UITS Accomplishments Report 2002-2003 (3.2MB .pdf) -

80 Pages·2003·3.28 MB·English

Office of the Vice President for
Information Technology and CIO
University Information Technology Services
2 Preface
3 Introduction
10 I. Solid Foundation of IT Infrastructure & Sound Fiscal Planning
13 II. Access to Network Resources
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16 III. Institutional Commitment: Faculty & Staff Engagement
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21 IV. Teaching & Learning: Content, Access, Distributed Education le

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29 V. Research: Computation, Communications, Collaboration C
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T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s
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VI. Information Systems: Managing IU’s Information Assets
50 VII. Telecommunications: Applications, Infrastructure, Convergence
58 VIII. Support for Student Computing
63 IX. Digital Libraries & the Scholarly Record
70 X. Security, Privacy, Intellectual Property
74 Appendix A. Contact Information
76 Appendix B. Credits
For more information, please contact the UITS
Communications and Planning Office
[email protected]
For up-to-date information technology news at IU, see http://it.iu.edu/
Preface
The Indiana University Information Technology related to it. Though this document is, strictly
Strategic Plan was approved by President Myles Brand speaking, prepared for FY 2002-2003 as part of the
and the Trustees in December 1998, and the Office of University’s annual budgetary process, realistically
the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO it reports accomplishments mainly for the calendar
(OVPIT) was given responsibility for its implementation. year 2002, given that it is prepared in early 2003. The
Thus, 2002 was the fourth full calendar year, and plan is a five-year plan and will guide IU’s activities
FY 2002-2003 the fourth full financial year of the and initiatives in IT until the end of FY 2003-2004 and
implementation of the Plan. beyond. Hence, OVPIT will produce a document similar
to this on an annual basis for the life of the Plan.
This document is a summary for this period principally
of University Information Technology Services (UITS) The Plan consists of 10 major Recommendations and
accomplishments, but also of those of other parts of 68 Actions. The accomplishments for 2002 are described
the University, in implementing the Plan and activities under these.
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Introduction
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our years ago, Indiana University developed educational pricing on Dell’s full catalog of computers,
an Information Technology Strategic Plan printers, and handheld devices. This agreement is
to guide the building of excellence in IT the latest success realized by University Information
services and infrastructure for the University Technology Services (UITS) and IU Purchasing to
and leadership in IT in the State and nationally. This leverage the purchasing power of the University and
goal has been largely accomplished and a foundation achieve the lowest workstation prices to help meet
of outstanding services and support for IT across the lifecycle funding objectives. Similar negotiations have
University has been established. The achievements of resulted in the purchase of more than 23,500 machines
the fourth year of the Plan build on this foundation by IU Schools and departments, saving $11M above
in significant ways. They also herald the University’s standard educational pricing, and helping IU realize its
continued growth as a national and international leader goal of refreshing all University workstations every
in IT, through its contributions to global research three years.
and to the visible national arenas where IT policy and
standards are shaped. IU’s lifecycle funding initiative enhances the opportunity
for faculty, students, and staff to make full instructional,
The Foundation administrative, and research use of information
4 IT tools. On the IU campuses, the IT foundation is technology. The success of this initiative attracted
I comprehensively in place. Lifecycle-funded hardware, national attention to IU, which is the largest institution
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tr software, and network connectivity are provided to the of its size to have achieved such an accomplishment.
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d whole University community. Teaching and learning
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c centers support faculty instruction; a world-class Enterprise systems. In 1998 the architects of the
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io research infrastructure supports inquiry and discovery. University’s IT Strategic Plan recognized the importance
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Access to secure wireless connectivity, now an IU of IT in the efficient management of Indiana University’s
standard, is growing on the core campuses. University information systems that underpin administrative
wide, 68% of faculty use Oncourse (with a high of 86% and business affairs in support of teaching, learning,
at IUPUI), and roughly 95% of students own their own research, and service. The ad hoc creation of multiple,
computers, which bears evidence to the degree to which separate applications taxed the University’s ability to
IT is an undisputed component of teaching and learning develop new systems and efficiently use institutional
across the disciplines, on all campuses. information. Thus, the Plan called for a complete
reengineering of IU’s information systems, a portfolio of
The successful implementation of lifecycle funding both academic and administrative applications, with the
in August 2000 was the result of cooperation among goal of enabling them to work seamlessly together via a
University administrators, faculty, and staff, and common interface, and based on new IT architecture.
