Office of Information Technology

Technology Appropriations Board
Minutes of the meeting March 18, 1998

Location: AHT 4th Floor Conference Room
Time: 2:00 - 3:00PM

In attendance:

Proposals for FY 98-99 funding are due April 1, and the award process is expected to be completed by June 1.

There was a discussion of the need for additional T1 access, as a result of increased traffic due to the dorm rooms being connected to the campus network. It is expected that the need for increased bandwidth will continue to expand to support new applications. An RFP has been issued for additional bandwidth, and proposals are being reviewed by the legal department. Three additional T1 lines, increasing the bandwidth from 6 mbps to 12 mbps, will be added by the beginning of fall semester. The proposal will include an option for three additional T1 lines to be added as necessary.

The current BellSouth contract for local telephone service in rental housing expires this summer. An analysis of the new rates resulted in a decision for DII Telephone Services to provide telephone connections in rental properties. Residents will continue to be able to select the long distance carrier of their choice. However, DII will offer long distance service based on a consolidated volume, and rates are expected to be competitive. ISDN service will be available at approximately the same rate as analog service. Call waiting will be available in rental properties, as well as five-digit dialing. Joe Gipson, Acting Director of Telecommunications and Network Services, will attend the GSA March meeting to discuss questions concerning the changes in rental property phone service.

A lengthy discussion was held regarding sharing of new technology with students. New and developing technologies are continually being tested and evaluated by operating units within DII. Overall demands on the computing and networking infrastructure must be considered prior to making these leading edge technologies available on campus. An example of this is the current test installation of a Real Server for audio and video, which is part of a larger study of alternate technologies for high bandwidth audio and video applications.

Maple, a mathematical software application, is currently installed in a variety of locations on campus under various licensing agreements, resulting in different revision levels on different machines. It was requested that CAS determine the cost to upgrade all installations to the latest revision, and initiate a new multi-platform license to maintain consistent versions on all platforms.

A request was made to install equipment for creating custom CD-ROMs in the labs, however this request was tabled for technical reasons and the limited demand for this service.

The Technical Services subcommittee of SGA will prepare a brochure about the services funded by the Technology Fee, to be included in the summer orientation packet.

There was a brief discussion of the proposed name change for the web server, "funnelweb". The Technical Services subcommittee was asked to suggest appropriate names.

The next meeting of the Technology Appropriations Board is scheduled for April 15, 1998, in the AHT Fourth Floor Conference Room.

increase the chance of being funded.

The next meeting of the Technology Appropriations Board is scheduled for May 20, 1998, in the AHT Fourth Floor Conference Room.