Ohio University's information technology czar said he won't drop any bombshells during his presentation to the Board of Trustees today, instead giving a short, color-coded update on the goals he first outlined in April.
Infrastructure improvements, network upgrade plans, recent hires and an update on the testing of the university's new student information system will dominate his presentation to the University Academics Committee, said Brice Bible, chief information officer.
This is just an update
a short update Bible said. You won't see any rocket science in there it's not anything new.
The university's recent announcement that it will begin to register computers on its network is part of the Office of Information Technology's overall network upgrade plan, which Bible said he will present to the board as a yellow item.
Though design plans for an updated network have been completed, funding for the project ' which could take ten years to complete ' is questionable, Bible said. That could be scary.
In past interviews, Bible has described OU's network as a giant single point of failure because of its lack of redundancy. A redundant network would prevent one failure from disrupting Internet connectivity.
OU recently spent about $1.6 million on a new data storage system and has inked a deal to back up its data at Ohio State University, Bible said. The university's old system required copying data to magnetic tape. At a board meeting last year, one trustee quipped that those tapes are useful only as Frisbees.
I'll sleep much better knowing we have that
Bible said of the digital backup system.
Students and faculty might start noticing the changes next fall, Bible said, adding that the most noticeable difference will be the reliability of university storage and servers. Digital backups are more reliable and secure than tape, Bible said, adding that those changes earn infrastructure improvements green status.
The university's student information system, or SIS, project is also going well and has a green status, Bible said.
OU signed an almost $1.8 million contract with database vendor Oracle for its student information system in November and a contract with OSU to use its servers to compare the features of the new system to OU's current SIS, which predates the Internet.
Bible said he will present more SIS details to the board during Spring Quarter.
Hiring for critical positions has also gone according to plan, Bible said, adding that it also earned a green light.
Bible announced he wanted to hire 31 to 36 new staff at the board's April meeting last year after a consultant's report found OU severely understaffs its centralized information technology services. OIT received enough additional funding to hire 10 people during this fiscal year, including several security, network and systems staff.
Those are the blocking and tackling areas to keep university IT operating effectively
Bible said, adding that he has been especially pleased with the work of Matthew Dalton, the university's director of IT security, who began in September.Bible will give his presentation to the board's University Academic Committee, which meets at 1:30 p.m. in Walter Hall 104.
17
Archives
Dave Hendricks
200802076986midsize.jpeg
