The UK MAN Managers’ Group (UKMMG) is made up of senior representatives from the UK academic regional or metropolitan area network operators and their associated companies and consortia. The primary purpose of the Regional Network Operators (RNOs) is the provision of JANET services to UK education, research, learning and related organisations under the JANET Partner Agreement (JPA) contract to JANET(UK).
The Group was formed in 1998 and deals with the strategic, technical, financial and contractual matters of operating large, high quality, high availability regional networks. The Group is independent of the existing national committee structures and functions more as a trade association than as a decision making body, although it is a formal point of reference for certain elements of the JPA contract. The main aims of the Group are to help maintain a consistent approach to the provision of MANs across the UK as well as providing a forum for information exchange between the MANs. To this end, the Group welcomes regular liaison with other bodies with an interest in MANs, such as JANET user groups, and liaison with other groups is maintained by cross membership of other groups, such as the relevant JISC committees, which facilitates good liaison and avoids duplication of effort. JANET(UK) regularly attends a portion of the UKMMG meetings to address issues that arise with the implementation of the JPA contract or its services.
The Group meets regularly, normally in London, four times a year with high attendance. The meetings are usually attended by one person from each RNO/MAN, who represents the RNO rather than their own institution. The Group’s members are highly experienced networking professionals with responsibility for the day-to-day operation and development of our networks.
The Group’s mailing list typically has three representatives per RNO/MAN (typically an executive officer of the board or management committee, a day-to-day operations manager and a technical group manager or specialist). The mailing list is closed to allow reasonably confidential discussions.
The Chair of the Group is
CEO of LeNSE Limited. The Deputy Chair is
Assistant Director of ISS at Newcastle University. The Group’s minute secretary role is shared between other attendees on a rotational basis. General meeting organisational support is provided by
, Nottingham Trent University.