A Brief History of the Kentish MAN
From the late 1990's UKERNA's strategy has been to use Regional Networks (i.e. MANs) as an essential component of the provision of network services to institutions. UKERNA is also committed to upgrading the national backbone (SuperJANET) to which the MANs are connected.
The Kentish MAN was established with funding from the HEFCE MAN Initiative of 1998-99. Initially four Kent-based HEIs collaborated to draw up a specification and agreed to pay 25% of the £620k total cost with HEFCE paying the remainder. The most cost-effective solution at the time was one based on microwave radio technology which provided 155Mbit/sec ATM circuits at a lower cost than 34Mbit/sec ATM leased lines. Phase I of the Kentish MAN provided connectivity to the main sites from Canterbury to Wye via Chatham, at 155Mbit/sec.
Before Phase I was fully completed, advantage was taken to expand the network under the HEFCE MAN Initiative of 1999-2000. The Kent Institute of Art and Design (KIAD) joined the consortium, and a bid totalling £487k was made to provide 34Mbit/sec connectivity to its three campuses and to subsidiary campuses of the University of Kent in the Medway towns and Canterbury Christ Church University College near Tunbridge Wells. Again 25% of the cost was funded by the partners in proportion to the number of new links to their campuses. The Phase II bid was partially successful. Canterbury Christ Church University College (CCCUC) also funded a connection to its new Thanet campus via the University of Kent. The total cost to HEFCE and the consortium had just exceeded £1m with the consortium paying those costs not covered by HEFCE.
The Kentish MAN's role in the delivery of network services to Higher and Further Education in Kent became a key part of UKERNA's strategy for SuperJANET4. In October 1999 the five HEIs in Kent signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a consortium to operate the Kentish MAN. UKERNA made an allocation of capital funds to each MAN (£144k for the Kentish MAN) and the consortium bid for a further £343k. This was known as Phase III and provided additional resilience by 'completing the ring' from Wye to Canterbury. The bid to purchase the spares holding for the radios to reduce the recurrent costs of the leasing agreement was unsuccessful at this stage but funding was forthcoming at a later date.
The consortium was requested to sign a contract with UKERNA to operate the network from 1st October 2001. After obtaining legal advice, it was decided to form a not-for-profit company, Kent MAN Ltd, to operate the network under an RPAN contract with UKERNA. Kent MAN Ltd was established in April 2002. Founder members of the Kentish MAN consortium became the members of Kent MAN Ltd and are listed below:
| Founder Member | Address |
|---|---|
| Canterbury Christ Church University | North Holmes Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU |
| University of Greenwich | Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS |
| Imperial College London | Wye Campus, High Street, Wye, Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH |
| University of Kent | Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ |
| Kent Institute of Art and Design | Oakwood Park, Maidstone, Kent ME16 8AG |
One of the responsibilities of Kent MAN Ltd is to manage the connections to the various FE Colleges in Kent. Click here for a list of connected sites.
An upgrade plan was designed to accommodate the requirements of the Kent New Technology Institute (KNTI) and capital funding was provided. As far as the Kentish MAN was concerned this resulted in upgrades to network links to most of the FE College sites which for many meant connecting them to the MAN rather than the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) for the first time. Resilience was also increased in parts of the network. Some funding was also used to appoint a fixed term support post for the NOC team. This project is largely complete. The final FEC upgrade has been ordered and will be in place by May 2005 and the additional resilience to Thanet should be in place during the summer of 2005.
In 2004 some 'Quick Wins' funding was forthcoming from UKERNA to replace three radio links that had proved particularly troublesome. It also provided a new router and some consultancy to replace LANE with PVCs. The results have been reflected in improved performance statistics.
In May 2004 Kent MAN Ltd was invited to apply for some additional SuperJANET4 funding from HEFCE. This resulted in an OJEU procurement run to an extremely tight timetable. The result has been the first stage of the new phase of Kentish MAN, 'Kentish MAN II'. Gigabit links using BT Wavestream circuits provided by Logicalis have been installed between Canterbury and Chatham and between Chatham and the University of Greenwich's Avery Hill campus. The latter allowed the completion of the last FEC upgrade under the KNTI programme - the link to North West Kent College at Dartford.
For some time Kent MAN Ltd has been seeking to work with other partners in Kent and this procurement coincided with a new rollout of the Kent Community Network (KCN2) which provides connections to schools and libraries in Kent. A Gigabit Wavestream link has been provided from Chatham to the KCC EIS Centre in Maidstone. UKERNA is providing backhaul for KCN2 via the Kentish MAN's SuperJANET4 connection. KCN2 connects to the Kentish MAN at Maidstone and Canterbury.
The HEFCE SuperJANET4 funding amounted to £1m and a further £400k was provided by the members of Kent MAN Ltd mainly for the Maidstone to Chatham connection. Although this had no immediate benefit for the Kentish MAN it is a strategic component of the planned upgrade programme of Kentish MAN II.