Community Briefing
General Update
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Don Peterson Day—Tomorrow, November 22nd
Student Town Meeting—December 6th
Student Recruitment—Class of 2011
New Residence Hall Planning
19 New Faculty Positions
FY08 Budget Development
Life Sciences Building Grand Opening– Sept 17-21st
Information Technology Update
Information Technology
Mission
The IT Division partners with faculty, students,
and staff in the quest for knowledge, applying
the power of technology to unite people and
content anytime, anyplace.
IT Agenda
Information Literacy – Helen Shuster
Collaboration Resources – Mary Beth Harrity
Protecting Intellectual Property and Identity –
Sean O’Connor
Working Remotely – Ben Thompson
Computing Resources – Sia Najafi
Major Projects – Allan Johannesen
Information Access; Q&A – Tom Lynch
Information Literacy
An information literate individual is able to:
A. Find and access information effectively &
efficiently
B. Evaluate information + source critically
C. Use information effectively to accomplish
specific purpose
D. Understand economic, legal, social
issues surrounding use of information
E. All of the above
Information Literacy
Library
– 248 sessions, 3049 individuals in ‘06
– Individual IQP project groups
– Course related developed with faculty
Library and ATC
– Joint Liaison program with academic depts.
2 person teams – updates and assistance
Conduit to all IT services and resources
Information Literacy
Technology Literacy
Software Applications training
– Consultations for individuals and groups
Helpdesk support
Scientific/Engineering software training
– Matlab, Fluent, Ansys
– 90 lectures, 400 attendees, 9 departments
Information Literacy
IT online content
– Web pages, video clips, tutorials
– http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Help/
– http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/CCC/Help/Services/
– http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Instruction/
Information Literacy
Librarians have NOT assisted users on
which of the following areas recently?
A. Mobile source air pollution
B. Stadium safety and construction
C. Bile and gastric juices
D. Historical architecture in Massachusetts
E. Coriolis effect in the hemispheric flushing
of toilets
Collaboration Resources
Click picture to play video
Collaboration Resources
Web conferencing tools
– Interwise iMeetingFeatures include application
sharing, whiteboard, polling,
with audio and low-level video
– Partnering with ECE
department to create shared
IP-based video conferencing
room in AK (available in Jan.
2007)
Click picture to play video
Collaboration Resources
Access Grid
– Node in Morgan Hall
– Personal Node option
Teaching with Technology Collaboratory
– Used by 222 organizations last year
Protecting IP and Identity
Network Security
Firewall
Intrusion Detection System
Tripwire
Anti-virus software
E-mail spam
Policies – ISCP, Data Security
System patching
Note: IP = Intellectual Property
Attack Question
How many per day?
A
B
C
D
E
Policies
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/CCC/Policies/
Information Security Compliance Project
– Covers seven federal laws on data protection
– ‘Information Security at WPI’ booklet
– Published and distributed in July
Network Security Policy
– Defines roles and responsibilities for securing the
WPI network
Data Security Project (In Progress)
– Define roles and responsibilities for securing business
data, personal records, and research.
Network Security
Firewall
– Used at network perimeter for blocking
commonly vulnerable services and for
temporary threats (Denial of Service attacks,
etc).
– IT managed desktop computers also have
firewalls
Intrusion Detection System
– Monitors network traffic both the perimeter
and internally for system exploit attempts.
System Security
Server Security
– Tripwire
– Anti-virus software
Desktop Security
– E-mail spam marking
– Anti-virus software
System patching
– WSUS for Microsoft software
– On-campus Fedora Linux mirrors
Working Remotely
If you work with information when away from
campus; you generally?
A) Work on paper
B) Work remotely using VPN and the same
shares/files used in the office
C) Work on the same notebook PC when in-office
and traveling
D) Work with information on/transferred with portable
media (USB memory, Floppy, CD/CDR…)
E) Work with information transported between
computers using e-mail
Working Remotely - Security
Extension of the WPI Network/Information
Physical Security
PC & Network Management standards
CCC Policy & Standards
Work Remotely – Appear Local
Proxy Server – (Library Web service)
VPN (appear on WPI network)
Terminal Services (virtual lab)
– Alternate desktop platforms
– Software (hardware/license limitations)
Working Remotely
continued …
Software for use at home
– MS Campus Agreement
– McAfee virus protection
– Other software
Cell Phones for international travel
Blackberry and MS Push Mail Support
Computing Resources
A.
