Regents Education Program
September 2006
Information Technology and Higher
Education: Managing
Achievements and Expectations
Kurt A. Snodgrass
Vice Chancellor, IT & Telecommunications
Perfect Storm or New Dawn?
In today’s knowledge economy, the
role of higher education is being
redefined – not simply tweaked and
fine-tuned but, rather, fundamentally
redefined.
James Hilton, Associate Provost for Academic, Information, and Instructional
Technology Affairs and Interim University Librarian at the University of Michigan
A Balancing Act for Higher Ed
Institutional
Mission
Student Needs
&
Expectations
• Striking a fine balance is key for
institutional CIOs
A Balancing Act for Higher Ed
• Institutional mission can be jeopardized
• Security, Data Integrity can be compromised
• Bandwidth bottleneck can affect networking,
communications and research
A Balancing Act for Higher Ed
• Overly tight controls limit access to technologies
and information
• Curbs innovation in teaching and learning
• Will likely result in student dissatisfaction
State System CIO Perspective
• Council on Information Technology 2005
survey identified key issues facing system
CIOs
– Top 5 Issues
•
•
•
•
•
Funding
Security threats
Upgrading and maintaining infrastructure
Simplification (Enterprise Contracts and Collaboration)
Moving faculty toward better use of technology
Proliferation of New Technologies
• Distance Learning
– Synchronous (2-way interactive)
– Asynchronous (Web-based)
• Wireless
– Anytime, anywhere access
– Mobile computing and communications
• Bandwidth Management
– Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
• Music and movie downloads
Electronic Media Trends 1998-2004
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
6,833
5,724
H.323 IP Video
Proliferation
4,551
3,548
2,884
1,566
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
Electronic Media Enrollment Trends
1998-2004
100,000
90,876
80,000
60,000
65,790
49,563
40,000
20,000
40,706
20,713
33,259
0
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004 Student Credit Hours
(By Tier and Delivery Method)
108,898
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
37,874
26,108
30,143
17,140
25,044
20,000
0
Online
Research
Regional
ITV
Community College
In Higher Education Alone…
Over 245K
Credit Hours
Delivered Via
Technology!
Rationale for Growth
• Increased comfort and familiarity with
technology by both faculty and students
• Enhancements in Content Management
Systems (CMS)
– Quality
– Ease of use
• More schools developing hybrid classes
• More emphasis on reaching nontraditional and/or adult students
Wireless Technologies
• Sprint Higher Education Advisory Board
Findings
– Trends
• Cellular dominates – students prefer it and use it almost
exclusively
– Decline of landline phones
• Adoption of personal email (gmail, yahoo mail, hotmail,
etc.)
– University emails go unread
• 3rd party portals (FaceBook, DailyJolt, MySpace)
– University portal usage declining
Wireless Technologies
• Sprint Higher Education Advisory Board
Findings
– Effects
•
•
•
•
It’s hard to communicate with students!
Emergency calls bypass campus safety
Decrease in sense of community
Decrease in long distance revenue
Wireless Technologies
• Campus Local Area Networks (LANs) and
Wide Area Networks (WANs)
– 90 percent of campuses in the United States have
some form of wireless networking, according to
the Campus Computing Project
– Relatively low cost with big impact
• Significantly reduces cabling costs
– Increases access and productivity
– Provides for scalability and flexibility
Wireless Technologies
• Can be isolated
– Classroom or building-based
• Can be campus-wide
• Increases competitiveness of institution
• Supports innovation
– Provides enhanced collaboration and e-learning
environments
Wireless Technologies
• Security is a major concern
– A multitude of operating systems, devices and
platforms accessing the network creates specific
challenges
– Unmanaged devices can become infected off-site
and introduce issues when connected to the
campus network
• Students, staff & faculty with laptops
• Clean Access
– Security and authentication are paramount
Wireless Technologies
• Wardriving
– Is searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by
moving vehicle. It involves using a car or truck and
a Wi-Fi-equipped computer, such as a laptop or a
PDA, to detect the networks
– Normally engaged in to gain free internet access
or illegal access to an organization’s data though
some do it for sport
– No longer have to have physical access to an
institution’s facilities to gain access to private data
First Wardriver
Real Wardriving Gear
Security Incidents on the Rise
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Source: CERT: Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, IDC
2003
Security Incidents on the Rise
One virus/worm
incident costs
$100,000
-Source: International Computer Security Association (ICSA) 2003
Annual Virus Survey
Network Security Threats
•
•
•
•
•
Worm
Virus
Spyware/Malware
Denial of Service (DOS) Attack
Trojan Horse
Security is no longer an option… It’s
a necessity
•Security as an Option
•Security as INTEGRAL of a System
•Security is an add-on
•Security is built-in
•Challenging integration
•Intelligent collaboration
•Not cost-effective
•Appropriate security
•Cannot focus on core priority
•Direct focus on core priority
Source: Cisco Systems
Recent State Security Mandates
• HB2935
– Requires risk assessments be completed for all
agencies and institutions
• Will remain confidential
• Will classify each site as low to high in profile
– Two vendors will be chosen to conduct full security
assessments
• Institutions can accomplish this independently
– No funds were appropriated to assist in the thirdparty engagements
– All security audits due by December 1st, 2006
Bandwidth Management
• Putting it in perspective
– Kinda’ like not knowing if you have
enough gas to get you to the next
station
• Leaves a sick feeling in your
stomach until you get there…
• IF you get there
– Better yet, its like having a dinner
party and not knowing if you have
enough brisket
– Then you realize…
Bandwidth Management
Bandwidth Management
Bandwidth Management
Bandwidth Management
• Usual Bandwidth Hog
Suspects
– Limited few computer
engineering geeks
developing networkintensive computer
models & algorithms
– Normally maintain some
level of anonymity
– An “underground” group
difficult to identify
Bandwidth Management
• The reality is…
– The general
student population
is the real culprit
– Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
file sharing is
bringing many
networks to their
knees
Peer-to-Peer Defined
• P2P is a type of network in which each
workstation has equivalent capabilities and
responsibilities.
