TECHNOLOGY

Right Down The Line

Broadband study will see if Barkhamsted has need for speed

With more and more constraints on home internet – computers, smartphones, TVs, and even refrigerators – households are interested in the limits of their Wi-Fi networks. The next big breakthrough might be right around the corner, but serious infrastructure is needed to get there. From a press release, representatives from Sertex Broadband Solutions said they are working with officials from the Town of Barkhamsted, Connecticut, to assess community interest in and costs associated with building a municipally-owned fiber broadband network to connect and serve the entire town.

The project will use SertexConnect, a planning platform that helps communities begin the complex task of building community-wide fiber networks, to conduct a customized broadband survey and develop an actionable deployment plan. The goal of the feasibility initiative is to educate residents and business owners about the opportunity for the town to invest in building an open access broadband network to give reliable, affordable high-speed internet connections to all properties.

Launching in May, the Barkhamsted online survey will allow visitors to run a speed test from their home or business, then take a poll that will gauge public interest in building and subscribing to a municipally-owned fiber-to-the-home (FTTX) network. Town residents and business owners will be able to access the survey from a link on the Barkhamsted website.

Concurrent with the broadband interest survey, experts from Sertex will conduct an FTTX Feasibility Study in the town. This financial and engineering analysis will provide high-level design requirements and costs for network construction, including aerial and underground fiber pathways, pole licensing, engineering, fiber drops, equipment and installation, and annual operating and maintenance expenses. The resulting financial information will be essential for residents in deciding to approve a municipal network, and for the town in applying for funding from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Don Stein, Barkhamsted First Selectman, remarked, “The town is very excited to work with Sertex on this very important project to determine how we can bring high speed internet to Barkhamsted and the surrounding communities. In today’s world, fiber optic broadband becomes critical to those who work from home, attend school from home or who use broadband for their entertainment.”

Unlike fiber internet services from private companies, municipally-owned networks ensure universal highspeed broadband connections and offer more bandwidth at lower rates. The Sertex public/private partnership model empowers communities with 100 percent ownership control over end-user costs, service levels, and operational concerns. Taxpayer-approved projects are funded through long-term, low-interest municipal bonding. Infrastructure, maintenance, and operating costs are recovered through subscriber fees. With sufficient subscribers, future-proof fiber optic networks are self-sustaining with little to no budget impact.

CCM will be embarking on a similar study over the coming months in partnership with Great Blue Research to assess the interest on a statewide level. After two years of work from home for many, at the same time as the natural technological progression, households are looking into increasing their internet speeds without breaking the bank. Barkhamsted and Sertex are moving that conversation in the right direction.

Why Not Ask?

Greater Groton Projects invites community discussion

There’s community engagement, and there’s community engagement - that special kind of partnership between a municipality and its people. When constituents are really heard, instead of just listened to. These relationships need some kind of platform, and the Greater Groton Project is an example of a town going the extra mile to get the public involved.

Going live late last year, Groton debuted the latest in community engagement at greatergroton.com. This website is designed for the town to engage with the public on important issues.

One example is the ever popular Downtown Mystic district within Groton and neighboring Stonington. Anyone who has been there during the summer knows that both traffic and parking can be a tricky situation to navigate.

The website offers this explanation:

Visitation to the area is at an alltime high as exciting shops and restaurants open and draw visitors from well beyond Connecticut’s borders.

While we welcome both residents and visitors enjoying all that Mystic has to offer, and appreciate the support for our local businesses and nonprofits, it has placed growing pressure on the parking supply. The Towns of Groton and Stonington jointly commissioned a study to identify effective parking strategies to better manage and improve parking conditions for customers, visitors, employees and residents of Downtown Mystic.

The complete study, as well as a video presentation of the findings, can be found on this page.

In addition to this brief overview, they let you know exactly who your comments and ideas are going to – in this case it is the Economic and Community Development Manager and Economic Development Specialist.

Individuals can even collaborate with each other by commenting in support of an idea or even just clicking the heart icon to say you agree.

Other projects on the platform include topics like “How should Groton spend our Federal Recovery Dollars?,” “Help Beautify Groton,” “Small Business Forum,” and “Age Friendly Groton.”

This is preferable to individuals commenting on Facebook, which can be notoriously finicky with showing comments from all individuals and has little transparency.

Quoted in an article from The Day, Lauren Post said that it is hard to correct misinformation online, so offering a platform like greatergroton.com gives constituents “transparency and the voice they deserve.”