B.
C.
D.
How many devices (PCs, laptops, etc.)
are registered to be used on our
network?
2200
5500
7654
12700
Computing Resources
What do we have?
Labs
Hardware
Software
Storage
Support
Computing Resources
Computer Labs and Classrooms
23 Public Labs
39 E-classrooms
3 year replacement cycle
7x24 Access
Computing Resources
Hardware
Windows Cluster for Research Computing (new)
– Accessible using terminal services
2 Linux Clusters, 11 and 14 nodes
– Each node, 2x2.4 GHz Intel Xeon CPUs, 2GB RAM ~25Gflops
SGI Altix 350
– 16 1.5GHz Itanium2 CPUs, 32 GB RAM, LinuxOS~56Gflops
A system with 16 CPUs, dual core 2.4 GHz AMD
Opteron, 32GB of RAM ~54Gflops
Many other 2 and 4 CPU nodes, AMD Opteron 64 bit
systems
Computing Resources
Software
Over 250 software applications
Productivity suites, Engineering and
scientific apps, Compilers, developmental
tools and libraries, etc…
32 bit and 64 bit
Supported platforms Windows/MAC/Linux
Computing Resources
Storage
750 MB network storage per user
Other Storage arrays (EMC NAS-350,
AX100) for research support
Support
MAC support (new)
Resource Planning (volume and upgrade
planning)
Major Projects
Web submission and archiving of Projects
– Undergraduate projects are a differentiating feature of
WPI education.
– Builds on web submission of theses and dissertations
which were mandated 6 years ago.
– Both Major and Interactive projects
– Second year of a pilot project – volunteer only
– Working with faculty committees toward a faculty vote
of mandatory electronic submission.
Major Projects
What percentage of projects were
submitted via the web of all projects
submitted in the past academic year?
– A - 8%
– B - 17%
– C - 39%
– D - 57%
– E - 74%
Major Projects
Overall, 39% of projects were submitted
via the web last year.
– 105 MQPs - 34% of 310 total
– 105 IQPs - 45% of 233 total
Major Projects
Gateway Park
– Working with construction project to assure
“campus” network quality.
– Campus telephone extensions
– IP Videoconferencing for Seminar Room
– Presentation setups in 5 conference rooms
– Have proposed process changes to provide
support for the building.
Major Projects
What is the length of communications
cable which has been installed in Gateway
Park?
– A - 6500 yards
– B - 6.5 miles
– C - 65 miles
– D - 650 miles
Major Projects
65 miles of communications cable has
been installed in the Gateway building.
What is the length of communications
cable which is installed on the campus?
– A - 28 miles
– B – 56 miles
– C - 282 miles
– D - 560 miles
– E - 2,820 miles
Major Projects
Machine Room environment upgrade
– Generator
– Uninterruptible power supply
– Air conditioning backup
FY07 Gifts
Grants and gifts
– APC 80 KVA unit
$289,950
– APC Racks
$36,000
– Nortel Switches
$50,400
– Nortel Call Pilot System
$60,000
– Nortel Wireless
$203,140
– Wireless Management Software $17,595
– NetOps Closet/Hall renovation
$57,000
– Nortel VPN + licenses
$71,980
– Cyclades Terminal Server
$50,000
– Gift - Gateway Park
$40,000
– Total:
$858,470
Focus: Information Access
Working with administrators, administrative business
units, and academic departments to better define needs
and set direction
Institutional data
– Retention, academic advising, enrollment management, etc.
– Development, alumni relations, capital campaign, etc.
Information architecture
– Systems view of the enterprise architecture; Data Warehouse
– Process flow, optimization, efficiencies
Information access projects (Banner)
– Array of access to meet skills and needs
Graphical data displays; data integrity; catalogs of reports
Direct access and analysis tools (Oracle Discoverer)
– Third party products
– Project management software; super users; training courses
Q&A