UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

April 24, 2008

Attendees:  

Paul Hernandez, Phil Neff, Larry Fox, Verne Smith, Terry Anderson, Kevin Knapp, Jonathan Smith, Mary Clem, Greg Kojola, Ron Dorsten, Chuck Taylor, Brent Foy, Barbara Denison, Bryan Rigling, Marion Hogue, Dan DeStephen and Carol Holdcraft

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the January meeting were approved.

CaTS Updates

Larry Fox

• Network Authentication:  On Tuesday, April 15, 2008, CaTS began implementing a system which requires network authentication for all devices on the administrative and academic areas of the campus network. This initial implementation will only include CaTS employees, but will eventually be deployed across the entire campus. This is the same system currently in use for both the campus wireless and residence hall connections. Because of this change, there will be a new authentication process. The steps are listed below.
  1) The device will boot. At this point, DHCP, DNS, and Novell Services are the only network services available.
  2) The user performs any startup tasks necessary to open the operating system (Novell login, etc).
  3) The user brings up a web browser, and attempts to navigate to an off-campus website. The user will be redirected to an authentication page.
  4) The user enters their CAMPUS username and password.
  5) Full network access is then granted after a successful authentication.
  Also note that for administrative and academic networks, there is no timeout period for devices using a wired connection; the device stays authenticated until powered off or rebooted. If you have any questions concerning this new process, contact the Help Desk at x4827.           

Verne Smith

• Verne gave an update on the current Office 2007 installation and Microsoft Vista transition plans, and welcomed any concerns and feedback.  Office 2007 is available free for official use, and is available for purchase ($49.00) for personal home use. There is a free patch available from Microsoft for reading and writing Office 2007 file formats using Office 2003.)  CaTS is working closely with campus technology coordinators and is recommending a slight revision to the proposed Vista transition to coincide with hardware updates from HP.  Laptops will move to new models later this summer (July/August) and desktops will be updated at the end of the year.  Because XP support is more limited on the new hardware, CaTS recommends configuring these with Vista when they are released.  CaTS, CTL and the University Libraries currently plan to move all public computing facilities to Vista in time for Winter Quarter 2009.  Two test labs running Vista are available and more will be brought online later this year. Vista training will be offered in preparation for this transition.

 Mary Clem

• CaTS will be implementing a product called TruAware during the summer. It’s a web based portal developed by TruArx, an information security services company. TruAware allows the user to dynamically manage and share security policies and educate employees about the security issues that those policies address.  The first three areas of concentration will be FERPA, HIPAA and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Terry Anderson

• WINGS Upgrade: CaTS is scheduled to release the latest version of the Luminis portal software during the quarter break in August.  This will give new functionality in how content is customized by role. Due to the fact that email and calendaring would still not be at the latest release, CaTS will implement Sun One Communication Express stand-alone software.  This will give the users improved capabilities.
• WINGS Redesign: CaTS is working on a redesign of the WINGS portal scheduled for this summer before the upgrade in August.  Some of the new features will be:

• Single sign-on to WINGS Express
• Re-organization of content
• New channel development
• Banner channels

Phil Neff

• CaTS has installed a new spam filter which is working very effectively.  Not all features are working at the present time, but CaTS is working with the vendor to correct the situation.  Additional software has been ordered to make the service even more robust.  These should be installed by end of May. 

1. Dynamic Reputation Service
2. Connection Throttling

• CaTS has been reviewing a new student email system from Microsoft. The students will keep their existing official WRIGHT.EDU email accounts, which allows the university communicate with students and to keep and enforce existing policies and practices.  The new optional accounts will give students 5GB of space.  Following graduation, alumni will be able to keep the account for five years at which time they will need to renew to continue the service. This service is free.
• Faculty/staff email space is currently at 100 MB.  CaTS will be increasing space for all accounts to 250MB.

Paul Hernandez

• Paul distributed the breakdown by college of the distribution of funds for this year’s Faculty Computer Initiative (Attachment 1).  The colleges should be receiving the money from the Provost within the next few weeks.

CTL Updates

• Dan DeStephen distributed a statistical report on the use of iTunes University from January through April 13, 2008 (Attachment 2) by both faculty/students and non-academic visitors.  Dan will give a more in-depth report at the next UTC meeting.

Library Updates

• Stephen Foster announced that room 215 Library is in the process of being remodeled and will soon be available for use by students to practice classroom presentations.  This room is designed to resemble an electronic classroom.

• Stephen announced the further development of the institutional repository which stores materials and reference assets being converted to digital format and stored in the archives for reference use.

The next scheduled UTC meeting will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2008 from 3 – 4pm in 315 Library Conference Room.