Cascade Bicycle Club Internet Communications Proposal

This proposal is intended to provide the Cascade Bicycle Club with a strong Internet presence and communications capability.

Background

The Internet can provide the club with several different benefits. First, it can provide cheap global advertising for the club and for bicycle advocacy. The website provides this capability.

Second, it can provide fast, reliable, and non-intrusive communications between the club leadership, members, and the interested public. This is done using electronic mail.

Both of these benefits could be realized by expanding the present system(s), assuming that the volunteers continue to be willing to provide them. There are a number of problems with this approach:

• The website is run as a hobby by Mark Allyn and thus has only the support which he is willing to devote to it. In his words, "If I go skiing for a week and the server goes down, it will be down until I get back..."
• Mark is running the server as a virtual host on his computer with a 56KB Internet connection. As the site becomes more popular it will cause a larger drain on his system and Internet connection. In addition, since the site is a virtual host rather than an independent server, it is more difficult to create new email addresses, mailing lists, and accounts.
• The mailing list is on a different domain (cortland.com) which means that someone else has to maintain the mailing list (Mike Levy). This makes it more difficult to add new mailing lists or administer existing ones.
• The mailing list addresses are more difficult for people to identify with the club than if they were on cascade.org.
• There is presently no dial-up access to the cascade.org domain, so anyone wishing to use it, either to view the website or to use email, must have their own account through an Internet Access Provider.

The Proposal

In return, the Cascade Bicycle Club will provide a one-time setup fee of $1600 to buy a dedicated server. The club will own this server but it will be located at the N2H2 offices so it can be connected to our Internet connection and administered by our technical support staff. The club will also grant N2H2 the exclusive right to sell dial-up and email accounts on the cascade.org domain. In addition, N2H2 will get a one line tag on the bottom of each page of the website stating that the server is maintained by N2H2, Inc., with a link to N2H2's home page. Finally, the club will provide an article in the Courier describing the club's Internet services (including the dial-up service) once per year and a small notice (classified advertisement) each month.

This will provide the club with a dedicated server with a T1 connection to the Internet, full technical support, and free Internet email addresses for the leadership. This will solidify the current capabilities and make future growth possible.

Benefits for the Club

Free dial-up/email accounts for club leadership and office.

These accounts will be president@cascade.org, execdir@cascade.org, secretary@cascade.org, bats@cascade.org, rides@cascade.org, etc. This will make it very easy for members to contact specific functions of the club. The accounts will either be dedicated accounts or will forward the mail to the present holder of the position.

This will also make it possible for club leadership to use email effectively. Email is a quick, effective, and non-intrusive method of communication. However, it isn't useful if only a portion of involved people have it. By providing email accounts to all of the club leadership, we eliminate this problem.

Dial-up accounts will also be made available in the CBC office so that volunteers can work on club projects involving the Internet from the office. If the club desires, it could also make the office workstations available to members on a limited basis so that any member could look at the website or the many other bicycling-oriented resources on the Internet.

Dedicated server and full T1 connection

A dedicated server will provide the club with a reliable way of dispensing information. Our technical support staff are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to keep it running. N2H2 Corporation has a full T1 connection to the Internet, which is approximately 30 times that of the current 56KB connection which the club has access to. This will provide faster access to the website as the number of people visiting it increases.

A dedicated server will also ease the growing pains of expansion as the club improves its Internet presence. There are many future possibilities, the most often requested being on-line membership and ride registration.

The dedicated server greatly simplifies the creation and maintenance of electronic mailing lists. Possible lists are gac-list@cascade.org, education-list@cascade.org, etc.

Technical Support

A major advantage of moving the server to our location is that we can provide 24/7 maintenance and support. The club pays no maintenance support costs and since N2H2 already has all of the other required equipment, the start-up costs are minimal compared to the club housing its own system.

Retain Club's Focus

By allowing N2H2 to take care of the technical and business sides of being an Internet Provider, the club will be able to focus its thoughts, efforts, and volunteers on providing quality communication between the club, its leadership, its members, and the public.

Improve Accessibity of Server to Volunteers

By using a dedicated server, volunteers will be able to have dedicated accounts on the server. This simplifies maintenance and improvements on the website and allows for better tracking and ownership of portions of the website. It will also give me (Kevin Fink) better access to the server so I can implement advanced features such as mailing list archives, interactive scripts, etc.

Benefits for N₂H₂

Exclusive right to sell dial-up/email accounts at cascade.org.

N2H2 will sell dial-up accounts using our present equipment with email accounts on the cascade.org server. This will allow CBC members to have email accounts of the form user@cascade.org. It will also provide these users the fastest possible access for a modem to the CBC website.

N2H2 will perform all technical, administrative, and billing for these accounts. The club will not be involved with them in any way.

Article in Courier on service.

The club will publish an article on the club's Internet presence in the Courier. This article may be written either by

N2H2, by a club volunteer, or as a collaborative effort. The article will describe the club's website, mailing list, and the new dial-up service available to members.

Monthly Advertisement

The club will also provide space for a small advertisement of the dial-up service in each month's Courier.

Details / Items for Discussion

Server

We can get a 100 MHz Pentium with 32 MB of RAM, a 1 GB hard drive, and an Ethernet card for $1600. This does not include a monitor, keyboard, or mouse, but those won't be necessary unless/until the CBC decides to house the server somewhere else, as N2H2 can provide them for configuration, testing, and maintenance when necessary.

N2H2 will install Linux, a free UNIX-based operating system on the server. We will also install all other needed software for the website, dial-up access, and electronic mail accounts.

Ownership & Maintenance Responsibility

CBC will own the system. At the termination of the contract the server and the cascade.org domain name will be returned to CBC.

N2H2 will perform all routine maintenance on the server. This specifically excludes replacement of hardware components such as the monitor, disk drives, etc. CBC will be responsible for any needed hardware upgrades (additional hard drive, more memory).

WebSite Responsibility

CBC will be completely in charge of and responsible for the website. N2H2 will provide accounts on the server for volunteers working on the website. These will be server-only accounts, not dial-up accounts.

Duration of contract

The initial contract shall run for three years. This provides stability to both parties while allowing for modification as the nature of the Internet and of CBC's involvement in it changes.

Termination of contract

When the contract is terminated, the server and domain shall be returned to CBC. Customers with dial-up accounts will be given the option of ending their accounts, switching them to a different domain at N2H2, or following them to wherever the CBC dial-up pool is moved to.

Limitations on commercial use

Neither CBC nor N2H2 will be allowed to sell commercial web space on the server without the explicit written permission of the other. CBC may use the server for any internal use, such as taking online ride submissions, membership orders and renewals, ride signups, etc. Future extensions such as running a secure server (Apache SSL, Netscape Commerce, etc) are welcome but any additional expense will be negotiated between CBC and N2H2.