UCSB is seeing a diminished number of DMCA complaints when compared with the past two years, and if this year’s trends holds, we will be back at 2001-02 levels.
            2001-02         63
            2002-03         200
            2003-             33
Factors likely influencing are: aggressive RIAA lawsuit tactics, better pre-emption by the campus at orientation, and a fairly draconian policy regarding DMCA complaints (http://www.resnet.ucsb.edu/information/ResnetGuide2003-2004.pdf). We can hope that this will make it clear to state and federal legislators that the University is making an effort to work with the music industry.

 

 

Following extensive testing and retesting, UCSB will replace its Foundry gear with the Cisco platform for the deployment of the Next-Generation Backbone (NGB).  Our decision to switch from Foundry was driven by past software quality assurance problems and poor bug handling processes. The Catalyst 6506 platform appeared to be more robust in the presence of abnormal operating circumstances, such as the Slammer worm.

 

 

There is substantial campus-wide interest in 802.11 wireless, but deployments are relatively ad-hoc and inconsistent.  The OIT is developing a prototype for a campus wireless network, based upon the latest technologies and incorporating user and operational feedback.  At this time, we are developing a requirements list and matching it to available or near-term technologies, with selection of specific products to follow.  We are looking into 802.11b/g, 802.1x and relevant EAP methods, IAPP for roaming support, and AES for encryption.  Support for visitors, quarantine and repair VLANs for compromised systems, rogue AP detection, and scheduled automated configuration changes are also of interest. Site survey and preparation work will be challenging, particularly as it relates to maintenance, upgrades, and campus appearance standards. Kevin Schmidt (kps@ucsb.edu) is running this project, and would like to learn who the primary technical contacts for wireless at each campus are for the express purpose of doing some Q&A with them.

 

 

Because of the unique geographic location of the UCSB campus in relationship to ONI architecture, and due to continuing difficulty in obtaining necessary permits for construction from the newly-formed City of Goleta, we find it necessary to purchase our own backup connection to the commodity Internet. UCOP currently pays for this backup, which will be phased out this spring as part of the ONI process. We are looking at a DS-3 service from a commercial provider at a 10Mb/s floor which will be charged up to a 45Mb/s ceiling. We will likely continue this backup as a tertiary service once our two primary routes to ONI are completed.  

 

 

Communications Services at UCSB will assist selected departments in the College of Engineering and the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics with the installation of a Cisco VoIP system this year. It will be used, initially, within the department to support visiting researchers.  If everyone agrees to the prices and T&C's, we will ultimately connect their VoIP system to the campus telephone system. We foresee this as the way VoIP will become more widely deployed on Campus, although this is likely to be some years in the future and will require reorganization and centralization of voice and networking services. Contact Paul Valenzuela (paul.Valenzuela@commserv.ucsb.edu) for details as the project evolves.

 

 

The OIT has developed a White Paper for cell tower deployment on campus. Providers in the Santa Barbara area have turned increasingly to the campus for tower location to serve not only students but also the larger community. Not surprisingly, this has cause concern on campus. The White Paper (http://www.oit.ucsb.edu/about_OIT/cellular_telephone_facilities.pdf) outlines these concerns and places them into a broader context. The campus now has in place a systematic review and evaluation procedure for cell tower placement. Contact Paul Valenzuela (paul.Valenzuela@commserv.ucsb.edu) for details.

 

 

UCSB is now planning an initiative with a local company to assist students coming to UCSB with the selection of a cellular service that works well on campus, in the surrounding communities and their homes. Most importantly, it gives students choices as to what carrier (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) and what plan works best for them.. Getting the right cell phone that works here is the #1 question we get from parents every year and students expect their service to work on campus and off. We want the students to work with a cellular communications consultant that represents many plans rather than a pitchman that has only one product to sell. And, more importantly, if the student makes a poor initial choice, help them transition to a different carrier or a different plan using the same support system. By fostering a business environment and partnering with companies that provide these consultative services, the consumer should be better served by making a more informed choice and easier transition between in a complicated marketplace. Contact Paul Valenzuela (paul.Valenzuela@commserv.ucsb.edu) for details.

