Those attending:
David Blakesley, JP Dunn, Patty Cosgrove for Al Allen, Duke Koch,
Larry Schilling, Ruth Bernhardt, Tom Petroski for Brad Wilke, Susan
Logue for Carloyn Snyder, James Duggan, Pierre Barrette, Geoff Nathan.
The meeting began with
a report from Patty Cosgrove on IT issues. There has been so far no
official word on modem upgrades, nor have there been any results yet
on discussions with ATS and Comdisco. IT has received funding from
IBHE to connect Trueblood. Once the infrastructure is on the other
side of the tracks, other facilities can be connected with less difficulty.
Some faculty on the west side of campus are still not connected to
CAN, but Allyn, Shyrock, Lawson, and Quigley are now in the process
of being connected to the CAN. It was pointed out, however, that some
departments can't afford to activate the B-Jacks and that IT can't
afford to install routers in the wire closets. Geoff pointed out that
the extra $100,000 in our desktop replacement proposal is intended
to cover such costs, and that the Student Technology fee will cover
the public access labs.
It is now clear that all
fiscal offices will need computers that meet Oracle's minimum requirements,
but there is no budget provision for this. The CAC has been charged
with calculating the cost for these computers. We can obtain the names
and locations of all fiscal offices on campus from the Oracle project.
It was pointed out that we will need to figure additional cost for
token-ring cards.
Pierre Barrette wondered
whether IT had long-term plans for the infrastructure? Susan Logue
suggested making the suggested $100,000 in additional funds an addendum
to the original document, and not part of the desktop replacement
plan. It was also pointed out that some departments have no budget
for software.
Pierre Barrette attended
the Internet 2 conference where opinion is that 6 years is the life
cycle of the infrastructure. He suggested that we should look at what
is required for Internet 2 protocols. The current cost to join the
I2 group is $25,000 -- we could gain much needed information by becoming
an I2 member. Susan Logue pointed out that significant grant money
has been awarded to institutions from IBM and other corporations to
institutions to study the inplications of I2.
Geoff Nathan agreed that
it was a good idea to take the request for funds for infrastructure
out of the general fund for desktop replacement, and Duke Koch added
that it would be good to mention in thereport that addendum is to
follow.
Patty Cosgrove pointed out
that information is available concerning the campus infrastructure
at the following address:
Duke Koch pointed out that
although the Y2K survey asks the mode of network connection the Y2K
desktop survey was not concerned with the infrastructure. He reminded
the group that Y2K - System wide committee information could be found
at
Pierre Barrette wondered
whether we have to be concerned with bandwidth, and the answer appears
to be yes, because bandwidth is a big part of what it will take to
get I@ running. Geoff Nathan pointed out that during discussions on
the future of VBNS (another highspeed network) people pointed out
that it was not too expensive to bring fat pipe to campus, but very
expensive to bring to individual desktops. He suggests that we need
to put bandwidth issue on our agenda. Continuing discussion of the
desktop plan, Geoff said he would send the revised Desktop Replacement
Proposal out to all committee members tomorrow.
On a related issue, Pierre
Barrette pointed out that the department of Curriculum and Instruction
has approx. 65 part time teaching faculty with a full load, and that
these individuals can't be made to feel like second class citizens;
they also have computing needs. Geoff Nathan added that some GAs have
their own classes and that they too might need to be included. Larry
Schilling pointed out that 10% of faculty are part time. Larry Schilling
asked whether we intended to supply a computer to the fiscal officers
for the Oracle project. Geoff replied that Skip Hardenburg reported
that in the original budget, there was no provision to provide computers
to these individuals.
At the next meeting we will
have an update on the modem replacement project. The ISP proposal
(MidWest Internet) has been sent to the planning and budget committee.
Patty will send firewall information to committee members
The meeting adjourned: 3:50
pm.
The next meeting will be
on April 13 at 3:00 P.M. in the Balcony Conference Room.
