| CNIC Initiative |
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| Frequently Asked Questions |
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June 13, 2005 - Rumors
Q1. There appears to be no group which in charge of disaster recovery. It was believed that the Business Continuity Planning group was going to handle it, but someone familiar with that process has said it is outside their scope. Is there a group that is handling DR?
The Business Continuity Planning effort is being conducted for the entire state, not for CNIC. However, some of the analysis from the BCP effort is important to CNIC and the disaster recovery plan. The CNIC Steering Committee requested that a disaster recovery strategy be completed during Stage Two (detailed design, the current stage). The disaster recovery strategy is intended to be the reference/guide for disaster recovery planning and implementation planning.
Q2. There seems to be no plan to provide redundant data connections to the state data center facility.
Primary fiber optic communications to the state data center is via a Qwest Self-Healing Network Service (SHNS) ring. It is a dedicated network using two concentric ring connecting multiple node locations with fiber optic cable pairs. A combination of fiber ring technology and a series of Intelligent Network Elements (INEs) allow SHNS to automatically detect network failures and reconfigure around them. SHNS is fully redundant with 100 percent availability guaranteed.
Secondary fiber to the data center will be tied to the state fiber network that currently runs to the Lottery and Print Plant buildings.
There are three entrances for fiber communications cabling to the state data center. Each of these entrances is a dual conduit entrance for redundancy. The three entrances are physically separated.
For more on SHNS, visit the Qwest Web site: http://www.qwest.com/pcat/partners/product/1,1016,148_6_9,00.html
Q3. The agencies cost for bandwidth will double or triple when all the internal client-server traffic moves to the data center.
Governance for the CNIC project is being conducted in a collaborative way with the CNIC participating agencies providing the leadership for the initiative. Service levels and rates will not be decided by DAS. All the CNIC participating agencies sit at the decision-making table. The same is true for the ongoing operations of the state data center. Once the CNIC project is complete and the data center is operational, a governance structure that ensures broad agency participation and accountability will engage. In other words, if agencies pay more for services through the state data center, it will be because they decided to for business reasons (such as obtaining a new or enhanced service or service level). However, the mission of the CNIC project remains the same: reduce costs while maintaining or improving service levels through consolidation of the state’s computing and networking infrastructure.
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