Support is requested for support of costs associated with connecting Navajo Community College to the Internet through participation in the ASPIN project. This project complements NCC's current efforts to develop our information infrastructure, which when completed will provide expanded education and support services to the majority of the residents of the Navajo Nation, an area of approximately the size of West Virginia (25,000 square miles), covering portions of Arizona, new Mexico and Utah. Currently, over 200,000 Navajos live on or near the reservation.

Navajo Community College (NCC) was established in 1968 as the first tribally-controlled community college in the United States. It is an institution build upon the values and philosophies of Native American experience and history and one that occupies a special place within contemporary Navajo society. One of the strengths of NCC is that is stresses instruction that is applicable both to life on the Navajo Nation and to places well beyond its borders.

NCC's main campus is in Tsaile, Arizona; a second campus is in Shiprock, New Mexico. Fifteen years ago, NCC established community academic centers in Window Rock, Chinle, Ganado, and Tuba City, Arizona and Crownpoint, New Mexico. In the intervening years, these community academic centers have grown rapidly and now account for nearly one-half of NCC's total enrollment.

Following this trend, NCC is in the process of developing a single virtual campus which will link all seven campus sites through state-of-the-art information technology, allowing both time-dependent and time-independent teaching modalities, and access to full library services. The entire range of NCC's instructional and support services, and as the infrastructure develops, students will be able to attend NCC, and complete four-year programs, at any of the 111 communities within the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation is actively pursuing industrial development, but the success of these efforts will be contingent on the availability of a skilled workforce. Access to the Internet will allow NCC to expand curricular offerings and student services to accommodate local needs, particularly those for course work in science, mathematics, and technology. Telecommunications offers the only cost-effective way to develop the leadership required to meet the Tribe's economic and human-development goals.
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Arizona is a state with large, isolated rural populations. Through the efforts of ASPIN in partnership with local universities and community colleges, Internet connectivity is now available in most areas of the state. The Navajo Nation with its large land size combined with its small, dispersed populations faces special and unique obstacles in establishing Internet connectivity. Navajo Community College is the last piece of the Arizona connectivity puzzle.

ASPIN has embarked on a multi-phase strategy to ensure that all Arizona's communities are part of the nation's information infrastructure. Phase I connected the urban areas of Arizona with a state-wide backbone extending from Flagstaff through Phoenix and on to Tucson. Connections within these urban areas to the state-wide network are still progressing with over 50 organizations connected in the Phoenix area alone. Phase II through NSF support extended the state-wide backbone to Arizona's rural communities via the state's eight rural community colleges. Funds are requested to connect NCC and thus complete Phase II.

The first part of the project will be to establish Internet connectivity between NCC and Northern Arizona University. Given NCC's low public revenue base and resulting lack of funds, the NSF matching funds requested to allow the school to proceed with their Internet connection.

The second part of the project involves the inclusion of NCC within the ASPIN User Consortium. The Consortium, having just held its most recent March 1995, consists of all organization with Internet connections through ASPIN sites.

The third part of the project involves the implementation of NIC functions within the NCC service area and the inclusion of NCC within the state-wide NIC. This will provide NCC with a blanket of support and ensure that NCC is provided with a comprehensive blanket of support.
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Three fundamental goals motivated the submission of this proposal. They are a desire to:

• Increase access to information services for all Navajo Nation residents;
• Enhance the quality of the academic programs offered to NCC students;
• Provide access to expanded library resources at all campus locations.

The information services available through the Internet (and the support services provided by ASPIN) will significantly advance all three goals.

NCC is developing a multi-campus learning environment providing full connectivity between administration, faculty, and support staff at each site. Access to the Internet at one campus location will allow NCC to provide Internet access to the entire College community at all campus locations, and potentially to Navajo people throughout the Navajo Nation.

