providing ethernet. All sites, including FE, would have 100Mbps physical connections except for a few remote sites which would have 34Mbps.

The National Assembly for Wales was developing a public sector broadband network and this was being provided by WNL. The time scale was very tight and the contract would be signed by 15 March 2002. There will be an Access PoP in each Local Authority and there is separate funding to provide onward connection to schools, museums and libraries. The network will be separate from SWMAN and NWMAN, but Internet connectivity will be provided by JANET.

NorMAN were negotiating their new telecommunications contact which would provide 1Gbps to HEIs. Agreeing 99.95% availability was proving difficult.

NWMAN was being built and should be complete by the end of March 2002.

MidMAN were hoping to work with Advantage West Midland and the Government Office to do a joint procurement for the region. They have asked to defer their re-procurement to allow for this.

EMMAN were having difficulty with the final stages of setting up their company. There had been a number of power failures at intermediate microwave sites. There was a problem with re-procurement due to the spread of contract dates.

The new Telewest ATM network for the north of the region was being tested. The lawyer has held up company formation, but they were about to sign the RPAN contract. FE consortia were being disentangled.

NetNorthWest had completed its transition to IP over SDH and gigabit ethernet. They were trying to get FE more involved. Tim Robinson reported on the high level meeting with NHS organised by RUGIT. Mick Kahn will try and obtain notes of the meeting.

Action: Mick Kahn

LeNSE reported that Dr Sue Brooks from Sussex was now Chair and that Mike Byrne was now working 3 days a week for LeNSE. They were investigating a separate VPN for commercial traffic.

EastNet were having problems with the RDN back to back contracts.

EastMAN were reaching the end of their procurement for gigabit to HE and 100Mbps to FE. Scotland’s plans for unified public sector network had not proved to be as far reaching as had been anticipated and did not appear to deliver much to HE and FE.

AbMAN had a preferred supplier for the replacement network that would deliver gigabit to HEIs. There were also plans for backup power.

FaTMAN is expecting to provide gigabit over dark fibre to HEIs and 100Mbps to FECs. The letter of intent has not yet been signed.

6. Dates of future meetings

The next two meetings will be held on Tuesday 16 April and Tuesday 2 July 2002. One of these meetings will be held in Belfast if the NI MAN wish to host it. This will preferably be the April meeting to fit with the UCNG meeting scheduled to be held there.

[Subsequent to the meeting it has been confirmed that the meeting on Tuesday 16 April will take place in Belfast. The July meeting will be in London.]

7. Any other business

David Harrison asked if anyone had an update on the UK Government’s Broadband Stakeholder Group. It was understood that Barry Forde was involved. David Harrison will enquire whether the report sent to JCN members (not UCISA Directors as reported in the meeting) can be circulated to the Group.

Action: David Harrison

There was some concern about ntl and David Harrison proposed the formation of a user group. There was general concern about the performance of telcos and it was noted that BT had increased its lead times and increased its prices to other telcos.

Mike Byrne asked about developments with the GRID and QoS. Mick Kahn will see if it is appropriate for someone to attend a future meeting.

Action: Mick Kahn

David Harrison reported that the UKERNA review group had submitted its report which had included the UK MANs Groups concerns. It would be published in February/March 2002.