Especially during COVID, it has been important to discover new ways to keep community engagement going. While it will never replace the open forum of public meetings, towns and cities will have to continue to meet people where they are. As Post said, at lot of times that means online.

Some Assembly Required

By Dale Bruckhart, Digital BackOffice

With the holiday season and the frustration of assembling gifts still fresh in mind, let’s take a look at purchasing information technology (IT) when “some assembly is required”.

Public bidding is of course required by statute to ensure that our tax dollars are spent judiciously and legally. IT bid documents and specifications are prepared by business managers, purchasing agents, technology directors, consultants, attorneys or they may be a collaborative effort by all. The business terms and conditions are often standard, but the hardware and software descriptions and specifications are often quite detailed with brand, model and part numbers provided for easy pricing and response.

Dale Bruckhart shared his expertise with atendees at CCM’s 2021 Convention

Why do many IT bid specifications end with “Quote Installation and Configuration” and provide zero or little detailed description of the expectation, qualifications or metrics for the installation?

Some requests for proposal do require the winning bidder to show proof of hardware or software resale authorization by the manufacturer or certification, but differentiating qualified IT vendors requires more than a certificate. Here are several suggestions which may improve the procurement process, separate qualified from unqualified vendors and improve the performance and reliability of your network infrastructure.

Provide Logical Network Design Goals with the Bid Specifications

Don’t expect the winning vendor to configure network IT infrastructure hardware such as switches, routers, firewalls, and servers unless you have provided prospective bidders with the logical network design objectives and the IP addressing scheme as a component of the equipment specifications. Without the details on what’s expected of the winning bidder the vendor will often assign a junior, less experienced engineer to a job to lower the cost of labor. That means on the job training for the assigned technician, potential cost overruns or worse. If the existing or new logical network design does not accommodate the new network hardware, legacy network hardware, applications or address concerns about security and growth, the installation of network components may result in complete network failure or recurring network problems. Bid specifications should provide bidders with the logical network design details and implementation plan parameters for minimizing network downtime and recovering from a potential network failure. Better yet, contract for the logical network design separately or engage a qualified consultant or managed service provider to review the logical network plan, IP addressing scheme and the implementation plan.

What does “installation” mean?

Equipment installation may include some or all of the following but don’t assume that the bidder knows what you expect or need, so spell it out. The last item is critical to every installation and should be required on every IT bid request. If the engineer/vendor leaves your site without providing this information you may be locked out of accessing the equipment in the future to make changes.

• Remove equipment from packaging and mount in existing cabinet, rack or shelf.

• Provide aforesaid cabinet, rack or shelf.

• Assemble optional modules, power supplies, or interfaces on the equipment

• Configuring equipment with a name and IP address provided by buyer

• Connecting patch cords between equipment and data cabling infrastructure.

• Connecting equipment power supplies to buyer provided power source preferably an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

• Loading or updating the Operating System on the equipment

• Configuring the equipment according to the aforementioned logical network design and acceptance plan.

• Removing and/or disposing of obsolete equipment.

• Pre-staging and/or burn-in of equipment on the bench or off-site.

• Project acceptance and as-built documentation to include a network diagram, IP addresses, OS ver- sion, passwords, serial numbers, current equipment configuration, start-up test results, warranty status, technical contact and business contact information.

On large, complex projects a project manager may be needed to coordinate the installation with the owner’s representative, the technology department, tradesman, the internet service provider, etc. Don’t assume a project manager is included with every installation.

Is the equipment manufacturer or the bidder going to support the IT infrastructure installation and/or the post-installation?

Equipment manufacturers provide warranties ranging from 90 days to lifetime, and maintenance contracts with a variety of coverage options and prices. The project contract and acceptance, however, is often between the buyer and the systems integrator or equipment reseller. In fact, the manufacturer may not support equipment that has been improperly configured, installed unsafely or in a manner which conflicts with industry protocols and standards. When a network is made up of components from multiple manufacturers, finger pointing between vendors may exacerbate network installation problems and potential failures.

A detailed acceptance plan needs to be included with the bid specifications to ensure that the network is working properly and that equipment has been installed according to the logical network design and the manufacturer or industry best practices. The acceptance plan should spell out the process for testing every device, application and operating system with the new network equipment preferably in a manner which will not affect the production environment.

Look for experience, depth, references and consider managed services.

