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FWD from CANET-NEWS mailing list, 10Gb Lambda RFQ

  • From: Eric Kuhnke
  • Date: Tue May 27 07:26:49 2003

Once this is turned up, Canada will have a 20Gb Vancouver to Montreal research/govt/edu network.  Major interconnection points for Abilene are, afaik, Startap in Chicago and the Westin building in Seattle (2001 W. 6th).

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Subject: [news] RFP for an additional wavelength for CA*net 4 for TransLight

For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical
Internet program web site at http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html
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[This document is also available in Word Format on request - BSA]

Request for Proposals

For the procurement of a CA*net 4 national lambda

In support of the TransLight project


1.0 Purpose of document

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to solicit offers from
carriers, Optical Regional Advanced Networks (ORANs), and other
telecommunications facility and/or service providers wishing to provide CANARIE
Inc.  an additional 10 Gbps lambda for the CA*net 4 network in support of
CANARIE�s commitments to the TransLight project.  See section 2.0 for
additional details.

1.1 CA*net 4 Background and Objectives

In August 2001, CANARIE issued an RFI for CA*net 4 network wavelengths and
equipment services.  The CA*net 4 network was designed as the successor to the
highly acclaimed CA*net 3 network, with a similar objective of building a
national backbone network infrastructure linking provincial research networks,
universities, colleges, research centers, schools and other eligible sites for
the facilitation of scientific and educational collaboration among these
constituencies.

In December 2001 Federal budget, Finance Minister Paul Martin announced $110
million funding for the CA*net 4 network program.  Shortly thereafter, as an
outcome of the RFI process, CANARIE awarded Group Telecom (now part of 360
Networks) and Big Pipe (a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaw cable) the business
of provisioning the initial 10 Gbps wavelengths that make up the CA*net 4
network.

These companies are not excluded for responding to this RFP. However, through
this RFP process, CANARIE wishes to provide the opportunity for other carriers,
ORANs and/or other organizations to participate in the deployment of CA*net 4
and in the development of the unique customer empowered technology that is part
of that program.

1.2 TransLight Background and Objectives

In April 2003, CANARIE, StarLight in Chicago and SURFnet in Netherlands entered
into an agreement to create the TransLight global scale lambda networking
initiative that will supports prototypes of the most aggressive e-science
applications coming this decade. TransLight consists of many provisioned
circuits (called lightpaths) interconnecting North American, European and Asian
optical exchanges such as StarLight in Chicago and the NetherLight in
Amsterdam.
TransLight enables grid researchers to experiment with deterministic
provisioning of dedicated circuits, and then compare results with standard and
experimental aggregated Internet traffic. Methods to be tested and compared
include moving large amounts of data, supporting real-time collaboration and
visualization, and enabling globally distributed computing at rates that equal
the fast proliferation of such facilities.
During the first year, the parties to the TransLight collaboration have
committed to the following:
�	University of Illinois Chicago is contracting SURFnet to provide a 10Gb
transoceanic link between North America and Europe, with half the bandwidth for
TransLight experimental networking purposes, and half for Abilene, CA*net4 and
G�ANT production networking purposes, effectively matching the contributions by
the European Commission/G�ANT to connect to US high-performance networks and to
Canada�s CA*net 4.
�	Internet2 will provide a 10Gb domestic connection from Abilene�s Point of
Presence (PoP) at Qwest�s facility in Chicago to StarLight, to connect to
co-located or lambda-connected clusters and servers.
�	CANARIE will provide a CA*net 4 transcontinental 10Gbps lambda connection
across Canada, from the StarLight facility to the New York and Seattle CA*net 4
PoPs.
�	Euro-Link partner SURFnet currently provides its own separate OC-192 link
between NetherLight and StarLight, primarily intended for experimental
networking purposes. In addition, SURFnet provides an OC-192 link to CERN,
creating a �lambda triangle� to Chicago with the DataTAG/CERN link.
�	Euro-Link partner DataTAG/CERN will provide a 10Gbps link from CERN�s
facilities in Geneva, Switzerland to StarLight, half for production networking
and half for experimental networking.
�	The StarLight facility�s switching capacity, funded through other NSF awards
and agreements, will be improved to handle several 10Gbps circuits and hundreds
of lightpaths through electronic and optical switching.
Other nations and entities will be invited to participate in TransLight.

2.0 Project Details and Objectives


In the following sections, responders to this RFP are termed "applicants".

The applicant is requested to provide pricing and other details, on a segment
by segment basis, for the one time cost of provisioning a 10 Gbps lambda across
Canada running in parallel with the existing CA*net 4 10 Gbps facilities.  In
particular, CANARIE and its partners are looking for a solution which addresses
CANARIE�s immediate needs, but which can also be easily expanded at a later
date, for a small incremental cost, to meet additional needs of CANARIE or of
other organizations.

