NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET INCORPORATED BUSINESS PLAN FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET THIN CLIENT SERVICE PRESENTATION TO NCF BOARD OF DIRECTORS 21 September 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------ NCF Thin Client Service Business Plan Overview 1. About HRDC's Office of Learning Technologies (OLT) Community Learning Networks (CLN) Initiative 2. Objectives of the NCF Thin Client Service 3. Overview of Proposed NCF Thin Client Service 4. Structure of Business Plan ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. About HRDC's Office of Learning Technologies (OLT) Community Learning Networks (CLN) Initiative - The Office of Learning Technologies is a part of HRDC that works with public and private sector partners to raise awareness about the opportunities, challenges and benefits of technology-based learning, and act as a catalyst for innovation in the areas of learning and skills development using technologies. - The purpose of the CLN Initiative is to support time-limited pilot projects, in partnership with community organizations, that can offer mutli-point access to a variety of learning resources within and across communities. - Financial support will be provided for pilot projects on a cost-sharing basis (normally up to 50%) with sponsoring organizations and other partners. - Funding - up to $100,000 per year for a maximum of three years will be available for community learning networks pilot initiatives and for national, regional or interprovincial resource projects, primarily for salaries and evaluation costs. - Fiscal year for funding purposes is the same as the federal government: from April 1 to March 31. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Objectives of the NCF Thin Client Service - To Stimulate Learning Opportunities - The proposed project will provide opportunities for informal learning and will stimulate job skills development, by providing members of the community with access to modern office automation and web-authoring software. - To Serve as a Pilot Model for Other Community Networks - The proposed project will serve as a ground-breaking pilot for the delivery of learning opportunities, and will include the preparation of a set of documentation which will permit the replication of the NCF's Thin Client Service by other community networks. Additionally, the proposed Thin Client Service will be accessible to anyone with access to the internet and can therefore provide distance education to a broad geographic community, which includes other community networks. - To Support the On-going Sustainability of the NCF - The proposed project will permit the NCF to introduce a new and innovative service that will differentiate the NCF from commercial internet service providers. This is expected to support the retention of existing members and the attraction of new members, whose individual donations have historically provided the majority of the NCF operating revenue. ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Overview of Proposed NCF Thin Client Service - The proposed National Capital FreeNet (NCF) Thin Client Service will provide NCF members, including those members who have relatively modest computers, with access to some of the latest Windows-based applications. The software applications will be hosted on a specialized server, with the network connection between the member's client computer and the server transporting only the keystrokes, mouse clicks and screen refresh updates to the member's client computer. - To access the applications provided by the NCF Thin Client Service, members will simply need to download and install a free, small, software application, which is available for a range of operating systems, including DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Macintosh, Linux and other types of Unix. - The configuration proposed in the first year of the Thin Client Service will be capable of supporting 25 concurrent users (which is expected to serve approx. 2800 members). The capacity of the Thin Client Service will be increased to support 45 concurrent users (serving 5040 members) in year 2 and 60 concurrent users (serving 6720 members) in year 3. - The Office of Learning Technologies will be provided with the opportunity to fund each successive year of the project, based on the annual Evaluation Reports. ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Overview of Proposed NCF Thin Client Service (cont.) - The proposed applications to be offered to the NCF's membership are as follows: - popular office automation software (word processors, spreadsheets, presentation graphics tools) - web authoring software (for HTML and XML formats) - The Thin Client Server computer, to be located at the NCF's computing facilities at Carleton University. - The planned technical architecture does not require any changes to the NCF's existing dial-in access systems and will permit the use of NCF members' existing passwords which will be accessed from the NCF's Unix computers. ------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Structure of Business Plan - Business Plan Structure is specified by the Office of Learning Technologies and includes the following sections: - 1. Sponsor Contact Information - 2. Executive Summary - 3. Organization Summary - 4. Community Profile - 5. Project Description - 6. Action Plan - 7. Budget - 8. Evaluation - Attachments - Most Recent Annual Report - Commitment Letters from Partners ------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Structure of Business Plan 4a. Action Plan - Structured into 7 Task Areas in each of the planned three years of the pilot project as follows: - Acquire Server (or server upgrades) and Software (or software licences) - Configure Server and Applications - Prepare User Documentation (in the form of web pages for members) - Document Technical Configuration - Launch and Promotion - Support and Monitor Usage of Pilot Service - Prepare Final Evaluation Report - The deliverables to the Office of Learning Technologies will be as follows: - User Documentation - Technical Configuration Report - Monthly Progress Reports - Annual Evaluation Report