NJEDge.Net - The New Jersey Higher Education Network

VRG Meeting Minutes - July 11, 2001

George Carroll, Chuck Muller, Bill Reynolds, Tom Lancaster, Bart Coma, Sheri Prupis, George Laskaris, Charles McMickle, Tony Selimo, Tony Bruzaitis, Jefferson Sampson, Bob Bonardi, Lee Kobis, Richard Moos, Emil Kaumtz, Stephan Antonucci, Ron Loniker, John Diglio, Jack Dirr, Tony Carfora, Mike Muller, Ron Fresta

MEETING NOTES:

Tony Selimo welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. He also thanked George Laskaris for his expert guidance of the entire NJEDge.Net effort.

George Laskaris reported on the status of the network including recent work of Verizon. He noted the addition of technical staff to the Verizon team, the acquisition of Internet addresses (Class B) for the network, weekly NJEDge.Net staff/Verizon planning meetings, the implementation profile being developed, planned site visits, the Access N.J. effort to receive a grant and the complexity of the political situation in N.J. He said that it looks like October or November to have the network operating.

This grant from Verizon to NJEDge.Net was discussed and George responded to questions about it.

G.Carroll commented on his visit to the University of Oregon to learn about the Oregon network called NERO.

Charlie McMickle reported on the status of the State of N.J., bid process for CODEC equipment. OIT and Access N.J. are involved along with the Department of Education. Sony and TANBERG are protested the wording in the bid document and attorneys are now involved in the process. There has been some protest regarding ANJ's certification process for CODEC 3 equipment.

FVC has made progress with Click-To-Meet working with the CISCO gatekeeper. A white paper on the topic has been distributed to VRG members by FVC.

George Laskaris and Charlie reinforced the point that equipment/vendor compatibility issues are crucial and the key vendors are working on these issues.

Charlie recommended this web site for excellent information on video networking. www.cavner.org

Forgent representatives gave a presentation covering the services of their company. They have developed a network management product, primarily for video networks. They are not part of VTEL but they service VTEL products. A printed summary of their presentation was distributed. Their corporate headquarters is located in Austin, Texas.

Ron Fresca invited the VRG to hold a meeting at their King of Prussia testing lab.

Tony Selimo led a discussion of a possible NJEDge.Net /VRG event in March of 2002. A number of topics were suggested. It is important to identify the target audience. The focus will be faculty. Sheri Prupis agreed to chair the event committee. Volunteers are needed for the committee. All agreed this is a good idea.

The next meeting will be held on September 12th. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month.