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The Evolving Technologies Committee The Evolving Infrastructure. Presenters Linda Deneen, University of Minnesota, Duluth Philip E. Long, Yale University On behalf of the Committee. Introduction - A story about wireless networking.
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The Evolving Technologies Committee The Evolving Infrastructure Presenters Linda Deneen, University of Minnesota, Duluth Philip E. Long, Yale University On behalf of the Committee
Introduction - A story about wireless networking • Faculty and students liked the good stuff: mobility, cost, and expansion of the network to difficult spaces • IT staff hated the bad stuff: inferior speed and quality, security holes, and lack of authentication • What is a CIO to do? • Attend EDUCAUSE Conference • Listen to presentations • Talk with colleagues at other institutions • Read and participate • Read the white papers on the ETCOM web site, http://www.educause.edu/issues/etcom • Pick up a handout today to get pointers • Convince your staff to move ahead
Topics for Your Attention • Wireless Networking • Course Management Systems • Grid Computing • Institutional Repositories • Physical IT Security • Disaster Recovery • IT Security
Wireless NetworkingCharles Bartel (CMU) and Emilio DiLorenzo (RIT) • Data communication without wires • Internet access wherever and whenever desired • Conference rooms, courtyards, libraries, podia and more! • Current standards are called WiFi or 802.11b, a, g, i • And they keep changing • Quiz: • 802.11b runs at 11Mbs (ideal) • 802.11g runs at 54 Mbs but supports b clients as well as g • What is the speed of an 802.11g wireless segment?
Answer The Speed of 802.11g Depends! • With all g clients, 802.11g runs at 54Mb (ideal) • But with any b clients, it’s limited to a burst rate of 11Mb when communicating with b clients • And g clients have to wait at “11Mbs” • But g clients still communicate at 54Mb • => a mixed b/g network runs at mixed speeds and throughput
Wireless Works. Really. • You should install wireless where appropriate to: • Make network access convenient • Support new cultures of learning for mobile students • Extend campus network quickly to hard-to-wire locations • Expand network infrastructure cost-effectively • Wireless networks are on your campus even if you don’t know! • Standards are in chaos. What’s a poor IT director to do? • Unless a technology leading institution, install sweet spot technology in core areas (high use public spaces) with maximum flexibility to adapt over time. • Evaluate to determine the potential benefits and the costs • Also evaluate the costs of not doing this to reputation of the school and IT group, ability to attract students
Course Management SystemsJohn Meerts (Wesleyan) • CMS: a set of tools and a framework that • Support the logistics of teaching • Class rosters and grades • Exercises, quizzes, tests • Communications with students and the class as a whole • Support creation and distribution of online course content • Help students learn: • A logistical center: one place to find everything • Enable electronic elements such as simulations, media and much more An example from Wesleyan http://www.wesleyan.edu/its/acs/modules/burke/context/layout1n.swf
CMS: The Intersection of Academic and Administrative Systems • The CMS is most effective as an enterprise application • To manage class rosters, pictures, grades, etc., the CMS must interoperate seamlessly with the institutional student system • The boundaries between the CMS and other institutional systems are blurring • CMS vendors will provide end-to-end solutions or • They will link to institutional systems such as student records • CMS planning requires an institutional approach • Resources, linkage to other systems • 7/24 operations and support • A new, substantial, and growing challenge • Also, CMS technology is in flux • E.g., emerging open source and toolkit solutions
Oops - Digital Institutional Repositories Alan McCord (Michigan, Lawrence Tech) • A digital institutional repository is a • Formally organized and managed collection of digital content • Generated by faculty, staff or students • In the course of research, teaching or administration • Available via library, course delivery or archive system • Examples from MIT’s DSpace • Text: https://dspace.mit.edu/community-list • Note the richness and diversity of collections & communities • Video: http://www.bus.umich.edu/Technology/MichiganAdvantage/Webcasts • the “Emerging Competitive Landscape” video shot in Mumbai India. • How many such events held in the past are now “lost to history?”
