1 of 6

CC* Regional: Integrating the Colorado Western Slope Research and Education (R&E) Community

into the National R&E Infrastructure

June 12, 2024

Marla Meehl (PI), Scot Colburn (PI), Scott Baily (Project Manager), John Hernandez (Senior Personnel)

FRGP

​

2 of 6

FRGP-Western Slope (FRGP-WS) Project Summary

This project will provide research and education (R&E) organizations on the Western Slope the infrastructure to aggregate their network traffic and fully participate in the Front Range GigaPoP (FRGP), the Research and Education Network (REN) serving Colorado and Wyoming

  • We propose to build a unique virtual network access system to bridge the digital divide to the Colorado Western Slope
  • Leverage existing network infrastructure owned and operated by Region 10, a non-profit Council of Governments, to connect R&E organizations to the FRGP
  • The FRGP-Western Slope (FRGP-WS) network will connect communities that include Colorado Mesa University (CMU), Western Colorado University (WCU), and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), enabling new R&E initiatives.
  • Will work to develop relationships with local ISPs via Region 10 to extend the virtual network to Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs)
  • Result of a NSF CC* Planning Grant

Click to add footer

3 of 6

Click to add footer

4 of 6

Click to add footer

5 of 6

Measuring Success

  • All three entities will be connected to the FRGP over Region 10 infrastructure at 10 Gbps or greater
  • A proven process will exist for Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) to connect to Research and Education Networks (RENs) utilizing a virtual network
  • Researchers and educators at CMU, RMBL, and WCU will be utilizing 10 Gbps connectivity to R&E resources via the FRGP
  • Network performance improvements have been confirmed using PerfSONAR, an active measurement tool
  • Globus, a service that easily moves large data sets, is deployed and made available to researchers

Click to add footer

6 of 6

Status

  • Funding received April 2024
  • Charter drafted
  • Team communications set-up and initiated:
    • email lists
    • recurring meetings
  • Reviewing detailed designs with each stakeholder
  • Region 10 continues to build out the required network infrastructure, e.g. fiber IRUs, routers
  • Build out a testbed housed at UCAR/FRGP for virtual routing proof of concept
  • EPOC training for team
  • Outreach: Westnet, CHECO, Mountain Connect, RMACC

Click to add footer