Physical address: 166 Nayland Road, Stoke, Nelson.

The Loop,  which began as a collaborative effort between Network Tasman, Connector Systems, the Ministry of Education and leading Nelson educational institutions, is a high speed network that delivers educational resources to the ‘top of the south’ region’s schools.

The Loop models bandwidth management and intranet development that can deliver the magnitude and sophistication of services that will be required to meet the demands of the next decade’s ‘digital classrooms’.

This network utilises Network Tasman’s regional fibre optic infrastructure, broadcast wireless networking provided by the PROBE contract and point-to-point radio. The schools own a virtual loop through a set of contractual arrangements, which ushers in a new connectivity paradigm.

This high quality network has a minimum speed of 2-5 Megs (unrestrained) at the farthest reaches (eg Collingwood - 200km to the north of Nelson) with consistent speeds in the multi gigabyte level in urban areas.

A leased layer 2 connection to Wellington (WIX and MOE video bridge) provides a fast, open link to the world.By carrying international internet traffic at an unrestrained terabyte/mth and managing local broadband services

The Loop is pioneering an exciting new model for aggregated schools networking.Operational for over two and a half years, the Loop has grown from 11 schools (+ the local Tertiary institution NMiT) to 15, then 17 - with 31 schools anticipated by July 2008.

The project has exceeded expectations in terms of Infrastructure, sustainability and benefits.

The Loop is a response to the realisation that, individually, schools do not have the expertise, resources or economies of scale to provide or negotiate the high spec infrastructure and internet services users will require.

So, the Loop in pursuing an exciting vision, has shown just how much can be achieved when community-wide vision, expertise, resources and energy are harnessed through aggradation and collaboration.

The Loop is an open collaboration based on open peering, is owned by its users and is being built from the bottom up to respond to their needs. This paradigm-shifting philosophymeans a style of management and control unfamiliar to most IT professionals.

The Loop management team works very determinedly to establish this collaborative environment but the results are astounding.

A range of technologies have been used and the growth of professional knowledge has been significant:

Boards of Trustees and Principals understanding the big picture, technicians mastering the Layer 3 networking environment, schools working together to evaluate and implement services and the rise of various user groups.

Owned and managed by schools, each school has a responsibility that contributes to the common cause. ClickView(video archive), VLN (Virtual learning network), Podcast, multicast, IP security cameras, Citrix and SMSs are all examples of  project roles assumed by different Loop schools or organsiations.

The Loop is also showing the advantages to be gained by utilizing all existing resources and opportunities such as the MOE video bridge, PROBE initiatives, KAREN, the local Broadband Challenge initiative which will establish a Nelson Internet Exchange (NIX), and the National Education Network. 

The benefit will be significant, not least the cumulative buying power of schools on a loop, which translates to cost savings and increased Internet quality. However, the biggest benefit of the Loop isn’t so much technical as social.

The key people in all these schools club together and those who support the individual schools work collaboratively to solve tricky issues.

The aggregated network environment means that an ICT manager in a rural community does not need to resolve networking issues on their own, work can be shared around.

This peer-to-peer assistance will be even more vital as more and more dynamic Internet applications (aka Web 2.0) emerge.

The importance and/or scale of the initiative.

The Loop provides broadband capacity that most businesses would relish. Schools are racking up some hefty usage – over a terabyte of international traffic a month. Previously schools would have to pay for their usage on a pay-per-data system.

With the Loop, there’s a very attractive fixed monthly cos. Learning for Collingwood Area School students is made easier by having wireless access and, and the other extreme, the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology is also a significant beneficiary.

The provision of the digital video library ClickView has proved the greatest success; now available for all Loop users at a third of the price individual schools pay.

The Loop server farm has also developed a growing number of services.

Our extensive analysis of the ICT capabilities, of local schools found they are spending around $2 million per year on telecommunications for often inferior services.

Our business case, based on overseas experiences, indicates potential savings of 20-80% depending on the level of uptake of Loop services. Our Cost benefit Analysis (CBA) concluded that private fibre optic networks have higher net benefits over the next best alternative solution.

The Ministry of Education also contracted AAS to write a report on the Loop as a model for future direction.

This concluded: "The existence of the Loop represents a major achievement. Extraordinary dedication and persistence ... the generosity of a number of parties including NTL, Allied Telesys, Connector Systems and the enthusiasm to involve and include other parties has resulted in the development of a network that involved schools would not now wish to do without".

In terms of ‘Sustainability’ The Loop has proved that (as verified by AAS audit*) the model is both economically and educationally sustainable.

It has also created huge demand. Schools are clamouring to be allowed to join.

One of the difficulties of ICT infrastructure development in NZ schools has been the lack of robust and tested technical and educational models. Most school networks are inadequate for even the low level services teachers, students and service providers currently demand.

So, given the rapidly approaching step up in expectations that participatory internet (Web 2.0), multimedia, service aggradation and ‘networks of networks’ will drive, it is absolutely vital that a new model is found.

We believe The Loop is that model. It is championing key shifts in thinking about how education connects to the world.Fat Fast & Free ... fat pipes, Fast access and free from any encumbrances.

‘2 click access to the world’ … any resource or service should be readily accessible from any desktop on The Loop.

Transparency… single logon and no limiting costs such as surcharges, bandwidth limits or data volume restrictions.Aggradation ... the ability to gather numbers and demand to enable able access to more complex and cheaper services.

Digital equity … providing the same service to all schools regardless of location of size.

Furthermore, the Loop is making a direct and valuable contribution to key current national initiatives by:

• Providing a more cost effective model of school ICT infrastructure development and improvement;
• Modelling achievable and sustainable management of broadband, multimedia, web2-type ICT environments;
• Demonstrating how schools may be both included and influential in the MUSH environment;
• Emerging as a key component of moves towards national connectivity, such as the Superloop, KAREN and National Education Network. 

The Loop is providing a successful example for that next big step up in ICT sophistication where schools’ ICT capacity will grow through regional, cross-sector collaboration – and many are keen to join us on this very exciting ride!