A subsequent phase of NCC's information infrastructure project will involve bringing information access to local Navajo communities, or chapters. Every chapter will be provided with at least one workstation with modem connectivity to the NCC wide-area network. Continuing education programs, NCC courses, and specialized databases will be among the services offered to each community in the Navajo Nation. This project is being planned jointly by Navajo Community College, the Navajo Nation, the Indian Health Service, and the public schools.
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Arizona State Public Information Network (ASPIN) Phase II - Rural Community Colleges (In progress, completed by 1995), $634,000, 9/1/93 – 2/29/96, NSF award number NCR-9312089. PI/PD William J. Brand, CO-PI Dr. William E. Lewis.

ASPIN Phase II involves the expansion of the current urban connection to Arizona’s rural communities via eight rural community colleges. Presently at seven months into the project, each rural community college has been connected directly to the Internet through one of the three major urban universities and hence to the world. These university connections allow many benefits. The first is that is provides Arizona’s rural communities with close and cost-effective connections to WESTNET. Second, it allows them to take advantage of the knowledge base that each of the universities has in the field of networking.

ASPIN Phase II has maximized these benefits by establishing a Network Information Center (NIC) at each of the three universities. Each NIC is providing the urban and rural communities in its respective area with a ready reference desk for direct assistance to the Internet end-user as well as providing Yellow and White Page services. The state-wide system of NICS disseminates information and creates a knowledge base at the local level, allowing these communities to be self-sufficient as well as being a reference center for their local communities.
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5. Project Management

Arizona State University and Navajo Community College will be responsible for the overall management of the project. The Principal Co-Investigators will be Dr. William Lewis, Vice Provost of Information Technology at Arizona State University and William J. Brand, ASPIN Project Director.

Navajo Community College has designated its Director of Computer Services as the local site coordinator.

Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff is also cooperating in this project, as the closest connect site for Navajo Community College. (See state map of ASPIN). Northern Arizona University has designated Gary McClellan, the Northern Arizona ASPIN coordinator as the local NAU coordinator for the project.

In its role as submitting member for the consortium, Arizona State University would be named recipient of the award from NSF. Upon receipt of award notification, ASU will issue subgrants to Navajo Community College. These subgrants will be mutually executed documents signed by officials authorized to legally bind their respective institutions. All Federal, State and University flow-down requirements will be incorporated into the subgrant documents to assure full compliance will regulatory mandates.

The subgrant will detail member performance as described within this proposal and also provide the mechanism by which Navajo Community College will be funded for their efforts. ASU would receive the NSF funds via an existing routine Letter of Credit arrangement, and pay out funds to Navajo Community College in response to invoices or payment schedules. ASU financially administers all sponsored funds in accordance with Federally issued cost principles and financial management guidelines as they apply to institutions of higher education.

The President of Navajo Community College is familiar and supportive of this project, and has personally committed their campus to the project and to follow-on costs (see attached letters from participating President). In addition, Navajo Community College has developed it's own plan for utilizing the new network connection to enhance local educational programmatic goals.
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6. Timeline

If NSF funding assistance is granted, the project will be able to start immediately. The project will progress in the two inter-related tracks: the physical Internet connection; and new-campus training.

The project timetable is summarized as follows:

Date of NSF notification:

Schedule first executive briefing/workshop
Deliver the Technical Training Workshop
Prepare equipment procurement paperwork
Order data circuits

Receipt of NSF Funds:

Begin equipment purchases
Schedule user-training sessions
Set up local-site NIC at Navajo Community College
Test and demonstrate new connection

Turnover to end users:

Announcements and user training by local campuses
Continue NOC-related coordination meetings
Begin ASPIN participation in Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development
Begin routine collaboration with AZ Dept of Commerce, and with local Chambers of Commerce & Economic Development agencies

Assessment of Results:

Annual report to NSF via Navajo Community College World Wide Server; (See section 10.0, Clearing House Functions.)
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7. The Current ASPIN Network Configuration

The network facility component of ASPIN is the aggregate of over 250 Internet connections in Arizona which are connected tot he Internet the three State Universities at University of Arizona (Tucson), Arizona State University (Metro Phoenix), and Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff). There are presently about 80 organization connected to this ASPIN backbone. Most of these are in the urban areas of Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, but due to ASPIN Phase II funding from HSF many of the new connections are occurring from the eight rural community colleges. The number of ASPIN's connections will likely continue to triple approximately every 12 months in Arizona's urban and rural areas. The majority of the current connections are dedicated 56 kb and T-1 frame relay. Arizona's major telecommunication provider is not offering frame relay in all the rural areas of Arizona.

