Merit GateD Consortium Membership Information

Goals for GateD

Merit's goal is to provide the

The goals of the Merit GateD Consortium are that:

1. the GateD software and services should provide value to the members.
2. the GateD membership fees need to provide a stable funding source to permit a three year technical plan with committed resources
3. GateD Consortium needs to improve Documentation and Support.

The Merit GateD Consortium's technical plan for the next three years involves:

1. Unicast Improvements in 1996
2. Multicast code additions in 1997
3. IP version 6 in 1998

The Unicast, Multicast and IP version 6 projects are schedule in sequential years because of the current level of GateD funding. Should additional funding be available, Merit staff can re-assigned to work on the GateD project. The Merit staff contains many partial appointments to the GateD projects so additional staff members are being trained.

Why Changes are Needed

In order to reach the goals that the Merit GateD Consortium set, the Merit GateD consortium must change it's funding to support 3.5 worth of staff for the Gated project. The staff planned includes

• 2.5 engineers for development of new releases and maintenance
• 0.5 FTE Technical manager
• Half time technical writer (0.5 FTE)
• Students to help with testing
• Administrative help

In order to attain these goals, the GateD Consortium Membership fees must raise $450,000 per year.