Telecommunications

  The CRC has an excellent telecommunications network. With up to 300MB of reserved capacity, bandwidth is acquired for the park from two different tier one suppliers ensuring a more reliable network. This bandwidth is distributed over a 1 gigabyte network to all buildings. Companies that require continuous high levels of bandwidth are not eligible for the shared network services.
   
    General Information, Rates & Policies
    Data Services Agreement
    Technical Information
    Use of Tenant SMTP Servers
    Service Request Form
     
     
  General Information, Rates & Policies
   
The CRC makes available network and internet connection services to park tenants. This service currently consists of a 1 gigabyte fiber backbone connection between buildings and a redundant connection to the internet through Fiber DS-3 and GIG-E from 2 different providers. A Cisco 6509 Switch provides the core services. Most buildings are wired with CAT-5e (6) cabling and configured on 100baseT switch topology. This system is managed for the CRC by Biz Net Technologies, Inc. If you have technical questions about our setup contact them at 961-7560 or at hostmaster@vtcrc.net.

Companies may sign up for service by completing a Service Request. This system is managed as a shared network with the assumption that average usage can be conglomerated across many tenants resulting in substantial savings and high capacity. As such we do reserve the right to move high bandwidth tenants off the general system.
 
BASIC Rate Schedule: The following tiered rate structure is for tenants whose data services come in through the VTCRC infrastructure. There is a minimum charge of $50.00 per month.
     
     

95th Percentile kbps
0-1500
1501-3000
3001-4500
4501-

 

Rate per kbps
.32
.26
.22
.18

 
   

The structure is cumulative for high bandwidth users.  For instance if Company X uses 3514 kbps for Month Y then their billing is figured as follows:

1500 kbps @ .32 = $480.00
1500 kbps @ .26 = $390.00
514 kbps   @ .22 = $113.08
______________________
3514 kpbs = Total $983.08

This means they used approximately 3 T-1’s (1540 kbps= 1 T1) worth of bandwidth for the month and their billing will be for $983.08.  If they were to purchase 3 T-1 lines from another vendor the cost would be around $1450 per month so they saved about 33%.  In addition, those purchased lines would not allow any spikes above the 4500 kbps whereas the CRC services allow up to 10% of the usage to be above that 4500 kbps at no additional charge.
     
    Additional Services Schedule:
   
  1. Excess server charge: Each customer is entitled to one server computer in the base rate. Each excess server costs $15 a month.
  2. Additional data portal connections to our infrastructure at $15/ month each includes 1 IP address per portal.
  3. IP address rental at $1.50/mo per extra IP address.
  4. Firewall provisioning for companies that do not have their own is $10/month.
  5. Sub netting and direct routing is charged based on design.
  6. IP telephony connection can be arranged.
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  Technical Information
   
Suite Wiring
Most of the suites and offices of the CRC have basic communications wiring installed. Most of this cabling is done to CAT-4 or CAT-5 standards and can be used for either data or phone service. There are fees associated with using this cable infrastructure which are detailed in General Information. You may put in wiring for an internal network as long as you meet the conditions outlined below.
General guidelines for wiring
  • All cabling is to be to CAT-5 or higher standards.
  • All cabling must be plenum rated.
  • Tenants may not re-route, move, or cut existing CRC cabling unless approved by the CRC.
  • Any high voltage cabling or wiring must be done by a licensed electrician approved in advance by the CRC Director of Maintenance.
  • Tenant owned equipment must be housed within the tenant suite.
  • All connections of phone and data wiring between the tenant suite and the building communications closet must be done by CRC personnel or by CRC approved contractors.
  • Make sure your network or phone provider understands these guidelines.

DNS and IP Address Information
Network Settings and Information

Gateway Address
206.158.104.1

Broadcast Address
206.158.107.255

Net Mask
255.255.252.0

DNS Server 1
207.42.84.38

DNS Server 2
207.42.84.39

SMTP Server
smtp.vtcrc.net

Network LIaison
Each company at the CRC has an assigned network liaison who is designated when you sign up for service (see New Service). This person is responsible for obtaining and administrating IP addresses and the hostnames that go along with them. This is usually not much more than keeping track of your "dat" file which lists your IP addresses and the hostnames. The CRC hostmaster will assign you new IP addresses and send you a new copy of your newly updated "dat" file with the requested addresses listed at the bottom. These IP addresses will be on one line each and look like this: <unassigned>:12.5.xxx.xxx:

Domains, RNL or generic VTCRC.NET names are free. Note: Any IP address will work on any active portal in the CRC buildings such as in Wikiteria Market & Café or conference rooms.

Obtaining new IP addresses:
An IP address is given to you for each portal you have activated. If you need additional IP addresses, you may request them by filling in the needed information at Moves, Adds, and Changes. The rate structure for additional IP addresses is found at General Information.

For additional technical information about firewalls, security, and SMTP Servers, please call 961-7560.
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  Use of Tenant SMTP Servers
   

Allowance of "Open Relay" for tenant SMTP mail servers connected to the internet via the VTCRC infrastructure is not allowed. Open Relay is a situation where email spammers from anywhere on the net can send bulk mail through your server. This can cause network deterioration, and even complete outage, for your server and the rest of the Park tenants.


You are required to use and configure SMTP servers such that they cannot be used by "Spammers" to hijack your server and, consequently, our bandwidth for unauthorized use. Here are a few sites which can help in finding an appropriate SMTP server and how to configure it:

http://www.mail-abuse.com/an_sec3rdparty.html

http://hexadecimal.uoregon.edu/antirelay/

http://spam.abuse.net/

http://www.abuse.net/

We reserve the right to shutdown VTCRC portals providing Open Relay. We will attempt to get in touch with the appropriate parties before hand if possible. It is in your best interest to provide hostmaster@vtcrc.net with the contact information for the current network liaison for your company so such contact attempts can be made. Please request that your network liaison obtain and check for accuracy the company "dat" file, request address: hostmaster@vtcrc.net.

NOTE: Many of the companies here at the park are using MS Exchange Server. This server out of the box (V.4.5 and V.5.0), is not very configurable, you'll need to go to the Microsoft website and find security updates for Exchange, and find out how to configure it to prevent "Open Relay" situations. Check the MS site, here are some helpful links there:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q267/8/56

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q199/6/56
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    For additional information, please contact the CRC Administrative office.

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The Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center is the proud recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Research/Science Park Award given by the Association of University Research Parks (AURP).