of many successful partnerships with commercial
vendors, including Microsoft, Macromedia, Symantec, This reengineering project, which represents the
SPSS, Corel, Oracle, Dell, and others. In the five largest software development project in the University’s
years of the pioneering $7.5M Microsoft Enterprise history, has led to the deployment of many successful
Licensing Agreement, 489,429 copies of Microsoft new systems. A new Student Information System (SIS)
operating systems and personal productivity suites, and a new Human Resource Management System
including Microsoft Office, were distributed to the (HRMS), critical to thousands of departmental staff
eight-campus IU community, with an educational and faculty and tens of thousands of students, were
value of $80,263,562. In April 2003, IU and Microsoft identified as top priorities of this Plan. The OneStart
entered into a new agreement that extends Microsoft Web-based application portal offers a common
availability for an additional three years, at no increase front door to online services at Indiana University
in cost to the University. The new agreement means IU campuses. New systems also include Oncourse, an IU-
faculty, staff, and students can continue to download developed online course management application; the
at no cost the latest operating systems, databases, Electronic Research Administration (ERA), providing
Web development tools, and productivity software, for IU researchers with an electronic system for developing
campus and home use. and submitting research proposals; the IU Information
Environment (IUIE), a Web-based, enterprise-wide
In May IU entered a first Preferred Partnership with reporting environment; the enhancement to the
Dell Marketing, that offers students, faculty, and Financial Information System (FIS), an enterprise-wide
staff specially configured workstations, laptops, and computing application for managing the majority of
multimedia machines at more than $500 below standard IU’s finances; a new, Web-based Purchasing/Accounts
educational pricing, and discounts of up to 13% off Payable system that interfaces with the FIS and other
applications; the e-commerce initiative, facilitating Physical facilities. On the core campuses, highly
transactions for goods and services online; the visible centers of access to IT resources are being
Maintenance Management System application, tracking created. The prominence and central location of these
much of the University’s maintenance functions; and the centers emphasize and underscore the central role IT
Library Information System, providing access to a wide holds in the University.
array of online resources.
At IUB, UITS and the Libraries have embarked on a
December 2002 heralded a major landmark with the major project to transform 27,000 square feet of the
completion of the HRMS. The system converts to ground floor of the Main Library into an Information
electronic form many processes long based on paper, Commons, a state-of-the-art center for technology and
streamlining their passage through review and approval. information. Its collaboration areas, videoconference-
It provides easier access to data and information, key equipped classrooms, more than 250 workstations for
in the daily operation of the University. It provides group and individual work, comfortable study areas,
University staff with more efficient business processes library reference services, IT consulting, and multimedia
in such areas as payroll, personnel records, and benefits. production lab, provide a modern, state-of-the-art
Not only a reengineering success, HRMS is also an environment for study and research. Open 24 hours,
impressive example of collaboration by University staff every day, the Commons will be IUB’s Grand Central 5
from human resources, academic affairs, and the payroll Station of IT information, resources, and opportunities I
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offices on IU’s campuses, and technical staff from UITS. to learn. tr
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What remains to be completed are the final modules of Construction on an even larger scale in Indianapolis c
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the SIS, the largest, most complex, and most difficult of will concentrate in one location many of the major IT io
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all the systems. SIS will allow IU’s more than 100,000 organizations on the IUPUI campus. The Informatics
students to progress easily through the financial aid and Communications Technology Complex (ICTC),
process, update personal information, and request on the corner of Michigan and West Streets, when
transcripts, all in a Web-based environment. Staff completed in 2004, will house UITS staff based at IUPUI,
in the Undergraduate, Graduate, and International the UITS machine room, and the Support Center. It will
Admissions Offices can now use the SIS to process and be the hub for the I-Light optical fiber network, and the
evaluate applications for admission, and true Web-based site of the Pervasive Technology Labs based at IUPUI,
registration through the SIS is scheduled for rollout in as well as the School of Informatics, including its New
2003-2004. In the meantime, students have been able to Media program at IUPUI, and the School of Journalism.
register on the Web since March 2001. This relocation and consolidation of IT resources at a
high-profile crossroads of campus and community will
As the framers of the IT Strategic Plan envisioned, these make IT resources more visible and accessible for the
systems work seamlessly together. As new systems University community, and for partnerships of benefit to
are implemented, associated data become part of the local economic development.
