This FAQ is intended to help exlain the minimum specifications and the procedures of implementing them. Any questions about this FAQ should be directed to the project management staff at UNC General Administration or the consulting team. If questions are sent to Henry Schaffer (hes@ga.unc.edu) he will make sure they are routed to the appropriate person.

The campus backbone minimum spec is:

3. Campus Backbone

The campus backbone minimum specification refers only to the speed at which all buildings on a campus must connect to each other. (For backbone network physical specs see Main Distribution Frame.)

• Campus backbone network connections will be at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) switched (minimum)

The current reasonable choices for a new backbone are Fast/Gigabit Ethernet and ATM/SONET. The IP over SONET technology is not quite here, and the "IP over light" is a bit further off - so neither appears to be a good choice today.

3/17/99

Cat 5 Enhanced (Cat 5 E) is now available, but has not yet been accepted as a standard. Cat 6 standardization is even further out, so that anything purchased as Cat 6 today very well may not be in compliance with the standard when it is accepted. Cat 7 is even further away.

At this time Cat 5 E is more expensive than Cat 5. The cable itself costs perhaps 20 - 25% more. The installation labor should not be changed.

An interesting white paper about new cabling directions is available from AMP. It gives AMP's perspective, but it is a general overview worth reading.

3/18/99

An article "Cabling Performance Impact on the Cost of Gigabit Ethernet" reviews the electronic requirements vs. cable performance, and discusses the cost tradeoffs. While it speculates about future developments, it makes a good case for using Cat 5E (aka "upgraded" Cat 5) in current 10 or 100 Mbps installations in order to facilitate future upgrades to gigabit. A full slide presentation including the illustrations is available under the same title. The slides provide additional information beyond that in the article. There are also other informative slide presentations at this site.

(This site is run by BICSI, which is an international not-for-profit telecommunications association which serves and supports telephone company building industry consultants (BICs) responsible for the design and distribution of telecommunications wiring in commercial and multi-family buildings. There is more information available at this site.)

4/27/99

The flexibility that the campuses have is described in the memo which was sent to the Chancellors:

April 14, 1999
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Chancellors
FROM: Judith Pulley
SUBJECT: Campus Network Infrastructure (Phase 1 of ITS)

During the last meeting of the Network Development Project Advisory Council it was recommended that a policy be developed that addresses specifically the use of baseline funds to pay for campus network technology that exceeds the baseline specifications. Several campuses have expressed concerns that the baseline specifications are not robust enough to meet their campus's programmatic needs in some specialized areas. Current policy permits a campus to install network technology that provides "above baseline" capabilities provided that:

• the incremental cost is sufficiently small that it doesn't endanger the campus's ability to complete the network build-out to the baseline within the requested funding. The campus is encouraged to describe this situation in its request for funding approval. (For example: A campus wants to use the newer Cat 5E specification instead of the authorized Cat 5 standard. The cost difference for the wiring [with supporting documentation] is only 5% and the campus has shown that it will still meet the objective of wiring the entire campus.); or
• although the installation represents a substantial deviation above baseline, the campus is prepared to fund the additional costs from other sources.

• Describe the scope, cost, and proportion of the overall request that is above baseline.
• Provide information describing the campus/department functionality that requires this level of "above baseline" investment. Provide information explaining why this is in the best interest of the campus.
• Describe the portion of the campus baseline infrastructure which will be implemented below the baseline, or that will not be implemented if the campus moves its baseline funds to these other areas. (This portion of the campus network infrastructure should not include academic facilities used for teaching or research). State that this is why the campus has made this trade-off and that you take responsibility for this decision. Also indicate what your future plans are for bringing these areas up to baseline.

Our basic policy is that each campus should use its baseline network funds to implement the baseline standard across the entire campus and to fund any "above baseline" portions of its networks from sources other than the funds allocated to this project. However, there may be particular cases on your campus where it would be more prudent and cost effective in the long run to go above baseline for specific purposes. In these circumstances, you should request an exception to the original funding as described above with an assurance that you remain committed to accomplishing the full plan, but that the timing and sources of dollars used as the plan is being implemented may differ from the original plan.

We presented the General Assembly with a plan and a course of action that committed us to wiring every campus to at least the baseline specification. Consequently, we do not want to have to explain that, even through they provided the funding, we did not achieve the stated goal. In other words, we do not plan to seek funds in a future session to correct the below-baseline conditions that your decision would create. It would be your responsibility to supply the additional funds at a future date.

4/14/99

The baseline spec is for 10 Mbps switched ports. The prices of 10/100 (preferably autosense) and 100 have been falling, and are now approximately at last year's 10 cost. However 10 prices have also been falling, leaving a gap which depends on the brand/model.

If there is an additional cost, it will be covered by the policy on "above baseline" expenditures.

3/19/99

No. The brands/models "or equivalent" are understood to have been approved. It is also understood that the prices will be equivalent (or lower.)

4/14/99

Last changed 4/27/99