Northern Tier Network North Dakota - FY20 Financial Report

FY20 Financial Report

For FY20, the annual budget for NTN-ND was balanced with a combination of funds remaining available for annual operations and management, along with revenue acquired through reimbursements from the state of South Dakota and the Pacific Northwest GigaPop. Since completing the full build for its segment in 2009, NTN-ND has remained fiscally healthy. No money is used to fund staff of NTN-ND partners UND or NDSU. 

The FY20 report reflects a starting balance of $58,110 with total expenditures of $551,200. Reserved funds designated for Capital refresh and replacement and reimbursements totaling $575,000 were made available to support annual operating expenses. Reimbursements in the amount of $132,517 were received from the state of South Dakota for their portion of annual network and NOC expenses, and from the Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) for their portion of annual network, telecommunications and hardware expenses. An additional one-time reimbursement of  $24,229.02 was collected from PNWGP to reconcile accounts during a seven-month period following completion of the updated operating agreement between PNWGP and NTN-ND. In anticipation of work necessary for network upgrade activities, initial electrical upgrades were completed. NTN-ND funds remaining on balance at the end of FY20 will be used to cover expenses going forward into FY21. 

Annual expenses of NTN-ND are incurred across five categories: equipment, fiber, network operations center, Internet2 and NTNC dues, and other operating. Funds expended on upgrade activities are identified in a separate category starting with this FY20 financial report. Additional expenses for depreciation and capital refresh and replacement typically transferred at the end of each fiscal year have not been deducted since FY17 due to statewide budget cuts and subsequent termination of state and University System funding support. NTN-ND partners have used existing account funds to support annual operations and maintenance since that time.

NTN-ND Annual Expenditures Occur in Six Main Categories: 

Equipment: Cost related to equipment acquisition and maintenance fees. 

Fiber: Operations and maintenance fees on fiber, and rack and power required to house equipment in space provided by the vendor.

Internet2/NTNC dues and participation fees: Annual Internet2 participation and connectivity fees, NTNC membership dues, sponsored participant fees and costs for Internet2 to accept and route traffic to and from NTN-ND. Internet2 membership dues and fees continue to change as the organizational structure for Internet2 and their member community evolves to address the needs of current research and academics. 

Network Operations Center (NOC): Management of network equipment, including troubleshooting and response coordination for unplanned outages. 

Other operations: Includes insurance, minor supplies, printing and shipping costs. Beginning in FY18, NTN-ND partners covered all of their own travel and per diem expenses relevant to R&E activities. 

NTN Upgrade: Includes one-time expenses related to fiber, hardware, software, electrical, equipment and installation. These expenses will be categorized separately until the upgrade project is fully completed.

Notable changes since FY19 

Most notable as NTN-ND ends FY20 is the expected deployment in FY21 of the regional network upgrade planned for North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Completion of this upgrade is anticipated to result in significant cost savings to NTN-ND in annual operations and maintenance, and just as critically, increase capability from 10Gbps waves to 100 Gbps waves. Agreements between the regional partners were completed by the end of FY20 and project completion is anticipated by the end of FY21. The improvements for NTN-ND will mark a transition in operational status of the network, moving from a business model of owned assets to a model where the majority of daily operations is achieved through procurement of services from other entities.