integrated data available for reporting from the IUIE. All
systems will be integrated within IU’s OneStart Portal. Support. With information technology integral to
These systems enable IU departments to transform their most aspects of University life and work, unconstrained
organizations and business processes to provide better and efficient support for using IT has never been more
services in a more productive way. The implementation critical. Accordingly, in 2002 UITS began the design of
of the SIS by the end of 2004 will mark the completion a new Online Support Environment that will provide
of the full set of reengineered information systems a modern, intuitive means of accessing help and
envisioned in the IT Strategic Plan. information, empowering users to make the best use
of IU’s IT environment. Through a single Web-based
Access interface, users will have easy and efficient access to
With most of the fundamental elements of the the services of the entire UITS organization. Tools that
University’s IT foundation in place, IU in 2002 focused reside on user desktops will automate routine problem
on expanding access to that foundation. Initiatives solving and diagnosis, providing quick solutions to
included building new facilities, redesigning and many common problems. Important IT-related news,
augmenting the IT support services to put better help including machine downtimes, upgrades, and security
within easy reach of wider audiences, and improving alerts will arrive on the desktop, making it easier for
IU’s course management systems to widen access to the IU community to stay informed. Building on the
learning opportunities and position the system itself for best of IU’s current support structure, including the
future development. Knowledge Base and strong human help presence, this
new environment will offer the help and information, • I-Light also supports voice, e-mail, and video-
24 hours a day, year-round, that will enable the IU conferencing between the campuses and is the
community to make the best use of IU’s robust array of primary artery for communications between IUB,
IT services and resources. IUPUI, and Purdue University West Lafayette. I-Light
presents countless possibilities for collaborative
Teaching and learning systems. Oncourse, IU’s research on the campuses, and positions IU and
online teaching and learning environment, grew in Purdue faculty to compete more vigorously for
2002 to be one of the University’s most widely used federal research grants.
information systems, with some 3,000 faculty users,
• In June, IU and Purdue University linked their
and student usage growing by more than 8,000 each
IBM SP supercomputers over I-Light to form a
semester. Among its 83,000 users, those on the core
1.5-Teraflops computing resource for addressing
campuses report satisfaction rates of 94.7%. The
complex problems in science and medicine, enabling
capabilities of Oncourse continue to expand as a task
researchers at both universities to solve problems
force from the IU Libraries works with UITS Oncourse
larger than their individual resources could
staff to link Oncourse to library resources, especially
accommodate.
full-text articles and electronic reserves.
6 • An important part of providing robust and reliable
I In 2002 Indiana University joined the Open Knowledge network service is protecting the network from
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d universities to build open-source standardized modules paths can help provide that assurance. In Fall
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OKI will be to reengineer Oncourse to make it OKI- Indianapolis, providing the University an alternative
compatible. IU is recognized, through its development of in the event of damage to I-Light.
Oncourse, as a leader in developing course management
• The State of Indiana is moving to expand and
systems, and will take part in developing standards for
distribute the networking functionality and
such systems that over time will promise economic
research-enabling connectivity of I-Light, through
advantages, and ensure the IU community access to the
the approval of a $10M appropriation by the
best in course management systems.
Legislature to fund I-Light2. I-Light2 includes
funding for expanding I-Light to link up with
Research
the developing national cyberinfrastructure, and
Many of the University’s major achievements in IT in
for beginning the development of an extensive
2002 were focused on developing infrastructure and new
distribution of fiber connectivity to key communities
initiatives as part of IU’s fundamental research mission.
and higher education institutions (and K-12)
throughout the State.
Networks. In 2001, the impact of the new I-Light optical
• As other areas of the nation follow Indiana’s lead
fiber infrastructure began to be substantially felt in
in developing regional fiber networks, Indiana,
many areas of the University’s research, teaching, and
through I-Light, will be poised to expand its
business.
connectivity beyond the State to similar networks
• I-Light increases the University’s networking
in Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. A growing optical
capacity by many orders of magnitude through its
fiber network will connect distant communities
multiple strands of optical fiber, providing more
of researchers in the exchange of data, in research
than enough capacity to meet demand over the next
collaborations, and in sharing specialized computing
10 to 20 years. In August 2001, IU expanded the size
resources. In the first half of 2003, IU became
of its connection to the commercial Internet using
involved in the development of one such network
I-Light, achieving a near four-fold increase in
– the National Lambda Rail (NLR) initiative. IU,
capacity at no increase in cost. This increased
through its membership in the Committee on
capacity greatly improved speed of access to the
Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and its leadership
World Wide Web and other Internet-based services.
in that organization, may be able to play a founding
It serves the IUB campus, and the IUPUI campus
role as NLR moves toward reality in 2003-04.
and its connections to the six regional campuses, as
• The joint IU-Purdue I-Light Applications Workshop
well as Purdue University and the Indiana Higher
in Indianapolis marked the first anniversary
Education Telecommunication System (IHETS).
