The Evolving Technologies Committee The Evolving Infrastructure

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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

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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

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Topics for Your Attention

• Wireless Networking
• Course Management Systems
• Grid Computing
• Institutional Repositories
• Physical IT Security
• Disaster Recovery
• IT Security

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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?

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Answer The Speed of 802.11g Depends!

• With all g clients, 802.11g runs at 54Mb (ideal)
• But with any b clients, its 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
• gt a mixed b/g network runs at mixed speeds and
  throughput

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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
  dont know!
• Standards are in chaos. Whats 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

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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/i
  ts/acs/modules/burke/context/layout1n.swf

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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

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Institutional Repositories
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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 MITs DSpace
• Text https//dspace.mit.edu/community-list
• Note the richness and diversity of collections
  communities
• Video http//www.bus.umich.edu/Technology/Michiga
  nAdvantage/Webcasts
• the Emerging Competitive Landscape video shot
  in Mumbai India.
• How many such events held in the past are now
  lost to history?

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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 todays 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

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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

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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.b
  erkeley.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
• gt watch this space

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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, dont
  attempt early adoption of new grid applications
• Start with cluster computing instead and expand
  once successful

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Physical Security and Disaster RecoveryMatch the
Challenge with the Institution
Firebombing
Fire
Tornado
Hurricane
Flood
Earthquake
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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

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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

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Disaster RecoveryCommence 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

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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, everyones 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

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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

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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

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More Info on the web

• See the Evolving Technologies Committees 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
  /

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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)

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QA