E-Rate: Funding Year 2011

There's quite a bit going on with the federal E-Rate program this summer. There are a few critical Notices of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) out there and there is also a draft of the Eligible Services List for FY2011. This is the earliest I can remember seeing a draft ESL posted. Many of the NPRM suggestions are embedded in this draft ESL, so I'll take a moment and highlight a few of these:

* "Dark Fiber" would become eligible - Applicants and providers have sort of worked around this over the years by proposing that that provider 'light' the fiber by supplying the electronics on each end. In some cases, this has simply led to an additional switch for the district to power and house in their wiring closets. This could be a good development, as schools and districts seeking to connect might often find a vendor with fiber optics available for lease. It would also take away some guesswork with network proposals. Do you need 10Gb between all sites? Well, if you have the electronics to support that, go for it.

* "Web hosting" would become ineligible - This could be a big deal for a few of my districts. Some applicants have taken advantage of third-party hosting sites for the district web presence. It keeps the district from having to maintain a server and web services on that server. We've had districts who have had their web site hacked. At times, this has been due to security updates and patches not being applied. There's some level of security in having this housed by a provider specializing in web hosting.

I do see the other side of the equation, though. The program itself is about connectivity and a web site is not directly related to connectivity (or, perhaps, not as much so as in years past). Also, all parties have sought to take full advantage of what is or isn't eligible and have walked a thin line to gain every advantage possible. Any service that's eligible "to a point" lends itself to applicants or providers seeking to push the proverbial envelope. Removing this certainly prevents that, but it would put districts in a tough spot as they would be forced to consider whether to continue hosting services if forced to pay the full price themselves.

* "Web servers" would become ineligible - See above, as the logic is similar. The program has grown increasingly strict over the years as it pertains to servers eligible for purchase under Internal Connections. If web hosting is deemed ineligible, logic would dictate that web servers would be deemed ineligible as well.

There are other removals for services that were not being purchased by many (if any) applicants. T-2's, Global Service Provider fees and a Network Access Registers (related to Centrex phone service) were all crossed out of the draft ESL.

What do you do in the summer?

That question gets posed from outside the education community, with the general assumption being that everyone vacations all summer long if they work in the K-12 education environment. Not true. Furthermore, I think the assumption is that the K-12 technology coordinators and staff are simply in charge of "keeping the computers running". Sure, there are computers to replace and re-image. That doesn't even scratch the surface of everything these departments are asked to deal with during the summer and throughout the year. Here's my off-the-cuff stab at a list, and I'm sure that this isn't exhaustive:

Printers
Copiers
Web site creation and maintenance
Televisions
DVD
Media distribution servers/solutions
Digital cameras
Camcorders
Handheld computers and smartphones (both district-owned and personal)
Projectors
Wireless slates/pads
Interactive whiteboards
Student response systems
Student Information System
Instructional software of various types
Food service software
Point-of-sale hardware
Asset tracking software and hardware
Library management software
Internal district finance hardware/software
Servers to run all of this and more
Software licensing compliance for all of this
Switches and electronics in the wiring closets
Running and terminating cable for all of this to connect
Wireless environments (ever-growing) to support mobility desires
Security cameras
Badge ID systems for the user base
Building security (so those badges can be used for building entry)
Automatic lighting (in some cases, yep)
A/C needs for the data center(s) (this hardware generates tons of heat)
Support for Student Technology Leadership Program
Assistive and adaptive technology (for special needs cases)
Telephone systems (voicemail, handsets, trunk line configurations, etc)
Video distribution systems (cable TV and other local media)
Wide-area network connecting all schools to one another
Antivirus software for all workstations
Ensuring proper OS updates/patching of all workstations
Web filtering hardware/software, updates and ongoing issues
Facebook and social networking issues (significant enough for separate mention)
Establishing policy on things like personal device use (cellular, computers)
Crafting and updating a district technology plan for all of this
Professional development for staff so THEY understand all of this
Managing maintenance agreements for some/all of this
Having a system to track/manage work orders that might be called in on any of this
Keeping track of grant opportunities to assist with some of this
Dealing with vendors who constantly try to sell some/all of this
Managing the E-Rate program, which ties to critical federal funds

As I said, I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list, but it's a good start. Some of these items are a job unto themselves. Some can take up a huge amount of time when/if something goes wrong. There's plenty to do throughout the year and, if these folks are taking a bit of time off during the summer, it's well-deserved. More likely, their time away is brief due to the fact that the best time to update/replace most of these components is during the summer while school is not in session. For you IT workers out there, if you're dreaming of having your toes in the sand, I hope you don't read this and awake with a fear that you're in quicksand...

Video distribution vendors...

I'm probably oversimplifying their offerings by titling this entry as simply 'video distribution', but these vendors are worth a mention nonetheless:

VBrick presented their IP video solution. They have presented to my region of school districts as well. I think we'll see the CIO role begin to encompass television and video delivery (if it isn't already for your district). The VBrick platform allows for scheduled delivery of video content and provides its own portal for delivery and searching for content. You can use the solution to capture content in multiple formats, store the content on a server for that purpose and play the video either on the desktop or on a separate dedicated display.

We also learned about Mediacast via a local reseller. This seemed to be a competitor to VBrick in many ways. With both solutions, you can encode selected channels from your cable provider. You can copy other media formats (VHS, DVD, etc) into the solution and manage copyrights more effectively by only allowing a licensed number of concurrent copies to play. With the right modules and equipment (like an "OnLocation cart", one could conduct and stream a live broadcast in HD.

Portions of these solutions (encoders, master control units, etc) are eligible for E-Rate discounts under the Internal Connections category. These solutions aren't for everyone, but these types of solutions may become a requirement as the instructional use of video from a variety of sources continues to grow.

A couple of vendor mentions...

I'm at a CIO conference/retreat and thought I'd take a moment to mention several products and vendors who have presented or attended:

M86 Security - An internet security company that had its basis in web (URL) filtering, they are in several KY school districts. Apparently, their latest product offering performs the web filtering, reporting and monitoring on a single box. They also have a secure web gateway product that is used to protect against so much of the malicious code that can be found on the web today.

CIPAFilter - Interesting name and guess what they do? There's a 90-day evaluation and their pricing structure is online and easy enough to follow. It does some context-sensitive searching rather than pure URL-based filter sets.

I'll mention the video distribution vendors later...