All new community college connections to the ASPIN network are standardized on Cisco 4000 router equipment, which gives them the ability to make external Internet connections to their respective community members like K-12s. Configurations vary depending upon the internal structure of the particular campus (e.g., single campus vs. multi-campus).

The community college connection circuits are leading to the nearest (in a cost sense) Westnet node (ASU, NAU, U of A). ASPIN's Westnet node is now Sprintlink.

Each institution has connected their local ethernet to the Cisco router. Hose and workstations connected via this ethernet and are running Internet compatible TCP/IP communication software. Despite varying local infrastructure, institution wide access, and user services, the institutions have met the challenges of networking with TCP/IP by creating local hosts with a myriad of Internet applications. Individual implementation plans are being completed and each community college is progressing to meet new longer term visions.

For example, during the past year the first component was expanded by the Community College project team to cover three types of Internet connection demanded at each site. The types or stages of Internet connectivity being addressed at each ASPIN Community College are: 1. On-campus access (connectivity from the campus desktop by faculty, staff and students); 2. Dial-in access (serial, SLIP and PPP); and 3. External connections from the newly connected rural community colleges to their constituents. The NSF program proposal focuses on stage one connectivity, but in the remaining year it is the intention of the current project team to assist community colleges in working toward state two and three developments along with more robust Internet applications on the desktops. Many of the institutions will complete all three states of Internet connectivity for their respective community and the State. The current concerns at many of the campuses is not the connectivity, but information services. All of the institutions are committed to continue the funding for the Internet connections when the grant expires and to offer greater information services and connectivity. Navajo Community College also has plans to implement their Internet in much the same zeal, but to the whole Navajo Community covering four states.
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8. User Consortium

The ASPIN User Consortium members are Arizona organizations with connections to the Internet, and others who support the ASPIN mission of Internet connectivity and information services. ASPIN has currently over 80 direct connects to the backbone and over 200 downstream connections, which converts to over 250 consortium members. Most member organizations are one of these types:

• College or University (All Universities and Community Colleges in Arizona except Navajo Community College
• Industry (Primarily high tech or information-based)
• Library
• K-12 school
• Biomedical Research or Health Care
• Economic development agency
• Government agency (City, county, state)

The purpose for the Consortium will be to provide a forum for members to collaborate, and to participate in the following Consortium activities:

• Peer usage assistance
• Aid to newcomers
• Coordination of operational and technical matters affecting their mutual interconnections
• Publicity of networking benefits, outcomes, and opportunities
• Development of joint projects and services of mutual interest
• Mutual Coordination and Support

ASPIN members will share a common interest in using the Internet for:

• Education
• Research and development
• Technology transfer
• Information-intensive public services
• Community Service (Free-net Access)
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9. Connections Program

9.1 Network Operations Center

As a member of the ASPIN Consortium, Navajo Community College will be supported by, and have access to Network Operations Center (NOC) functions.

The NOC functions for ASPIN have been shared very successfully over the last seven years between the Westnet NOC, Arizona State University, and University of Arizona. The NOC functions referred to here include those listed below in Table 9.1, Ultimate responsibility for in-state operations of ASPIN will be assumed by the ASPIN Consortium; but continue to be contracted to ASU and University of Arizona technical experts.

Local routers and other equipment involved in the network connection will be the property and maint4enance responsibility of the local campus where the equipment resides.

