Specialized Network Services/ LAN-WAN Frequently Asked Questions

OCIO Home / Network Services / LAN-WAN

 

Specialized Network Services/LAN-WAN Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Enterprise Wireless and Outdoor Point to Point Wireless?

What does Wireless cost?
How do we get Wireless Access?
What do you get with Wireless?

How does Network Support WAN team put together costs for an agency site requested?

What are the CTMF & WEMF charges that appear on my billing from the OCIO?

Jobcode/Billing Number vs. Jobcode/Work Order ?

Does Network Support supply - support – purchase – approved of small, home–type switches/routers?

For an installation done by ISP does NS WAN send someone out for the installation?

What is the Technology fee for?


Question: What is the difference between Enterprise Wireless and Outdoor Point to Point Wireless?

Answer: In Enterprise Wireless you have network access throughout a building to support various mobility devices. (e.g. Laptop, iPad, etc.). Outdoor P2P Wireless is for extending the State Network from one location to another via wireless (should only be employed as a last resort for connectivity.)


Question: What does Wireless cost?

Answer: Cost for Outdoor P2P Wireless is determined on a case by case scenario. While Enterprise Wireless Access is included in the Technology and Device Fee.


Question: How do we get Wireless Access?

Answer: Click here to fill out the form


Question: What do you get with Wireless?

Answer: The type of wireless installed and all the options provided are determined on an agency by agency basis. We work with the agency's needs and the State's Security Requirements (see NITC Policy 7-301) to provide a robust system.


Question: How does Network Support WAN team put together costs for an agency site requested?

Answer: We use the vendor quote that the agency has chosen with technical questions being answered for the agency by WAN team members. That gets the agency remote site to one of the OCIO Network Node sites. To get the connection around in the network to "talk" to other locations, NS WAN add the transport and backbone equipment charges. If the site is being shared by other agencies, the requesting agency reaches an agreement and understanding the other agencies sharing the connection and then NS WAN manually splits out the totaled charges among the agencies using said mutually agreed-upon divisions.


Question: What are the CTMF & WEMF charges that appear on my billing from the OCIO?

Answer: CTMF stands for Core Transport Maintenance Fee. WEMF stands for WAN Equipment Maintenance Fee. These charges were developed by Financial Services and Network Services bringing together all costs that could be associated with the core network circuits and equipment. We first began to use these rates around July 2009. As circuits are migrated over to Ethernet service and are pointed to the State's Network Nebraska gigabit backbone. It is rare that one is charged without the other, but there are uncommon circumstances.

From Financials SharePoint site:

A. Description of Service

This fee pays the costs relating to the core transport network:

  • 1 GB connections between Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island
  • 500 MB connection between Grand Island and North Platte Note that these bandwidths are currently much higher now.
  • 500 MB connection between North Platte and SCTS
  • 500 MB connection between SCTS and Lincoln
  • Redundant connections to disaster recovery sites in Lincoln
The core transport network provides very high bandwidth and redundancy for multiple agencies and purposes. The Core Transport Management Fee covers the costs of data circuits, large scale routers, software, and staffing. The Core Transport Management Fee also pays the cost of maintaining routers that connect data circuits to the Core Transport Network. Until recently, this was a service purchased from telecommunications providers and re-billed to agencies. The Core Transport Management Fee replaces the backbone recovery surcharge and related surcharges that had been included in the calculation of data circuit costs and re-billed to agencies as a pass through. It also substitutes for direct charges for router maintenance service contracts with providers.

B. Scope of Services

Services include:
  • Core router equipment
  • Routers (or a share of switch equipment) that connect data circuits to the core network.
  • Hardware maintenance.
  • Labor costs to repair or replace equipment.
  • Diagnosis and troubleshooting of core transport issues
  • Network design
  • Network maintenance
  • Network monitoring
  • Coordination of installation with communications service provider
  • Secure communication via the WAN
Services do not include:
  • Costs of data circuits connecting to the Core Transport Network and dedicated to a specific agency
C. Benefits

WAN (Wide Area Network) Services provides cost and personnel savings to customers. Cost savings are realized because of business volume, centralized administration, and centralized purchasing. The service allows customers to concentrate on their core business. Customers realize personnel savings by eliminating the need for agency personnel to support the WAN. Office of the CIO provides quick response with installation and outages due to long-term relationships and business volume with service providers. The service offers secured/private traffic between remote site and the core network. Dedicated encrypted services can be provided where needed.

Question: Jobcode/Billing Number vs. Jobcode/Work Order ?

Answer: Telecommunications billing historically has used the CSB billing system to re-bill our costs to the requesting agency. A CSB jobcode is 7-digits long, and the billing number is 10 digits, like a phone number. This is what it was based on when telecommunications only had telephone services to re-bill.
The combo of JC/WO is for services using the IMS billing system. An IMS JC is 6-digits long, and the WO is also 6-digits.


Question: Does Network Support supply - support – purchase – approved of small, home–type switches/routers?

Answer: Network Support only endorses business class or enterprise class equipment.


Question: For an installation done by ISP does NS WAN send someone out for the installation?

Answer: No, we do not send someone out to do the installation. The ISP will come out to complete the construction (wiring) part of the installation. They will still need to do the router configuration part before the circuit is ready for cutover. The ISP will then notify us when the circuit is ready for cutover.
NS WAN will contact the requesting agency to schedule a day/time for someone from our office to come out to install the new hardware and complete the installation.


Question: What is the Technology fee for?

Answer: The purpose of the technology fee is to recover the costs of the common infrastructure of the core state data network. This infrastructure includes the appliances used for DNS management, wireless access, VPN, core internet firewalls, URL redirects, network vulnerability scanning as well as other infrastructure (switches/routers/Wireless Access Points) and the staff support for connecting all of the state's facilities and allowing easy and secure data communications. Some of the benefits include Internet access, spam protection and management, web filtering and connectivity to enterprise applications such as the Budget Request System, Enterprise Exchange Email and EnterpriseOne, as well as agency-owned applications.


Please Contact:

JimSheets
Nebraska Office of the CIO
 402.471.2047
 jim.sheets@nebraska.gov