The Question/Answer period for this bid has expired.
Questions already answered for this Invitation to Bid will show below.
Q: 1) Can you elaborate on the specifics of this fling to better understand the purpose of the CAT 2 filing?
2)Can you provide a detailed narrative of what you )are trying to accomplish?
3) Does CSD want to manage the solution or have it managed for you?
4)Can you help us with understanding the need for the antennas/connectors sought in the CAT 2 request.
5) What Technologies have you seen demonstrated?
6)What led CSD to make this request?
7)Can you provide technical information in order so we can size the solution appropriately.
8) What kind of content are you trying to Cache?
9)How much Data do you need to cache in a day, week, month?
10)How many concurrent connections?
Network Diagram of current infrastructure?
What speeds you have on your network.
Does this need to be a centralized solution or do you want caching at all sites?
A: 1) Page 13: Caching is defined as a method that stores recently accessed information. Caching stores information locally so that the information is accessible more quickly than if transmitted across a network from a distance. A caching service or equipment that provides caching, including servers necessary for the provision of caching, is eligible for funding.
2) Requesting options for a caching system. New information shall not be provided as we do not intend to to extend the due date.
3) The request is for options but it appears that owner operated may be preferred.
4) Assumption is that an owner operated system must be "connected" to the network and related components may be required for installation.
5) N/A, please provide options for caching.
6) In addition to improving the Internet experience, as described in question 1, it may be financially responsible to utilize caching to help offset other costs.
7) Yes. What do you require? Note the other questions asked, perhaps your questions have already been asked/answered.
8) Generally speaking it may make sense to cache static images, logos, stylesheets, javascript files that don't change, downloadable files and/or other content such as videos, device updates, and course related downloads.
9) Unknown, we assume the vendor community can right size a caching system with their experience within the K-12 market based on
10) Approximately 370 staff and students.
We do not plan to publish a network diagram for security purposes. If you have specific questions, please ask. We currently have a single 100mbps connection to the Internet and the school sites are connected via WAN. At present, the solution should be designed to support the schools, even though the library is listed as a location. Recommendations for centralized versus a per site solution may be included. Options along with cost are requested.
Q: Thank you for the initial response. For our recommendations, we would like to know what is the utilization level of the 50 Mbps link between schools. If this is the correct size, we would like to know about the utilization % at peak time.
If high enough, we would recommend a 2nd unit for that site as WAN congestion would mean that point to point connected school would not be able to benefit from the core cache.
Would you consider a second cache so that the responses can be served from within the building and not limited by WAN congestion?
A: Congestion is not a concern at present. Please provide options as specified on the 470 for a caching solution and detailed within the Invitation to Bid.
Q: Please Confirm the network set to inform our recommendations.
1. Is the district set up as 2 schools, one serves as the network core (150 Mbps connection) and the second as on a 50 Mbps WAN link?
2. what are the student/staff device types and approximate number of each?
3. What prompted you to include caching in this year's 470. Is there a benefit your are after or issue your are trying to resolve/avoid?
4. Youtube has been key benefit for all of our Alaska schools. When students have devices, 30 browsers downloading the same video at the same time can cause quite a bump and if the cache can support youtube this is typically a big benefit. Do students at Cordova have access to Youtube from their devices?
Also, we plan to respond.
A: 1. Please engineer for a 100mbps Internet connection, options are good. The current Internet solution includes a bursting option that is not typically used.
2. Staff currently have MacBook Pros and Airs, Students are 1:1 with older Macbooks and MacBook Air devices, with one class of 30 having a pilot set of chromebooks. Approximately 330 student devices, 40 staff devices. We are considering transitioning to chromebooks.
3. We would like to reduce the need for future bandwidth increases, and help reduce traffic during peak flow times. Videos, device updates, and course related downloads are the areas most likely to see significant impact by on-site caching at the school.
4. Yes, we do have Youtube available for students.
Q: We intend to respond
A: Thanks for your interest.