Centered on drawing economic growth in the region, the Virtual Possibilities Network (VPnet) has recently completed the developemnet of the business plan and is now focusing on obtaining member commitment. Leadership teams from each of the participating organizations are being updated to reinforce the value and benefits of VPnet, including utilization, affordability, predictability of cost, and financial sustainability. “Founding” member commitments are expected by mid-July, signifying the transition of VPnet to the operational phase of the business.

Dr. Dave Bakken discusses potential VPnet applications with a group of stakeholders at WSU.

Five focus groups have convened since January to brainstorm around the challenges and opportunities that VPnet presents. Some great ideas have come from these cross-disciplinary conversations:

• Collaboration among researchers is rudimentary given current technology. As an example, researchers at Washington State University and PNNL have similar practices,but must compare results over the telephone. With VPnet, the doors open to remote instrument control and large volume data transfer.
• A dedicated network may be able to solve many of the challenges involved with distributed research, measurement, and benchmarking. Cyber security simulations are particularly challenging on conventional networks, but a closed or dedicated network could control any problems with the experiment.
• Digital video lectures, events, etc. collected in a searchable archive available to multiple disciplines and multiple institutions reduces the need to recreate the same materials in different environments. Math, for example, has application in history courses and vice versa. Imagine using a clip from a history lecture about the Egyptian pyramids to illustrate a geometry concept. With practical application from cross-disciplines, concepts become immediately more tangible and contextualized. This information would provide a tremendous opportunity for inter-institution collaboration.
• Native American tribal culture could be preserved and shared more broadly with digital collections including interviews with elder tribe members.

Faculty and staff from Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, North Idaho College, SIRTI, University of Idaho, Whitworth College, Washington State University, Community Colleges of Spokane, ICN/WSU College of Nursing, and Inland Northwest Health Services all brought valuable perspective to the table. Their ideas and feedback have played a significant role in the development of the business plan and network design.

On June 29th, representatives from each of the participating organizations assembled to discuss the VPnet technical infrastructure as well as establish clear policies regarding the provision of service, bandwidth and support. The technology workgroup is in the process of creating routing policies, Quality of Service (QoS) thresholds and security practices for the network.

After a tremendous amount of focus regarding equipment requirements, VPnet has selected Cisco Systems as the preferred provider for the infrastructure. Cisco Systems significantly discounted the infrastructure equipment, providing the most robust technology for the dollars budgeted.

VPnet anticipates implementation of the infrastructure equipment to begin mid-July with a projected launch date in early September.

Imagine what can happen when ideas and technology come together!

If you would like to become more involved with VPnet, please visit our website at www.VPnet.org for details.