Federal government drags heels on funding for next-generation optical network

RFI going ahead anyway

The lease on Canada’s primary research network expires next July, yet CANARIE Inc has still received no commitment from the federal government on funding to replace the university-based intranet. Dr Andrew Bjerring, the organization’s president and CEO, says he’s still optimistic that upwards of $150 million to build its much coveted CA*net 4 optical network will appear as a line item in the next Budget — whether later this year or in February — but the uncertainty is making it difficult to plan for a transition.

As such, CANARIE is going ahead and soliciting interest from private sector companies which may be interested in forming a consortium to bid on the project. A review committee has already been established to oversee the project, and a request for information (RFI) is expected in early fall.

“We’re looking at initiating that prior to a formal funding commitment from government, indicating obviously in the RFI that we have no commitment from government and it’s possible that this may not receive funding,” says Bjerring. “We want to hear from potential partners on what their interests are and based on that input we will look at what our preferred approach would be. Hopefully by then we’d have enough confirmation from government that a more formal RFP (request for proposal) process would be appropriate.”

It seems inconceivable that the federal government won’t ante up some money for a new network, considering that it provides the main communications link for research conducted between all universities in Canada. Established in 1998 with $55 million in federal funding, CA*net 3 provides universities with guaranteed bandwidth, allowing for faster data transmission than is available on the commercial Internet.

Researchers view the network as a critical underpinning of the government’s stated objective to see Canada rise in global R&D spending from 15th to 5th by 2010.

“It seems to us very fundamental,” says Bjerring. It adds credibility to the (government’s) desire to be ranked in the top five in R&D in the world. It would be the opposite of credibility if it maintained that claim and yet cut out their research networks.”

Bjerring says the price to replace CA*net 3 will depend on what the private sector partners are willing to contribute, the number of years the federal funding is allocated over, and what network architecture is chosen. He estimates that the government’s portion may work out to be just over $15 million annually, or $150 million over 10 years. “By and large, we’re not looking at an increase in the annual commitment for this activity, not a significant one in any event.”

CANARIE’s preference is for a totally new national network – called CA*net 4 – that would include wavelengths to Europe and parts of the Asia Pacific region. The Dutch have established a similar network and are looking to collaborate with North American networks in sharing international wavelengths. “We would really hope to be one of the potential partners with them,” says Bjerring.

In the meantime, CA*net 3 is quickly reaching capacity. Research initiatives such as the the explosion in bioinformatics and other super computing across the country require huge amounts of bandwidth. The extension of the network to high schools and colleges is also pushing up demand.

If it’s not possible to get a replacement network up and running by next July, Bjerring says they will have to look at contingency plans. “By going through the RFI process, we would at least know what the price tag would be to stop the network from going black,” he explains. “But if we need help and it isn’t forthcoming, then something could go dark. We’re certainly not suggesting that’s imminent by any stretch. That would be the ultimate consequence of inaction every step of the way for the next year. And I’m assuming that won’t happen.”

R$