Solicitation Clarifications

The information below summarizes some of the mis-conceptions that we found in several first round proposals. We hope this will help clarifying places where our original solicitation must have been misleading or confusing.

Proposal Size:

8 pages is the maximum length for a proposal; a concise, well conceived proposal may only require 4 or 5 pages. Course descriptions, existing labs, vitas and references, if you choose to include them all, should fit within this limit. Be brief and to the point using language that is related to how the labs will be integrated into networking courses.

Proposal Format:

HTML format preferred. If there are inline images, attach them with the HTML document either as a zip or tar archive. Only one single HTML document is allowed. Subpages or external links will not be considered. Any images must be inline, not linked externally from the page.

If desired, for our convenience you can also send either a word document, PDF or postscript file for ease of printing to ensure the 8-page limit is respected (HTML pages don't always print out nicely).

Equipment:

The equipment currently available through this solicitation is routers (Cisco7000s) and Verilink CSU/DSUs. No ATM switches, workstations, gigabit ethernet switches, etc. are available. Please do not request equipment other than the routers and CSU/DSUs (the mention of equipment that may be sought under subsequent phases or through 3rd parties found by individual universities is acceptable, but will not influence decisions on Phase 1 awards). Unfortunately, we do not have ethernet cards available at this time, connection of the routers to your existing network could be through a FDDI connection. We do have ATM cards available for those schools that have existing ATM equipment.

The basic ITL configuration is as follows:

3 Cisco 7000 routers with rsp or rp/ssp route processors
4 fip boards (fddi)
4 fsip cards (T1 serial, multiport)
4 hip cards (T3 serial, single port)
1 mip card (fractional t1, ISDN)
6 T1 CSU/DSUs

Labs:

Please note that Cisco has not agreed to provide IOS source code for these routers. Therefore, all the projects involving changing the operating system, changing the routing protocols, may not be viable with the hardware/software available under Phase 1 of the ITL effort. If you do not know the capabilities of the Cisco routers and where they might fit into your curriculum, contact your network administration staff on your campus and ask them for ideas.

Power:

We are working on a solution to the DC power problem and hope to offer solutions or alternatives prior to shipment of the routers to awardees.

Update: The power problem has been resolved and is no longer an issue. All the routers are verified to use AC power supplies.