INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES

October 25, 2001

Time: 10:00 - 12:00

Location: McHenry Library 481

 

I.    Welcome and Introductions

§         Members Present:  Scotty Brookie, Mark Cianca, Pat LeCuyer, Larry Merkley, Bob White, Kathleen Dettman, Terry Schalk, Bruce Cooperstein, Charlie McDowell.

§         Members Absent: Bill Hyder

§         Staff Present:  Max Ritchie, Fana O’Halloran

 

II.  Chair Announcements

§         Charlie McDowell has found two undergraduate students who are interested in participating in the ITC.  He will bring their credentials to the next meeting and the committee will take them under consideration.

§         Last week there was a Library retreat triggered by the servers that were compromised in the August 8th incident.  The group focused on long term planning technology issues that could inform the campus planning process.

§         The Governor has signed an executive order that places a hiring freeze on all state employees until July 2003.  CSU and UC have been asked to consider this. The campus will determine its course once the Office of the President has considered its response.

 

III. Network Services and Rate Structure Review

The School of Engineering (SOE) has declared an interest to move away from existing campus network rate fees.  They would like to be more self-sufficient in network coverage, and they already perform much of their own maintenance.  Currently, along with SOE, Natural Sciences and the Lick Observatory are paying reduced charges (about $25 less per connection) because they maintain their own systems.  CATS provides electronics to SOE and they complete a yearly inventory of SOE’s system, while SOE does programming, additions and changes. 

 

Network services included within the campus rate currently include public/faculty/staff modem pools, DNS naming, help desk support, authentication services, and security.  These rates fund a portion of the CATS business office, and half of the salary of 30 employees. The current network rates are about $256 per year/per connection for 10 or 100 MB connectivity.  SOE pays $450 for GB access. 

 

CATS has two monetary reserves: depreciation, which replaces old equipment, and working capital, which supports new growth on campus.  The reserves fund electronics and connectivity of new buildings on campus.  The 12 million dollar cable upgrade is not funded by network rates. 

 

The ITC has agreed to charge a subcommittee to review network rates. This advisory committee will work for 3-4 months to develop several models to choose from and make a recommendation to the ITC.

 

The purpose of the review will be:

 

§         Consideration of the purpose and membership of ongoing advisory groups for network services

§         Suggest principles/policies for review of network services and rate structures

§         Determine what other services might be included – e.g. telecommunications, in the network discussions

§         Develop criteria for determining if a unit can provide its own network services, at significantly reduced rates

§         Determine costs associated with central network services

§         Propose funding models which:

o       Considers and defines core, mandated and elective services to be included

o       Aligns baseline and rate additive structure with service definitions

o       Suggests process for future changes in service requirements      

 

The committee will be comprised of a diverse group of individuals from various factions on campus.  Membership will include:

 

William Hyder, Social Sciences, Chair

Patrick LeCuyer, CATS

Jim Genes, School of Engineering

Dan Snodgrass, Humanities

Warren Mikawa, Housing

Fana O’Halloran, Planning and Budget

 

IV.  Network Services Advisory Group -

It was decided that the scope of this group fits well under the newly charged Network Services and Rate Structure Review Group and will be included in those discussions.

 

V.    ITC's role in the campus planning and budget allocation process

On December 3rd, each division will submit a detailed 10-year plan to EVC Simpson.  The ITC will review each plan looking for interactions with topics that they are currently working on and make suggestions about how plans could be modified.  Specifically, the group will look for integration points, and for themes that include IT issues, including those that may not be referred to as such.  After a thorough review, ITC will provide a set of ranked campus IT priorities to EVC Simpson.

 

VI.  Security

§         A preliminary report from the LASSO subcommittee that is working on IT policies will be presented to ITC at the end of November.  It is expected that the first set of recommendations could be available in early January.

§         Pat LeCuyer will bring a draft of the Security Server Management Policy to the next meeting for discussion.

   

VII.   Other Committee Business

 

VIII.    Next Meeting:  Thursday, November 8, 2001, 10:00-12:00, McHenry Library, Room 481

 

IX.        Adjournment:  12:00 PM