Ron:

Please post any response that you receive.  I am very much
interested in knowing what others are doing in this subject matter.

gina

Date sent:              Thu, 17 Feb 2000 16:39:54 -0700
Send reply to:          Research Administration Discussion List <xxxxxx@hrinet.org>
From:                   "Splittgerber,Ron" <xxxxxx@RESEARCH.VPR.COLOSTATE.EDU>
Subject:                Inclusion of network access costs in F&A base? Tough sell!
To:                     xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG

> First, I'm assuming that this topic is not unique to our institution and so
> am asking for a brief description of models at other universities. I'm
> willing to make contacts with any referrals you might be willing to share.
>
> Until now, our university has supported the cost of network access, both
> within the campus and outside to the internet as a central cost. The cost of
> a port was handled much like a phone jack. Each user paid for the connection
> through a small charge that is used to pay for wiring as well as the
> switches and routers allowing local network and internet access. The cost of
> connecting the university network to the internet was supported with central
> funds. There is no parallel to 'long distance' phone charges for using the
> internet by computer users.
>
> National Science Foundation grants supported a large part of the cost of
> connecting to the internet, and now to I2, the high-speed internet. Much of
> that development funding will no longer be available in the near future, so
> that we are facing a commercial fee for our internet connection that will
> rapidly escalate in the next two years. The commercial fee is based on the
> volume of traffic to the internet, a statistic that has increased many-fold
> every year for the last 5 years. I am assuming we are not unique in facing
> rapidly increasing internet costs.
>
> Faced with a California Prop 13-like spending limitation, the university
> will no longer support this cost centrally, and is seeking models to
> distribute those costs to the user in a manner that will meet federal cost
> accounting standards. So far, the fact that the cost may follow the historic
> volume increase of many-fold each year makes it difficult to imagine how it
> would be possible to include the costs in a stable F&A base. The
> administration wants the costs distributed to encourage more efficient use
> of switches, web caching etc. to slow the geometric increase in network
> traffic through the commercial connection to the internet under the
> assumption that charging users will encourage efficiencies.
>
> If any of you are willing to share how your institution allocates network
> costs now, and how they might be handled as those costs accelerate in the
> future, I would appreciate a brief description of the model.
>
> Regards,
> /Ron
>
> ===========================
> Ron Splittgerber
> Director, Research Services
> Colorado State University
> Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
> xxxxxx@Research.Colostate.Edu
> P: 970.491.1555
> F: 970.491.1151
>
>
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