Administrators can expect infrequent network service interruptions, because IT infrastructure is complex, susceptible to power outages, equipment failure, human error and external network factors. Setting a network service level goal and response time expectation raises the bar for employees, budgets and vendors. Managed service providers may own and lease back some portion of the network infrastructure including equipment, technical support, logical network/security administration, and refresh the network components every 60 months with an SLA. Managed network infrastructure services will alter IT budgeting and procurement practices as the IT industry moves towards managed/cloud services and longer term agreements.

Equipment resellers are not managed IT service providers. Managed IT service providers add value with experienced employees and trouble-shooting processes, network operation facilities to support your service level goal 24x7, network management software tools and the ability to manage the logical network infrastructure remotely as well as on-site. If you have any doubt about a vendor’s claims, check out the references, visit the vendor’s network operations center or request a SOC report.

Choosing the right vendor to install, configure and manage your network infrastructure is critical to the delivery of 21st century electronic communications. Providing detailed installation and configuration requirements in bid specifications will significantly improve the quality of IT services and ultimately network infrastructure performance.

May I See Your iPhone And Registration?

Apple and CT partner for future of digital IDs

So many technologies have been adopted across the past two years in response to COVID that it would be difficult to name them all. One big change has been the move towards contactless transactions and digital passes – enabled largely through smartphones. The final frontier will be when our identification cards will be stored digitally. Connecticut is part of a pilot program that’s going to look at state IDs and Driver’s Licenses with computer magnate Apple.

Announced in September of this year, the California-based company said that they have been working on technology to securely add digital forms of identification such as state IDs or driver’s licenses to their Wallet. This is Apple’s name for an application on their iPhone which allows customers to store things like credit cards, travel or event tickets, or even store loyalty cards.

While Arizona and Georgia will be the first two states to implement this program, Connecticut will follow close behind in providing digital IDs. Importantly, they have already announced partners at the federal level such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), who will allow the use of the IDs at airport security checkpoints. At first it will not be all airports, and those participating locations will be announced at a later time.

“The addition of driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet is an important step in our vision of replacing the physical wallet with a secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet said in a press release. “We are excited that the TSA and so many states are already on board to help bring this to life for travelers across the country using only their iPhone and Apple Watch, and we are already in discussions with many more states as we’re working to offer this nationwide in the future.”

Adding IDs to phones will be sure to raise eyebrows, but for years now, and especially through COVID, people have been increasingly adopting the Wallet to make contactless payments. Like credit cards, people will add their ID to their iPhone. Per the release, the customer will then be asked to use their iPhone to scan their physical driver’s license or state ID card and take a selfie, which will be securely provided to the issuing state for verification. As an additional security step, users will also be prompted to complete a series of facial and head movements during the setup process.

Crucially, the ID will only be added to the Wallet once it was verified by the issuing state. A full suite of digital protections were announced that allow the whole process to work as with the credit cards.

While this kind of sea change will not take place over night, it is an important reminder that technologies like contactless payment and QR codes became key platforms during the pandemic after years of availability. And unlike credit cards, digital IDs have implications in many municipal processes and exchanges.

One could imagine in the future a time when a police officer asks for license and registration and a person pulls out their phone. Buying a bottle of wine, your id could be checked with the same scanner as your credit card. Getting married, applying for fishing licenses, and all sorts of other instances. It isn’t so much a brave new world but an eventuality.

No More Telephone Lines

Plainville’s Fiber Optic network will be almost as fast as light

Anybody who remembers Dial-Up Internet remembers two things – that awful tone and the incredibly slow speeds. In the 30 years since, speeds have improved thanks to upgrades like Fiber Optic Cables, which the town of Plainville is installing throughout their municipal network.

Unlike dial-up or cable networks that use metal wires to transmit electric signals, Fiber Optic cables are made up of very fragile glass filaments that transfer light signals – yes, there is a difference – reaching up to 70% of the speed of light.

These cables are so fast that when maxing out networks, they can reach into the Terabytes per second download speed – with extremetech.com saying that the fastest ever network was able to reach speeds where a 1gb movie took .03 milliseconds to download.

While these speeds were reached in an experimental setting, the speeds for the average fiber optic network are more than enough for your average end-user.

The first step to acquiring a Fiber Optic Network is installation of the wires, which was handled by Sertex Broadband Solutions for Plainville.

According to their press release, they put in “12.5 miles of aerial cabling and three underground spans running beneath major highways.”