– Files are propagated on every machine accessing the
service and then shared with others
• Once considered as totally illegal and now has
legitimate sites
• Not all P2P is bad.
– Grid computing
– Operating system distribution (Condor)
– Legitimate music and movie sites
Peer-to-Peer Applications
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Napster
Kazaa
Ares
BitTorrent
Direct Connect
eDonkey
FastTrack
•
•
•
•
•
•
Filetopia
Gnutella
IRC
Manolito P2P
OpenNap
SoulSeek
– Many applications are disguising their code as normal
Web traffic (BitTorrent)
– Costs are staggering in terms of operations
Peer-to-Peer Realities
• Affects both institutional and statewide networks
• Can impact distance learning missions if not kept
in check
– Clogs the network pipes
• Continues to morph and become harder to
identify and manage
• Can compromise Disaster Recovery/Business
Continuity efforts
• Recording Industry Association of America
– Those pirating music and movies are being sued and
arrested
EZ to get TV…
One Solution to P2P Traffic
• Ruckus
– A digital entertainment service for universities
– Ruckus offers:
•
•
•
•
National, local, and campus based programming
1.5 million licensed tracks of music from major labels
Hollywood blockbusters, cult classics, and independent films
Robust community features that allow students with similar
music, video and programming interests to connect, share and
explore on their campus
– A few campuses already have agreements
– OneNet is exploring an enterprise solution for the system
• Will keep traffic within the state network and off commodity
Internet
Aggregate Bandwidth Usage
Approx. 1,500 T-1s
Looks like another new
application or more IPODs
on campuses
Meeting Research Needs
• Research needs cannot be compromised
by limitations in bandwidth
• National efforts in place to assure network
resources are available
• Network demands have grown from
megabytes to gigabytes, to terabytes and
now petabytes
– States can’t afford this type of commodity Internet
Internet2
• Goals
– Enable a new generation of
applications
– Recreate a leading edge
research and education
network capability
– Transfer new capabilities to
the global production Internet
Now That’s Fast!!!
Internet2 Land Speed Record
6 Seconds
56 kbps
168 Hours
ISDN
74 Hours
DSL/
Cable
25 Hours
T1
6.4 Hours
Time Required to Download 2-hour Course Lecture DVD
Sea Change in R&E Impacting
Networking Needs
• Growing urgency for new network
technologies
• Increased collaboration worldwide on
"Big” Science projects
• Exponential growth in size of data sets
being accessed (High Energy Physics)
• Need for multiple dedicated/private
research networks
The National LambdaRail (NLR)
• A major initiative of U.S. research
universities and private sector
technology companies to provide a
national scale infrastructure for
research and experimentation in
networking technologies and
applications.
– Focus is on ownership and control of infrastructure
Participation in the NLR will:
• Move Oklahoma to the forefront in
advanced network initiatives
• Position Oklahoma Universities on
an equal footing
• Facilitate creation of new
technologies and markets
• Provide robust technical support
services
National LambdaRail Members and
Associates
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CENIC
Pacific Northwest Gigapop
Pittsburgh Supercomputing
Center/University of Pittsburgh
Duke University, representing a
coalition of NC universities
Mid-Atlantic Terascale
Partnership
Cisco Systems
Internet2
Florida LambdaRail
Georgia Institute of Technology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Committee on
Institutional Cooperation (CIC)
Cornell University
Louisiana Board of Regents
Oklahoma State Regents
Lonestar Education and Research
Network (LEARN)
University of New Mexico
(on behalf of the State of New
Mexico)
UCAR/FRGP
SURA
Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL)
Case Western Reserve University
OneNet NLR Connection Complete
• Infrastructure
– Fault-tolerant DWDM
connection live March,
2006
• Cisco 15454 Architecture
• Same as OneNet’s Core
Differences of I2 and the NLR
• Internet2 is a large, shared network
resource
– Difficult to dedicate large capacity to a single user
• NLR is architected on a DWDM
infrastructure
– Capability to guarantee and dedicate specific
bandwidth
– Maximum of 32 10GigE lambdas
• Same architecture as Oklahoma Research Network
– 50% of infrastructure is dedicated to network
research
Oklahoma Research Network
Statewide Scope
Regional Optical Networks (RONs)
Regional Scope
National LambdaRail Architecture
National Scope
Global Integrated Facility
Other Areas of Interest
• Communications Assistance Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA)
– Recent interpretations of FCC ruling by Educause
provide that all institutional networks are exempt
• Institutions will, however, cooperate fully on intercepts
– No clarity on OneNet as of yet
• Net Neutrality
– May impact providers’ ability to deliver content
• Identity Management
– Single sign-on to multiple information resources