ACADEMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

OF THE COMUTING MANAGEMENT BOARD

Notes of the meeting held Wednesday, 12 January 2000

 

Present: Peter Clinton, Bob Cook, Don Cormack, Michael Edmunds, Rick Frecker, Jack Gorrie, Graham Kemp, Emile LeBlanc, Dave Martell, Peter Martin, Derek McCammond (Chair), David Mock, Carol Robb (Secretary), David Shewchuk, Eugene Siciunas, Eva Swenson, Rob Wright

Regrets: Alan Rosselet, James Wells

  1. Chair’s Report
    2.

    1. The Task Force on Academic Computing and New Media is at the draft-writing stage and it is expected that the final report will be discussed at a future meeting of the Academic Advisory Committee.

    2. Discussions of the future of our telecommunications contract have begun. The University signed a contract with Bell for five years with an out at the end of three years. The three years is up in June 2001. If we are going to move to a new local service provider, a significant amount of forward planning is required so Debby Stewart has alerted Bell that we are starting negotiations.

  2. UTCNS Plans for Webmail Rollout
    3.

    The new UTORwebmail service will be accessible from anywhere on the Internet. It will eventually displace PINE. The new service offers control, better service and UofT identity. Rollout will begin soon. New service has the support of the Task Force on Academic Computing and New Media. In response to concern about security, the Committee was informed that the new service will initially offer the same level of security that users currently have. In order to avoid over-subscription, the new service will be rolled out quietly. Capacity can be increased by adding new servers, but initially it should grow in a controlled fashion. Training should not be necessary; users simply log on through any browser. The Information Commons will prepare documentation and provide support.

  3. UTCNS Plans for UTORschedule
    4.

    The scheduling/calendaring program "Corporate Time" has been developed by a Canadian company, CST, with an impressive list of customers throughout North America. It, deployed as "UTORschedule", should eventually replace Meeting Maker. One advantage of the new program is superior scalability, as well as both web-based and direct interfaces. UTORschedule will be available on a central server, but departments that run their own servers can also benefit from the site license. The program can schedule individuals or groups. It works at both the individual and the departmental level and can also be expanded to class scheduling and room bookings, (other than those booked through the OSM). The initial deployment will be to groups that have LAN or sys admins to support their users. The WTS group of CNS will provide second-level support. The wider the use of the program, the stronger the argument for central funding and support. The Faculty of Architecture expressed a desire to be an early adopter of UTORschedule.

  4. UTORdial Update
    5.

    Eugene Siciunas distributed several statistical reports with comment:

    1. Jan. 1, 2000 UTORdial Token Subsidy Distribution
    2. System Accounts Summary Report (as of 01/10/2000)
    3. 56 Kbps modem access
    4. Weekly Statistics (01/03/2000 to 01/10/2000)
    5. Tokens and Connect Time
    6. System Utilization Graphs for UTORdial (01/11/2000)

  5. Megabit Modem Update

    6. Service seems stable and reliable. Direct connection to UofT is very good. It is not obvious in the documentation how to access UofT directly. The web pages need to be improved. More statistical reports were presented with comment:

    1. Megabit Accounts Summary Report (as of 01/10/2000)
    2. System Utilisation Graphs for Megabit Access

  6. UofT to ONet Bandwidth Update
    7.

    UofT’s bandwidth to the Internet was upgraded from 20 Mbps to 25 Mbps on Jan 10/00. The cost has gone up but not proportionally. Since September ’96, costs have increased by a factor of four, but the bandwidth has risen by a factor of fifteen..

    Charts distributed at the meeting include:

    1. Internet Connection Bandwidth and Cost
    2. Traffic Analysis for UTORNet/ONet Gateway (01/11/00)
    3. Traffic Analysis for UTORNet/ONet Gateway (01/12/00)

  7. Backbone Network Upgrade Update
    8.

    The Backbone project is 100% complete.

  8. Final Y2K Update
    9.

    No significant problems have surfaced but systems will have to be monitored for the rest of the year.

  9. Date of the Next Meeting
    10.

    Wednesday, 9 February, 2-4 p.m., Board Room, Simcoe Hall