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Table 9.1

Network Operations Center (NOC) Services Being Provided by

ASU, NAU and Westnet

 

• Maintenance of equipment
• Routing and addressing of information through the hub
• Monitor network status, performance and workloads
• Keep statistical records of network traffic and performance
• Provide reports of services and outages
• Manage problem events
• Notify users of status and problems
• Trials of new technologies and products
• Liaison with other network operations centers
• Design and control of network configurations

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9.2 Physical Internet Connection

If NSF funding is granted, a 56 Kbs DDS data circuit will be installed by Sprint between Navajo Community College and Northern Arizona University. The data circuit leads to the nearest (in a cost sense) Westnet node (ASU, NAU, U of A). Due to lata issues in Arizona, the data circuit must be provided by a long distance carrier such as Sprint, rather than a local carrier. A 56 Kbs line is specified due to the prohibitive cost of a T1 or Fractional-T1 data circuit. The cost of T1 data-circuit between NAU and Tsaile Arizona is approximately $11,718.45 per month.

The installed 56Kbs data circuit will provide a gateway to the Internet through its connection to Northern Arizona University; where it reaches the ASPIN, state wide backbone. The connection will provide Internet service to remote campuses place throughout the Navajo reservation. These remote campuses will be interconnected into a single, Wide Area Network (WAN) that services the entire Navajo Nation.

After installation of the data circuit, a Cisco 4000 router and CSU/DSU will be installed to complete the dedicated Internet gateway. The Navajo Community College ethernet LAN and WAN will be connected to the gateway to reach the Internet. Hosts and workstations connected to the gateway via this ethernet will run Internet compatible TCP/IP communication software.
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9.3 Network Information Center

A critical part of this network expansion to Navajo Community College is the coordinated start-up and training for local end-users at the new site. This provides for training of a chief technician responsible for the newt5ork on each campus. It also provides for a "train-the-trainer" program so that NCC users will have first resort self-sufficiency through its local end-user support. Training and support will be provided by a NIC staff person who will serve as a point-of-contact and disseminator of knowledge concerning the Internet.

In addition, NCC will be incorporated into the existing structure of the ASPIN Network Information Center (NIC). The ASPIN NIC is a state-wide, one-stop ready reference point for anyone in Arizona who has questions on the Internet. Currently there are three NIC field offices state-wide with eight more in the planning stages. NCC users will be able to access the ASPIN NIC through either phone, e-mail, or fax. The ASPIN NIC offers the following services:

Yellow Pages: How to find resources on the Internet

White Pages: How to find people on the Internet

Help Desk: General point of contact for questions on connecting to and using the Internet
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10. Clearing House Functions

Navajo Community College will establish a World Wide Web (WWW) server as part of the project efforts. The WWW server will provide clearing house functions that include publishing progress, status, and final reports concerning the grant project. These reports will be available via the WWW server to NSF and the public at large over the Internet.

The WWW server will also provide a clearing house for Internet related questions from any of the remote campuses on the Navajo Community College WAN.
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11. Navajo Community College Long Range Plan

Navajo Community College's primary mission is to provide educational as well as other services which will promote the social development of the Navajo people. Given the physical remoteness and isolation of many of the Navajo communities which the College is to serve, information and telecommunication technologies have been identified as the vehicle through which the College can best fulfill its mission.

Connection to the Internet represents an essential early phase in NCC's long-term plans. NCC's vision for the Navajo people is, in addition to universal access to the educational resources available through the Internet, special cultural, economic, health, agricultural, as well as other information services designed specifically for the unique needs of the Navajo people. These serves will be designed to maximize the applicability of state-of-the-art information technologies to Navajo socio-economic development needs.

NCC's long-term goal is to develop and support the Navajo information infrastructure, provide training and otherwise facilitate its use, and in general help the Navajo people evolve their own strategy for employing information technologies as part of a comprehensive effort to raise the quality of life of all residents of the Navajo Nation.

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