Version 1.3 th
Released 11
Revised 25 th
April 2007
February, 2008
1.
General
Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN) is a part of the overall vision and objectives of IT Action Plan that was launched by Prof. Dr. Ata-ur-Rahman as Minister of
Science and Technology. At the time of its inception, the project was financed by the
Government of Pakistan in cooperation with PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company
Limited) Research and Development funds. The network was designed, operated, and maintained by NTC (National Telecommunication Corporation) and it is now managed by
Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
The project is aimed towards establishing an integral part of the overall education system of the country and is designed to interlink all public/private sector chartered universities/degree awarding institutes registered with Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. The interconnectivity of all these universities/institutes will empower its users in establishing integrated data banks, collaboration for research and development activities and uplifting the overall standard of teaching and learning across the country as per the international norms.
The network is comprised of a high-speed backbone network connecting main hub locations in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi Cities. From these main hub locations, radial spur circuits extend to numerous communities throughout the country. Capabilities of the network include
H.323 video conferencing and centralized scheduling, intra-network data connectivity, and external connection to the commodity Internet (I1) and the high-speed research and education network, called as REN.
2.
Background and Definitions
2.1
This Network Connection Policy defines the conditions under which organizations may be given connectivity to PERN.
2.2
PERN is the acronym of the Pakistan Education & Research Network, a nationwide educational intranet connecting premier education and research institutes and providing high-speed internet bandwidth across a national network.
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2.3
The Purpose of PERN is to support collaborative working, teaching, learning and research within the PERN communities and to serve the user communities of the
PERN (NREN) for their activities related to research and education, as well as to the management, administration, and information oriented tasks.
2.4
PERN services are all those network services available on the basis of the PERN infrastructure.
2.5
PERN resources are all those tangible and intangible assets, hardware equipment and software tools, as well as human workforce, involved in operation of PERN infrastructure and PERN services.
2.6
International traffic is the traffic between the PERN and any other international
Public network (Internet).
2.7
International traffic of the NRENs is the traffic between the PERN and any other
NRENs or network of NRENs of the world.
2.8
Last Mile Connectivity is connection between Organization and nearest circuit termination point to take the traffic further to PERN aggregation points or Host organization
3.
Type of Connections
Two types of Connection are offered and defined as follows
3.1
Primary Connection is one provided by PERN Directly to the organization and delivers the full range of services specified in the PERN Service Level Agreement
(SLA)
3.2
Sponsored Connection is provided by an organization with consent of PERN that holds a PRIMARY connection and is not subject to the PERN SLA
4.
Categories Of Organizations
The Categorization of the organizations for this Connection Policy are given below
4.1
Category I
Public Sector chartered universities/degree awarding institutes registered with
Higher Education Commission of Pakistan
4.2
Category II
Private Sector chartered universities/degree awarding institutes registered with
Higher Education Commission of Pakistan
4.3
Category III
Organizations involved primarily with the delivery or support of education and research but whose purpose is not wholly the teaching or learning
4.3.1
Public libraries, either directly or via local or unitary authorities.
4.3.2
Not for profit museums, galleries and archives both publicly and privately funded.
4.3.3
Organizations broadly involved in promoting learning activities and with express sponsorship from a collaborating HE Institution or Research
Council
4.4
Category IV
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Organizations working with or linked with education or research or with other public sector services, and organizations wishing to receive or deliver educational or research services from or to the PERN community
4.4.1
Local or unitary authorities and other public sector bodies, for the purpose of delivering lifelong learning along with other services that cannot be disaggregated from lifelong learning services
4.4.2
Not for profit professional bodies (e.g. Institute of Electrical Engineers,
British Computer Society, The Institute of Physics, etc.).
4.4.3
Commercial organizations including those on science and business parks, innovation centers, research units and incubator units, and spinout companies wishing to collaborate with the PERN community on research, learning or teaching, or wishing to receive learning, research or development services from members of the PERN community
4.4.4
Commercial organizations such as electronic publishers and content and applications services providers wishing to deliver non-chargeable or chargeable services to the PERN community
4.5
Category V
Organizations wishing to use PERN for purposes other than teaching, learning or collaborative research
4.5.1
Partner organizations allied to education or research and collaborating on teaching, learning, research or development with the sponsoring organization, where the organizations wish to use PERN to support their normal activities.
4.5.2
Local and unitary authorities and other public sector bodies for other public sector activities not directly concerned with learning, but where the use of PERN is to the benefit of the local community or to the public in general
5.