The pricing should include all charges for maintenance, local loops, etc., and
should be for a period of time coterminous with the contract for CANARIE�s
existing lambdas provided by Group Telecom and Big Pipe.  That contract is
currently set to expire in September 2007.

The applicant is responsible for the provisioning of all local loops,
transponders and other equipment required to deliver the lambda to CANARIE�s
CA*net 4 equipment.  The CA*net 4 node locations are detailed in Appendix A.

CANARIE reserves the right to contract for the 10 Gbps lambda independently, on
a segment by segment basis and over a period of time.  This includes the
possibility of awarding contracts to different applicants for different
segments and electing, at some future date, not to deploy one of the offered
segments. The required segments, in order of deployment priority, are as
follows:

Segment 1: Chicago-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal
Segment 2: Seattle- Calgary or Seattle-Vancouver
Segment 3: Chicago-Winnipeg-Regina-Calgary
Segment 4: Calgary-Edmonton or Vancouver-Edmonton
Segment 5: Vancouver-Calgary
Segment 6: Montreal-New York or Toronto-New York


3.0 Review of Submissions and Next Steps

CANARIE Inc. will be solely responsible for the review of the responses to this
RFP and the decision as to the appropriate next step.

CANARIE and its partners will pay particular attention to the following
considerations in reviewing the responses to this RFP and in any subsequent
round of proposal review:

(a)	The applicant�s overall price for functionality that addresses the
collective needs of CANARIE�s clients' research needs and those needs of its
TransLight partners;
(b)	A solution that allows for easy expansion, for a small incremental cost, to
meet additional needs at a later date; and
(c)	The ability to deliver the facilities in a timely and efficient manner.

As discussed above, the result of the RFP response evaluation will depend on a
number of factors, and could include result in the issuing of one or more
additional formal RFPs or the entering into of formal contracts with one or
more applicant.  Note that only respondents to this RFP will be eligible to
respond to any subsequent RFP as a result of the evaluation of this RFP's
responses.

CANARIE and its participants also reserve the right to select and combine
partial solutions from different vendor�s submissions.



4.0 How to respond

Electronic submissions are invited from companies and organizations with an
interest in participating in the proposed.

Parties interested in responding to this RFP are requested to notify CANARIE by
May 30, 2003 of their intent to do so. CANARIE staff are available to meet with
individual applicants and discuss the details and requirements of this RFP.

The formal closing date for this RFP and for the submission of detailed
proposals to CANARIE is June 20, 2003 12:00 Noon EDT. All proposals should be
submitted electronically using PDF, HTML, MS Word or PowerPoint formats.

The official CANARIE contact for this RFP, to whom all requests and
communications should be addressed, is:

Bill St. Arnaud
Senior Director, Advanced Networks
CANARIE Inc.
[email protected]


Appendix A:  CA*net 4 Node Locations



	CA*net 4 node location

Montreal, Quebec	Collocated with GTsuite 621 - 1000, rue Sherbrooke
ouest,Montr�al, QCContact is Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604
Ottawa, Ontario	Collocated with GT264 Albert Street,Ottawa, ONContact is Ren�
Hatem (613) 944.5604
Toronto, Ontario	Collocated with GT4th floor - 151 Front StreetToronto,
ONContact is Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604
Winnipeg, Manitoba	Collocated with GT1 Wesley AvenueWinnipeg, MBContact is Ren�
Hatem (613) 944.5604
Regina, Saskatchewan	Collocated with GT1250 South Railway StreetRegina,
SKContact is Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604
Calgary, Alberta	Collocated with GT 115, 9th Avenue SECalgary, ABContact is
Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604
Edmonton Alberta	Collocated with GT Main floor - 10032, 103 StreetEdmonton,
ABT5J 0X2Contact is Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604
Vancouver, British Columbia	BCnetsuite 600 - 515 West HastingsVancouver BCSite
contact is Marilyn Hay 604.822.4127
New York, New York	Collocated with NYSERnet32 Avenue of the AmericasSite
contact is Bill Owens 315.413.0345
Chicago, Illinois	StarLightNorthwestern University710 North Lakeshore
DriveChicago ILSite contact is Tim Ward 847.467.1449
Seattle, Washington	Collocated with Colocenterssuite 1800 - 2001, 6th
AvenueSeattle, WASite contact is Ren� Hatem (613) 944.5604







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Bill St. Arnaud
Senior Director Network Projects
CANARIE
[email protected]
+1 613 944-5603

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