Texas extends T1 network to rural sites - Texas Department of Information Resources manager Mark Ansboury - Technology Information - Interview

Communications News, Nov, 1995 by Kevin Tanzillo

It takes a big network to serve a state the size of Texas, and that's the reason Mark Ansboury comes to work ever morning. Ansboury is manager of the Statewide Telecommunications Division of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), the agency behind a project to extend video and data networking into every corner of the state.

"We are developing a backbone T1 video and data service out to rural areas, where we can connect multiple users and share the costs of services. Basically, we are extending the network backbone services further out into the community," says Ansboury. "This started out as a video network service. We are adding a scheduling system for statewide resources and connecting the T1 network into other private networks."

Current plans including linking the video backbone via gateways to a trio of major video networks in Texas, operated by the University of Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. There is also a gateway to the public network and all its services.

"We operate this on a 7-by-24 basis for distance learning applications, telemedicine, basic business conferencing, data services and Internet access," Ansboury says.

DIR provides networking services to any state agency or political subdivision, including K-12 school districts. The department does consulting, design planning, system integration, volume buying and anything else needed the network.

While DIR isn't dictatorial about network equipment supported on the network, Ansboury says it does "try to limit the number of products we use, because from a management perspective it would become a nightmare."

Among the widely deployed products are Teleos switches for the network backbone hubs and access equipment, Larscom CSUs and DSUs for T1 interconnection, Cisco routers an equipment from Compression Labs, VTel and other video equipment vendors.

The network is based on major hubs in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, linking to smaller hubs in rural areas. All hub connections are based on T1 data circuits.

In rural areas, high-capacity network access may not be needed, so the emphasis there is on low-speed links.

"We see the need for low-cost narrow-band access to-day," Ansboury says. "These services are needed for distance learning, videoconfer-encing, telemedicine applications, Internet access and more.

In certain areas, DIR is into projects involving high-bandwidth technologies. In Austin, for instance, a partnership involving the county, city, educational institutions and other government agencies enabled development of fiber rings around the city.

"What we intend to do there is a Sonet-ATM infrastructure that allows us to emulate services for voice, video and data and then migrate to other broadband services," Ansboury explains.

Generally, he says, "We want to facilitate user-based requirements, so users get the service they need and can afford rather than develop infrastructure they can't afford. We have too big a state with too big an investment requirement to make that kind of decision and have it go unused for long."

Telemedicine claims the largest share of network capacity today, but Ansboury sees K- 1 2 schools and community colleges as the biggest growth area today, thanks in part to Texas legislation that created an infrastructure fund, raising $150 million a year, to help K- 1 2 schools buy computer, network and video equipment.

As summer ended, half of the 23 planned hub locations for the narrowband network were in place, with completion targeted for early 1996. As Ansboury says, "from this point we expand based on user requirements. Our rates happen to be anywhere from half to two-thirds the public rates for these services, so we offer a tremendous discount by aggregating the bandwidth out on the edges.

"By extending this backbone we are reducing the cost dramatically and lowering their cost of local access, of course, which is the highest segment for T1-type service."

The network strategy fits the DIR's approach to the changing role of government.

"The future of government is in getting services closer to the people who need them," says Ansboury. "You must facilitate that by implementing a certain kind of infrastructure so citizens can have access to those services."