This newly constructed system will connect: all waste-water treatment facilities, allowing remote system monitoring and control; all schools; all public safety services; the library; and all town departments within and outside of the Municipal Center.

Plainville will own the fiber optic infrastructure rather than leasing it, saving approximately $40k per year in costs according to Town Manager Robert Lee. The lifespan of these cables is 25 to 30 years.

Furthermore, because the town will own the system, it will have the option to open up that infrastructure beyond the municipal network.

“A town-owned broadband network would mean that residents would pay a much lower fee for much better internet service combined with phone services,” Lee said in the release. “Our residents and businesses would save money and actually have control over their network. High-speed internet access has so many advantages. It could reduce costs and improve quality of life for current residents, increase property values, and help us compete as a community for new businesses and residents.”

Just a few years ago, having normal speed internet was fine for most people. Now, and especially after COVID, people need better, higher-quality networks for internet service.

So for now, town employees and departments can throw away their old modulator-demodulators (or modems in layman’s terms) and work at (nearly) the speed of light.

Cyber Security With A SOC

Cyber Security Operations Centers (SOC) and the employees that staff these centers are often integrated with law enforcement departments, multinational companies and federal agencies. Municipalities employ emergency management personnel and prepare emergency operations centers for weather related and natural disasters but not cyber-security. Public sector agencies and K-12 schools rarely designate a Chief Information Security Officer or staff a full-time cyber security operations center, but they should!

School board and town/city council officials need to acknowledge that cybersecurity requires a top down approach and should not be delegated to the technology director/ department without guidance, policy guidelines, accountability and adequate funding. School superintendents, First Selectman and Mayors don’t want their names or their schools or towns in a headline story about the latest cyber breach or ransomware attack. Taxpayers, insurance underwriters and auditors will increasingly demand greater accountability for securing assets, protecting personally identifiable information and guaranteeing the service levels of public digital infrastructure.

Why you need a SOC!

The cyber threat crisis is real, but despite the warning signs, many schools and government agencies have no cybersecurity strategy in place. It took mass public shootings to prompt board level policy reviews and investment in securing physical access to our school buildings and public facilities.

Designating a Chief Information Security Officer and a security operations team is a long overdue response to the reality of digital pedagogy, web-based delivery of public services and cyber threats.

A physical or virtual SOC may be integrated with current technology, facilities, operations, curriculum or other current personnel. SOC’s may also be shared between schools and municipalities with representation from the first responder community; SOC’s should be automated and/or outsourced for faster response. While current business and technology personnel are the logical candidates for CISO, key SOC personnel must be equal members of the school or town leadership team.

Silos of Data

Competing firewall, antivirus, intrusion detection, internet filtering, SIEM, 2FA and other security products create silos of complex, uncorrelated data. Detecting potential threats in this hodgepodge of data is the proverbial “needle in a haystack” often resulting in a sea of false alarms or false positives. By some estimates there are more than 3,000 security product companies, and many “are a feature not a firm. They solve one narrow problem and really should be part of a platform offering a mutually supporting mesh of integrated security products.” See Note 1

Migrate Now to a Next Generation Security Platform

Todays’ attackers don’t just target email accounts or endpoint devices, they use stealth techniques and sophisticated tools to move laterally across networks and organizational units in order to exfiltrate valuable data or compromise network operations. New defensive and automated security platforms are increasingly available incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Unlike legacy firewall, antivirus or intrusion detection systems which rely on port blocking or blacklisting known malware, Next Generation security systems using AI/ML, ask “is it really you” and is the user trying to do something they have never been done before. In other words, is the user behavior normal or does it warrant investigation.

A Skills Gap

One of the key challenges facing our K-12 schools and municipalities is a shortage of trained security analysts and a growing IT skills gap, especially, cyber security skills. According to a recent Global Information Security Workforce Study, the cybersecurity workforce gap is expected to reach 1.5 million by 2020, with 66% of the respondents across all industry categories, report not having enough workers to address current and future cyber threats.

Consider Managed Security Services

The leadership team in your school or town may choose to staff and manage a SOC locally or contract with a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) for a fixed monthly fee. Managed security service providers provide continuity with experienced employees, audited process controls, 24 x7 network operation facilities, software tools and the ability to monitor and manage the logical network infrastructure remotely as well as on-site. The MSSP can reduce the time, cost and complexity of event triage, incident investigation, response and minimizing false positives.