Why is this Important to Higher Ed? • Allow campus community to manage personal collections and publish their work • Likely essential in support of some grants • Provide archival and non-archival storage • Some of today’s undergraduates will be of great future interest :-) • Administer property rights and royalties associated with stored assets • Protect intellectual property • Provide tools to create, manage, and inventory media assets
Institutional RepositoriesNext Steps • Apprise campus leadership of digital archiving • Engage library and other interested colleagues • Track developments at peer schools • Establish a pilot repository • Experiment with standards-based storage and cataloging • Pursue small wins through exploratory projects • E.g., course web repository • Develop essential IT baseline infrastructure • Bandwidth, low-cost storage, authentication
Grid ComputingJohn Hurley (Now, the Boeing Company) • Clusters: linked groups of similar computers • Grids: shared, distributed, heterogeneous computers • Typically to accelerate computation • High data demand is more suited to clusters • Best known example is SETI http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/totals.html • Grid offers great potential to harness distributed cycles • To solve highly complex or computationally intensive problems • NSF is now funding Grid standards development • IBM and others are also promoting • => watch this space
Grid Computing – Next Steps • Track the technology • Implement if/when your campus identifies a need for a known “grid-friendly” application • Except for leading technology institutions, don’t attempt early adoption of new grid applications • Start with cluster computing instead and expand once successful
William Jewell College $200K Michigan State University $1M University of Washington $20M Cal State – Northridge $10M Colorado State University $100M Miami-Dade Community College $400M Physical Security and Disaster RecoveryMatch the Challenge with the Institution Firebombing Fire Tornado Hurricane Flood Earthquake
IT Facilities Physical SecurityBonnie Neas (North Dakota State University) • Protect physical access to campus IT assets • As housed in buildings, rooms, closets, or underground tunnels. • Potential Risks • Vandalism or deliberate damage • Network snooping • Compromise of data or machines • Actions • Make sure architects are knowledgeable • Assess core facilities and retrofit or design with new construction • Protect key IT facilities • Data Center, other central facilities • Distributed facilities • Labs, computer rooms • Wiring closets, utility tunnels
Disaster Recovery, Business ContinuityLori Franz (University of Missouri-Columbia) • Plans for resumption of core activities after a calamity • Disaster Recovery typically focuses on IT systems • Business Continuity adds restoration of business processes • Institutions are increasingly dependent on IT systems • All major institutional systems rely on IT • Also, most communications, including emergency systems • Widespread dependence on email, www, cell phones and more • And much more • Must plan for quick restoration of critical services • And continuity of core business processes
Disaster Recovery:Commence Planning! • Study peers’ plans and planning methodologies • Develop a range of possible disaster scenarios • Lay out recovery strategies • Document facilities and network recovery plans • Modify existing technology and add appropriate backup equipment and sites as appropriate • NOTE: disasters tend to come in clusters!! • Identify response teams for each scenario • Including who backs up whom, who does what, who calls whom • Iteratively develop, test and refine a plan • Practice: table top and during actual failures • Include simulation of emergency communications
Late Breaking: Information SecurityPhilip Long (Yale) • Recent security issues have had serious consequences • Stealther, Blaster, Nachia, Welchia, SoBig • Shut down some railroads, air travel and businesses • Are reported as a possible contributing factor in NE blackout • Affected much more than simply the machines they infected • Networks, everyone’s email boxes • This is much more than a mere annoyance • And will command much more of our attention • And our resources than we might have planned or wish
Security Issues Mark a Phase Change in the Campus IT Environment • User dependencies and expectations for IT systems continue to increase • IT infrastructure is now central to our institutions • And will only become more so • Protection of that infrastructure is central • We must respond • As an industry and as IT directors
Changes in Managing IT Infrastructure • Improve reliability, redundancy, speed to repair • Recognize costs to deliver reliable infrastructure • The infrastructure is invisible; the campus takes it for granted • The costs are invisible but must be made visible and justified • Increase standards and tightness of management • Minimum standards for machine security, permission to scan • Email virus management, tightened disconnection policies, etc. • New balance of function vs hardening infrastructure • Address significant frustration by end-users • And potential for staff burn-out • National attention will help • E.g., from the Atkins report on Cyberinfrastructure
More Info on the web • See the Evolving Technologies Committee’s web site athttp://www.educause.edu/issues/etcom/for a white paper on each of these topics • except for security • For security, see the EDUCAUSE Security Task Force web site athttp://www.educause.edu/security/
Committee Topics and Members • Wireless Networking, Charles Bartel (CMU) and Emilio DiLorenzo (RIT) • Course Management Systems, John Meerts (Wesleyan) • Grid Computing, John Hurley (Now, the Boeing Company) • Institutional Repositories, Alan McCord (Michigan, LTU) • Physical IT Security, Bonnie Neas (North Dakota State Univ) • Disaster Recovery, Lori Franz (University of Missouri-Columbia) • IT Security and Presenter, Philip Long (Yale) • Chair, Linda Deneen (University of Minnesota Duluth) • Other members: Hud Croasdale (Virginia Tech), Mark Luker (EDUCAUSE), Bisi Oladipupo (Norfolk State University)