Re: [seul-edu] New High School

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

"Fr. Raphael Davis, O. Praem." <FrRaphael@excite.com>  said:

> Does anyone have suggestions on different companies to contact
besides Cisco
> and Marconi for possible networking solutions?  I would like to
have a
> network that could support up to 200 simultaneous video streams.
(I am
> dedicated to trying to design the new school so that it will be
able to meet
> future needs as much as possible.)  I am very much interested in
at least
> doing a partial implementation of Linux within the new network do
to its
> price, security, reliability and how much you can simply do by
yourself if
> you are willing to put in the effort.
>
I apologize for not responding sooner; my plate is pretty full just
now.  I assume you're going to be installing an ATM network, right?
If that's the case, you should also look into Alcatel equipment.
They make some very nice stuff, including a combination
switch/router that has OpenBSD as it's OS and runs firewall and
DNS/DHCP services directly on the box.  The equivalent Marconi box
runs NT and didn't perform up to their claims in our evaluations.

A decent video-conferencing stream will take about 384 kbps over
ATM.  An OC-3 link (155 Mbps) should be able to handle 400
simultaneous streams without much trouble.  You'll find that the
bandwidth won't be the bottleneck.

As far as Linux goes, here's a URL for the ATM on Linux project:
<http://lrcwww.epfl.ch/linux-atm/>.  I don't think it's currently
ready to use.  However, Linux can be connected via ethernet to an
ATM edge device just like anything else, so I wouldn't let the
network hardware be the determining factor in whether you can use
Linux or not.  Besides, you won't be able to afford to connect your
user workstations to ATM directly anyway, trust me.

> Also if anyone has suggestions on key components of what I should
be
> including in the infrastructure of the network I would be
interested.  I
> will be running either fiber or ATM inbetween building on the
campus.

Definitely run fiber.  As for ATM, that's a protocol that you run
_over_ the fiber, so you can (and it sounds like you will) be
running both.

> I am
> currently planning on having switches from Cisco or Marconi that
are Voice,
> Video and Data aware, two servers (one of the them being the
backup), two
> firewalls (again another backup), a video server that can handle
60 video
> streams with approximately 300 gig storage, a web server, 1 router
for our
> data T1 and another router (at least I think its called a router)
for a T1
> that will carry our voice lines.

As I said above, check out Alcatel.  As for video, Marconi has the
CellPath series, and First Virtual has some well-thought-of
equipment.  BTW, a T-1 will carry at most 6 simultaneous video
streams (and more likely 5).

> Also are there any Linux solutions available for doing video
streaming
> and/or Voice/IP?

Take a look at the Distance Education Teaching Assistant
<http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/deta/>.  It uses some internet standards
like multicasting and MBone to provide both video streaming for
education and something of the feel of a physical classroom.

Here's an article from Linux Journal about Linux and VoIP:
<http://www2.linuxjournal.com/articles/briefs/045.html>.  Here's the
URL for LinuxJACK <http://www.linuxjack.com/>, which has a line of
VoIP cards for Linux.  Also, Vovida <http://www.vovida.com/> has
some Linux products.

--
Doug Loss                 God is a comedian playing
Data Network Coordinator  to an audience too afraid
Bloomsburg University     to laugh.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Voltaire