 

The Graduate Division at UCSB reports a number of IT initiatives that may be of interest to other campuses. Contact Chris Dempsey (chris@ucsb.edu) for details on the following projects. Electronic Dissertation Filing Working with Davidson Library, CDL, and Proquest/UMI to develop an online dissertation filing system using tools from Proquest/UMI and BEPress. ETD Website: http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/develop/etd/

 

Integration with Oblix Working with ISC to help pilot Oblix integration.  First target applications are secured extranet GradNET (https://gradnet.ucsb.edu), commencement registration (http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/commence/) and doctoral exit survey (http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/exitsurvey/) Integration with Oblix Working with ISC to help pilot Oblix integration.  First target applications are secured extranet GradNET (https://gradnet.ucsb.edu), commencement registration (http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/commence/) and doctoral exit survey (http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/exitsurvey/)

 

Five Year Plan At the direction of Dean Charles Li, developing a long-range technology plan.  Plan includes proposals for new services and refining of existing services, requests for funding, and summary of current activity.  Comment was requested from a wide audience before final submission to the Executive Vice Chancellor.  Hopefully it can be used as a model for other long-range planning efforts on campus.

 

Continued migration to electronic services Graduate Division continues to migrate paper workflows to electronic workflows, reducing staff time, physical storage requirements, and fiscal resources required.  Electronic services also provide tighter integration with other campus organizations and graduate programs.

 

Student Record Imaging Student records which were previously microfilmed and shredded following completion of the degree are now being scanned into PDF format.  The PDF documents are then highly integrated into existing web-based student information systems.  This has already led to greatly reduced imaging and storage costs, and allows campus groups with proper credentials to access documents 24/7 via the Internet.

UCSB Student Exchange Visitor Information System - SEVIS –  A major upgrade to the vendor product, FSA Atlas, and associated custom database and data interfaces was performed during Fall 03, to fix issues that needed to be resolved prior to the 3^rd week of Winter 04.

 

Electronic Grades Submission project is on-track for web based grade submission for Spring 04 quarter.

 

On-line SIR Delayed: The UCSB Admissions office has decided to delay the on-line Student Intent To Register (SIR) submission with credit card payment for Fall '04 admits, while the campus accounting office works out policy issues with respect to on-line credit card processing and associated fees.  Work on the on-line Statement of Legal Residency (SLR) is proceeding.

 

UCSB Information Technology Sub-Committee: UCSB Coordinating Committee on Budget strategy established an Information Technology sub-committee in October, 2003, to explore ways to harness information technology to improve services while reducing administrative and support costs at UCSB.  This Sub-committee will focus on determining cost-effective means and organization structure for delivering needed information technology services to the campus community, with the goal of issuing final recommendations to the Coordinating Committee in May 2004. 

 

Arts and Lectures Ticketing System: UCSB is in the final evaluation phase of vendor products to support our Arts and Lectures ticket office, with the goal of gaining improved ticketing office functionality, and adding on-line web based ticket sales.  

- November, 2003:   Installed Spamassassin and Amavid on our I-Mail server. We are identifying as spam and not delivering 1,000 email messages each day.  Our customers are using client email filtering to eliminate more spam.

 

- Data Center Infrastructure and Service - Replacement of end-of-life / obsolete PS and Power Distribution systems. Provision of automated Fire Suppression and backup generator capability.  This will take care of most of the facility deferred maintenance issues associated with the data center. Further reductions in attended hours were necessitated due to staff budget constraints.

- Mainframe Services - replacement of end-of-life 9672 system with z800 2066. Migration from OS/390 v2r9 to z/OS.e to generate significant IBM licensing savings. Requires review and potential conversion of PL/1 and COBOL applications into Natural or other environments. Use of outsourced OS/390 SysProg services due to staff reductions. Planned use of Integrated Linux Facility for development and possible production. Upgrade of software components including SAG suite and VPS is underway.

- Enterprise Security - analysis and proposal of alternatives for securing Admin Service IT infrastructure, from the network layers to database servers to the desktop.

- Service Continuity/Disaster Recovery - revision of current plans to include central SAN-based storage replicated to multiple physical locations, provision of standby/failover servers, and the use of virtual machine technology.

- Sybase Migration to SQL Server continues.

- Identity Management / Directory - integration and migration to Oblix Netpoint for authentication and authorization to UCSB services. Initiation of Single Sign On Working Group for IS&C applications. Implementation of load balancing / failover architecture, extranet directory for non-UCSB originated address book queries. Internal training is continuing. Two web sites exist as proof of concept. A statement of work for an Oblix architectural blueprint is now under review.