Iowa Communications Network (ICN)
John Gillispie,
Director
Mission Statement:
To provide authorized users the highest quality and technologically
advanced educational, medical, judicial, and governmental
telecommunications services and support the State of Iowa
in achieving economic growth.
Measures:
Is the ICN Reliable?
Order Performance History
ICN Video Success for Sessions
K-12 Schools Benefit from ICN Classrooms
|
 |
-
 Performance
Plan - How we measure our progress
-
Strategic
Plan - How we plan for progress
-
Performance
Report - How we report our progress
-
Department
Home Page - Learn more about this department
|
|
Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of time the network is available
to authorized voice, video, and data users.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 2/8/08 |
|
 |
Why
this is important:
Authorized users of the ICN depend on the network to be
reliable and ready for their use. Whether for education,
telemedicine, telejustice, state government operations
an emergency situation, it is imperative the network be
accessible and operational at all times. The ICN continuously
achieves the industry standard of "Five 9's" of reliability
with 99.999% uptime.
What we're doing about this:
The ICN continually evaluates its operations and equipment
to insure the greatest reliability rate possible. Efficient,
organized emergency preparedness and response is crucial
to the network, because it is important to citizens. The
ICN was created, in part, so state government could continue
to function in the event of an emergency. Regular exercises
are conducted by ICN management and their response teams
to simulate "disasters" in which the network could be affected
and to review, coordinate and improve response time.
|
|
|
Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of customer-requested services installed
by agreed-to due dates.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Project
Management Center
Updated 2/8/08 |
 |
|
Why
this is important:
Customer satisfaction and exceeding expectations
is imperative in the delivery of new voice and
data services to ICN customers. Services need
to be delivered in a timely manner, so Iowa citizens
can be served by state government efficiently
and effectively.
What we're doing about this:
There is a minimum goal to have 95% of projects
completed by set due dates. The ICN monitors
the delivery and reliability of all services
on a daily basis. The information is reviewed
by management bimonthly, and opportunities for
improvement are identified. All projects, no
matter the size, are given the same attention
to timeliness.
|
|
|
Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of successful video sessions.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 2/8/08 |
 |
|
Why
this is important:
Iowa citizens rely on the ICN to communicate across the
miles. Students communicate with teachers, doctors with
patients, and citizens with state government. If a session
is scheduled, Iowans need to be confident it will run as
planned.
What we're doing about this:
The agency monitors all sessions through its Network Operations
Center (NOC). Typically, as you can see in the chart, ICN
maintains a high reliability rate, continually surpassing
its goal
of a 99.5% session success rate. The third quarter for
FY07 brought severe winter storms to Iowa. While the Network
remained reliable and operational, many schools were closed
and ICN sessions cancelled due to the weather.
ICN video technical experts
perform regular tests, especially when preparing for
international sessions or sessions held under
unusual circumstances. While each classroom
is designed for ease of use by authorized
users, sometimes technical problems may arise. Each ICN
classroom has a fiber phone which connects users directly
to the NOC in case of technical problems. The NOC addresses
the problem over the phone with the user and gets the
situation
corrected.
|
|
|
Highlighted Measure:
Number of hours the ICN classrooms are used by
Iowa's secondary schools.
DATA SOURCE: Iowa Communications Network, Engineering
Division
Updated 2/8/08 |
|
|
Why
this is important:
A core function of the Iowa Communications Network
(ICN) is to help provide educational access to
all Iowans in a cost-effective way. Part of that
function is the goal of bringing equal educational
opportunities to K-12 students located in rural
and underserved areas.
What we're doing about this:
The ICN constantly looks for ways to serve the
students and schools of Iowa. As a deliverer
of distance learning programming, the ICN and
Iowa Public Television are pleased to bring
a new collaboration in support of Iowa education
in 2007. Through this collaboration ICN and IPTV
promote educational opportunities for students,
options for helping with teacher shortages, and
creative use of video technology in the classroom.
Sessions are available at no cost to PreK-12
Iowa students and adults who work with, or on
behalf of, those students. The ICN also continues
to work closely with Iowa Learning online in
helping those school districts who want to share
classes and increase their students' academic
opportunities by using the ICN, whether through
distance learning classrooms, over the Internet,
or a combination of both.
|
|
|
|
