October 1, 2003
By Peter J. Stokes, Ph.D.
pstokes@eduventures.com
CXO Monthly: Strategy, Operations & Results for Higher Education
Published by Eduventures, Inc.
October 2003
No. 6
In the spring of 2003, Case Western Reserve University responded to an invitation from Cleveland Mayor, Jane Campbell, to meet with her senior IT staff to review a new infrastructure proposal. Some six months later, Case announced the results of that meeting: the September 1st launch of OneCleveland, the largest, free, public wireless network in the nation, perhaps even the world. According to Case President, Edward Hundert, OneCleveland began with the acquisition of more than 200 miles of dark fiber that would enable it to create and own a robust regional technology infrastructure, leverage group-purchasing opportunities, and build strategic relationships with technology vendors such as Cisco and Sprint. At the launch, OneCleveland provided free, wireless internet access to Case faculty, students, staff, and to visitors to the Case Campus and University Circle neighborhood - home to institutions such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Two weeks later, Case announced that the city of Cleveland, Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, the Cleveland municipal school district, and ideastream had signed on to join the OneCleveland program.
"The goal of OneCleveland is not about technology or infrastructure," said President Hundert during a public address on the OneCleveland initiative earlier this year. "First and foremost, it is about creating unique value propositions for education, research, e-government, cultural institutions, and healthcare." It is also, Hundert said, about acquiring infrastructure "that will enable us to support a common vision of community working together to gain more control over its destiny."
One of the interesting aspects of the OneCleveland project is its shared-cost partnership model. "Part of what makes this truly innovative is that it challenges the paradigm of paying for access," Case CIO Lev Gonick told Eduventures. "That is revolutionary. Case Western Reserve University has made a $27 million partnership agreement with Cisco, Sprint, and the other participants. The cost of OneCleveland will be paid by all the participating institutions in aggregate, and each will be paying about 30 percent less than they would otherwise." According to Gonick, Case expects the initiative to yield a return on investment within seven years.
"The other part of what makes this innovative," Gonick added, "is that we haven't sold it as technology. We've sold it as better healthcare, public safety, e-public relations, research, tourism, schools, and the like." And yet Gonick also views OneCleveland as a slam dunk from a technology perspective as well. "It's a double win," said Gonick. "We're getting huge bandwidth and we're paying less for it."
Currently, the OneCleveland project blankets a one-square-mile area with 1,230 wireless access points. In the week following the launch, Case reported hundreds of users tapping into the network. Next year, Gonick told Eduventures, Case expects tens of thousands of daily users: "We think this will unleash a creative technology spirit here at Case and continue to make the university a destination for world-class researchers and students from around the globe."
Already, students at the Cleveland Institute of Art are working with students in the Case School of Engineering to develop self-guided tours around University Circle leveraging the OneCleveland network, global positioning systems applications, and handheld devices. "As visitors come to University Circle," Gonick explained, "we introduce them to spaces and objects within those spaces. You can see text, or have it read to you, or view video of a given building, and we can embed links. The Cleveland Museum of Art is interested in a tour of its exhibit space, for example."
In addition to supporting the city of Cleveland and enhancing Case's global reputation, Gonick sees other pay-offs for the initiative. "We've already had inquiries from other universities around the country," said Gonick. "We plan to spin this out as an independent non-profit, and we may regionalize the offering. We think this is replicable at other institutions."
For more information, visit www.onecleveland.org.
Posted by admin at 02:18 PM
