The ICN Story

In the early 80's Iowa community colleges were the first to experiment with educational networks for distance learning. Several community colleges planned and installed separate microwave-based telecommunications networks.
In mid-1989, a bill was passed and signed providing for the construction of a shared, statewide telecommunications network.

Construction on Parts I and II of the Network began in late 1990. This consisted of installing one fiber optic endpoint per county (99), an endpoint at each of the three state universities, one at IPTV, and one on the State Capitol Complex for a total of 104 endpoints. ICN became a State agency in 1994 and the Iowa Telecommunications and Technology Commission (ITTC) was established by the Legislature as the ICN's governing body. Telemedicine and federal government were given authorized user status.

The Governor then signed a plan in 1995 establishing Part III of the Network, which consisted of adding full-motion video sites to public and private school districts, area education agencies, and public libraries throughout Iowa.

Fine Tuning the Technology

From 2000 - 2002, the ICN began to upgrade the backbone of the Network to Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and MPEG-2 technologies. The switch to ATM technology allowed for higher speed transmission of information for video, Internet, and long distance voice communications. MPEG-2 video equipment allowed for increased bandwidth efficiency, improving the quality of full-motion, two-way interactive video. Deployment of an ICN ring topology structure continued, featuring two-way uninterrupted signal transmission for increased dependability. The Network upgrade was completed in 2002.

Wide area network (WAN) Ethernet service was offered beginning in 2003, allowing customers to share software and equipment at little cost compared to frame relay and dedicated circuits. Traditional Ethernet is commonly found on local area networks (LANs).

ICN continued to add new technologies as the industry evolved and user demand increased. ICN started deploying core 10 Gbps switches in 2006, using MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching). The ICN also started deploying a core router network shortly afterward. Both were essentially complete by 2009, with 18 core switches and 12 core routers, though additional router sites will be added as traffic warrants. This change to MPLS allows the network to be more flexible for different types of data, so a different platform isn’t required for each different type of service. Aggregation sites and edge sites are now being migrated away from the ATM platform where possible and necessary to fulfill requests. The receipt of a BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) grant will expedite this migration for the transport to move from ATM to MPLS. ICN anticipates the majority of the sites to be converted when the BTOP grant ends 6/30/2013.

Sharing Iowa's Infinite Possibilities

The 104 endpoints of Parts I and II became operational in 1993. The first Part III site became operational at Battle Creek-Ida Grove High School in 1995. Later that year, the first armory, Audubon Armory, was designated as a community learning center and connected to the ICN. Use of ICN services at armories continues to assist the National Guard in training and allows Iowans another place to access ICN video services.

A major milestone was met in late 1997 when the 500th full-motion video classroom was connected to the ICN, followed by the 600th classroom the very next year. Currently, there are over 700 ICN video classrooms. The original design of the Network, at full maturity, only planned for 500 classrooms.

Link to map of ICN classrooms:
Classrooms by town

Pro-active measures, along with rapid response by ICN staff, helped protect a great deal of State resources and allowed many ICN authorized users to get back up and running with little downtime during and after the natural disasters of 2008. The Cedar Rapids Community School District Technology Department presented the ICN with a Special Service to Education award for its responsiveness and assistance to the District during the June 2008 flood that devastated the Cedar Rapids community. The Network was instrumental in providing the Grant Wood Area Education Agency (AEA) with Internet access, while District central services were located at Jefferson High School. The district receives its Internet and e-mail access via the ICN through the AEA.

In 2008, the ICN was awarded the Innovators Award by the Iowa Distance Learning Association. The award is given to individuals or organizations for contributions to distance learning through outstanding teaching, program design and development, innovations in methods, technique, and technology, and advocacy.

The ICN is playing an integral part in the Federal Communication Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot project in Iowa. ICN was asked by the Iowa Rural Healthcare Telecommunications consortium (IHA) to assist with the development of a project proposal to deploy a secure statewide high-speed network to connect rural hospitals to vital healthcare resources. Use of the existing ICN fiber reduced the cost of the project. In November 2007, both the Iowa Rural Health Telecommunications Program and Iowa Health Systems were awarded FCC grants for development of Networks. ICN continues to work with both projects.

ICN is working with the Iowa Department of Transportation on a possible solution to provide low cost, higher-speed, bandwidth to the rest areas in Iowa to meet the necessary capacity that visitors require. They are also working together to establish native Ethernet connections to the DOT's weigh stations located throughout the state. A new DOT application will require additional data services and current bandwidth is not sufficient.

The Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) unemployment claims call center has seen a large increase in call volume due to Iowa's unemployment spike in 2009. This increase requires additional support from the ICN for their voice and data network.

In FY 2007, the Network entered the first phase of a seven-year plan to upgrade telephone service for the Capitol Complex.

In 2007, ICN joined the Operations Hometown Link initiative of the not-for-profit Freedom Calls Foundation. One-hour initial video reunions are available to all active military service members serving in those three countries. In 2004, the ICN was used to swear in a new Iowa lawyer serving with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq. Iowa Supreme Court Justice Streit presided in the ceremony from the Judicial Building in Des Moines as he swore in the young woman via a Network link with Camp Victory in Baghdad.

The ICN, in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Corrections, and Public Services Communications (PSC) Company, produced the current "prisoner operator service." The system requires prisoners to pre-pay for phone services that they use.

The use of telemedicine has helped to alleviate a provider shortage in Iowa. For example, the 13 University of Iowa Child Health Specialty clinics use the ICN and IP videoconferencing to bring doctors to patients in underserved rural areas. Since 2003, more than 1500 children and families have been served. In 2008, there were 175 hybrid telemedicine sessions bridging ICN video classrooms and Video over IP for 248 hours. The number of solely Video over IP telemedicine sessions that travel over ICN bandwidth, for example those hosted by the Midwest Rural Telemedicine Consortium, would be in addition to these hours.