Eligibility to Connect
5.1
“Category I” organizations are provided with the primary connection if agreed
PERN policies with the permission of PERN Principal
5.2
“Category II” organizations are provided with a PRIMARY connection with the permission of the PERN Principal. This permission is normally granted through a request from the organization to HEC
5.3
Any “Category I” and “Category II” organization having more than one campus with in the 50 km range will be treated as single organization and connection would be provided at primary location. Campuses will be provided with a SPONSORED
Connection at the discretion of its main organization, provided that the organization receiving the connection is eligible to do under the provisions of this
Connection Policy
5.4
Any other Category III, IV, V organizations may be provided with a PRIMARY
Connection with the permission of the PERN Principal. This permission is normally granted on a case-by-case basis through a request from the organization to
HEC
5.5
Any other Category III, IV, V organizations may be given connectivity through a
SPONSORED Connection at the discretion of the host organization, provided that
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the organization receiving the connection is eligible to do so under the provisions of this Connection Policy
5.6
Organization having Primary Connection can offer sponsor connections with the permission of PERN Principal and may request more bandwidth for SPONSORED
Connections.
5.7
All use of PERN by any connected organization is subject to the PERN Acceptable
Use Policy (AUP).
5.8
Private Sector university will ensure the availability of all required hardware and establishment of last mile from its own resources
5.9
University will have to provide the information regarding Network Equipment installed at their premises as per Form - PI
5.10
University will be bound to provide any information which deem necessary as and when required
5.11
For PERN correspondence, each university will be required to create an email address as PERN@universitydomain.edu.pk
.e.g. PERN correspondence email address for NUST would be PERN@nust.edu.pk
.
5.12
HEC will initially provide 8 IP(s) to all new Universities, In case University requires additional 8 IP(s), then the University is required to provide relevant
information: for additional 16 IP(s) university will have to provide the
clarification and justification. If University requires more then 32 IP(s) then HEC will analyze and explore the case and if the request is justified then IP(s) will be issued. This policy is only applicable for IPv4.
6.
PERN Connectivity Charges
The fee structure for PERN reflects a very cost-effective investment in nextgeneration networking for research and education. Further, it follows the PERN principles of stewardship of member resources, equitable sharing of costs, and sustaining a long-term, financially viable and technologically advanced network
6.1
Billing will be charged on quarterly (i.e. Three (03) months) basis in advance, however charges will start from commissioning date
6.2
Any adjustment required in billing will be made on subsequent bills
6.3
PERN bandwidth rates per E1 will be USD 1250 per month (i.e. USD 3750 per quarter).
6.4
In addition to the bandwidth charges, there will be Operation and Maintenance
(O&M) charges as per following scheme,
6.4.1
O&M for DRS equipment for a university having DRS at its last mile will be Rs.21,000 per quarter
6.4.2
O&M for Radio equipment for a university having Radio at its last mile will be Rs. 9000 per quarter.
6.4.3
O&M charges for Last Mile Fiber for a university will be Rs.19000 per
Kilometer per quarter.
6.4.4
O&M charges for last mile connectivity of a university requesting for a new connectivity to PERN will depend upon the medium used as mentioned above.
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6.4.5
Intranet Bandwidth charges (if requested by Organization) will be Rs.
1,750 per Km per annum and will be applicable for the Last Mile
Connectivity.
7.
Funding for Organizations
7.1
Organizations of Category – I are entitled for up to 50% waiver in Bandwidth
Charges.
7.2
Organizations of Category – II are entitled for up to 50% waiver in Bandwidth
Charges as per the Government of Pakistan’s Declaration for Public Funding.
8.
Compliance and Non-Conformity Clauses
Once the connectivity is established and commissioned under this NCP, university/ institute will be required to comply all terms and conditions elaborated in here and any subsequent amendments/ addendums as time to time communicated to the university in form of revised version of NCP. Each university will be required to,
8.1
Submit after completing the Form - PII which is available at www.pern.edu.pk
within 45 days from the commissioning date. In case the Form - PII is not received to PERN Principal in the given period then PERN connectivity may be discontinued.
8.2
Submit all information as requested by PERN Principal. Any information submitted by the university if found incorrect/fake, HEC will reserve the right to disconnect the PERN Connectivity or take necessary action.
This NCP will be regularly reviewed and revised in accordance with any eventual changes in the PERN infrastructure and PERN resources and its future amended texts will be approved by the management of PERN Principal. Moreover, the current form of this NCP has been agreed upon by the member bodies of the PERN and PERN principal.
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