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As many of you are aware, our Information Technology
Strategic Planning process has been underway since
August. Up until this time, we have been involved
in an extensive input gathering phase that began in
September, 2003, with eighteen “think tank”
sessions held with 125 technologically savvy students,
faculty and staff across the university. Information
gathered in those sessions formed the basis for a
campus-wide web survey for students, faculty, staff,
and focus groups. The web survey was conducted October
6-24, 2003, and a total of 792 responses were received.
Most of these responses were excellent sources of
input regarding information technology needs of our
institution. Our consultants from Cornelius and Associates,
Inc. are currently compiling the results. In addition,
a web survey directed primarily at technology support
representatives was distributed on October 17, 2003.
To date, 48 responses have been received.
This academic year has introduced
new challenges for network operators and Windows
computer owners. The problems created by the Blaster
and related worms have kept Miami’s IT Services,
and IT departments across the country, very busy.
Here at Miami, much time and effort was exerted
to ensure that the services provided on the network
remained available. Hundreds, if not thousands,
of machines were infected with one of these worms
and yet network services were maintained throughout
campus.
From mid-August through October,
Miami’s network performance suffered from
the tremendous volume of traffic generated by
Blaster, despite dramatic containment efforts
undertaken by IT Services staff. The most visible
effect was that response time lengthened for many
applications, including , Kronos, MInE, Student
Health Services, Career Services and logins for
myMiami, BannerWeb and Blackboard. Paradoxically,
other applications continued to perform normally.
The diagnosis of the problem was complex; the
short story is that a configuration setting needed
to be adjusted, due to the increase in traffic
– and diagnosing configuration issues becomes
much more difficult when a network is under attack.
In order to increase the efficiency
of Miami’s network (MUnet), improve security
and to provide better support, IT Services is
beginning the process of reducing the protocols
carried on MUnet at the end of this semester (December
2003).
The SCT Banner system contains information about
all students, faculty and staff. This information
is considered highly confidential. The SCT Banner
system and many other applications are secured
by an Oracle password.
The convenience of wireless computing
needs to be balanced against the security risks
that wireless technology introduces. An ever-increasing
number of people are using wireless to connect to
Miami’s network (MUnet) and to share Internet
connections at home. While wireless technology is
very convenient, the nature of radio waves is that
they are transmitted in many directions. This allows
individuals, ranging from the curious to the nefarious,
to easily listen in on wireless network activity.
WAM is a system that helps secure Miami’s
network (MUnet) by requiring a sign-on with a
valid Miami Unique ID and MUnet password in order
to obtain wireless network service.
WAM has been in place in the IT Services areas
of Hoyt Hall and Gaskill Hall since the beginning
of the 2003-2004 academic year.. In mid-October,
it was rolled out to King Library and will be
deployed with all new wireless networks. Existing
wireless networks in academic and administrative
buildings will be converted to WAM in January,
2004.
IT Services video producer Craig
Rouse really gets around. You might find him anywhere
on Miami’s three campuses creating original
video productions for everything from individual
classroom support to features airing on ESPN and
FOX Sports during televised Miami football games.
Craig prides himself on delivering more than his
clients expect, often taking an idea that a faculty
member brings him and creating a video product
that wins awards.
On Thursday, October 30, the IT Services units
housed in Gaskill Hall hosted an open house to
promote our services. Invitations were sent to
clerical and administrative staff, as well as
to graduate assistants. These individuals were
invited so that they could become ambassadors
for IT Services in their home departments, sharing
news of the services available.
Want to know what
the hot technology questions/topics on campus are?
Knowledge Base traffic provides a great clue. Following
are the most frequently viewed Knowledge Base cases
in the past two months as well as a sampling of
new cases that have been added recently.
Examples of new Gartner research
articles are available from Miami's web site to
all Miami students, faculty, and staff, and are
listed below. You will be prompted to login using
your UniqueID and MUnet password.
Gartner research will be of particular
interest to any student, faculty, or staff member
learning, teaching or using technology. Areas
of focus for Gartner research include E-Learning,
Business Management of IT, Security and Privacy,
Higher Education, and Emerging Trends and Technology.
The web site is updated every Friday with new
research articles.
Technology tidbits for Miami faculty,
staff and students.
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