of the activation of I-Light. At the December
2002 workshop, more than 100 researchers of managing and analyzing the unprecedented
and technologists from IUB, IUPUI, and Purdue amounts of data that today’s scientific instruments
showcased uses of the network for applications in generate. The AVIDD installations at IUPUI and IUB
advanced computing, visualization, and remote were activated in January 2003 and were supported
collaboration. Participants demonstrated advances with a $1.8M grant from the National Science
in science and IT technology the network already Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation
makes possible, and looked ahead to future Program. The AVIDD installation at Gary, supported
possibilities for collaboration, research, and by an IBM Shared University Research grant, was
scholarship over I-Light. activated in October 2002.
• IU Network Engineering Staff provided leadership • For the third consecutive year, Indiana University,
for a major upgrade to the Internet2 Abilene Purdue University, Rose-Hulman Institute of
network, upgrading Abilene coast-to-coast backbone Technology, and the University of Notre Dame
connectivity to OC-192, or 10M bits per second, teamed to showcase IT developments in the
a four-fold increase in the previous capacity. IU’s State of Indiana. Indiana’s presence at the
Engineers were solely responsible for the April annual Supercomputing2002 conference, titled
2003 logistical and technical implementation of “Research in Indiana,” focused on advances in high
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this major enhancement, delivered on schedule and performance computing systems and applications,
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on budget. The remainder of the backbone — the nanotechnology, massive data storage systems, n
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Southern route — will be completed by July 2003. high performance telecommunications, advanced o
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IU continues to support the various application and contributors to growing Indiana’s information t
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middleware initiatives of Internet2, leading and technology economy. Indiana is the only state to n
participating in efforts related to video services, Voice- have exhibited at the premiere, international, high
over-IP services, and IPv6 — the forthcoming standard performance computing conference the combined
in Internet communication protocol. In IPv6, Indiana achievements of the principal research and teaching
serves as the host for address-serving activities for universities in a single state.
the entire Abilene network and associated Internet2
• Automatic mirroring of data between IUB and IUPUI
community.
on the massive data storage infrastructure using I-
Light is now in place. This means that irreplaceable
Developments in international networking included
data is now protected against loss in the event of
an important increase in the capacity of the TransPAC
a disaster in one of the University’s two machine
network, which is managed by IU, and which connects
rooms. The IU massive storage system may also be
some of the principal research and education networks
the first such system anywhere to be fault tolerant.
in the US with those in the Asia-Pacific. This increase
During the year, the amount of data IU had under
makes a vital contribution to expanding international
storage grew to be the largest of any university in
collaborations between researchers in the US and the
the country, exceeding that held by Caltech.
Asia-Pacific, especially in digitally enabled science,
or e-science, in such areas as astronomy, molecular • In 2002 Purdue and IU conducted research over
biology, high-energy physics, medicine, meteorology, I-Light to simulate the reaction of thousands of
and computational science. This link to Asia becomes people to a disaster on the order of a terrorist
increasingly important given the presence in the region attack. The I-Light network, which connected the
of some unique scientific facilities such as Japan’s Earth large-memory nodes of the IBM research SP at IU
Simulator, currently the most powerful supercomputer with Purdue’s IBM SP, made it possible for this
in the world. simulation to assume heightened levels of realism.
• The Indiana Genomics Initiative (INGEN), funded
Research computing. Activities in high performance
by IU’s largest-ever grant of $105M from the Lilly
computing in 2002 expanded IU’s already extensive
Endowment, seeks to build upon IU’s research
research facilities and created new opportunities for
capabilities to establish a major, national center in
research, collaboration, and discovery.
the life sciences. The Information Technology Core
• The innovative Analysis and Visualization of of INGEN, operated by UITS, developed several new
Instrument Driven Data (AVIDD) facility is a two- software applications in 2002, including software
Teraflops, Linux cluster-based supercomputer to study fetal alcohol syndrome, analyze genetic
specially designed to process enormous amounts diseases in human family trees, and target cancer
of data. AVIDD will provide IU scientists and treatment with IU’s Gamma Knife.
their collaborators worldwide with the means
Pervasive Technology Labs. The Pervasive • IU’s work on the Russian Periodical Index, supported
Technology Laboratories established at IUB continued by a US State Department of Education Title VI
to make excellent progress in 2002. The Advanced Technology Program grant, is almost complete.
Network Management Lab (ANML) developed a method The Index will provide digital access via some three
for transferring files at very high speeds. The new million citations to 20 years of journals, series,
technology, called Tsunami, outperforms existing file and publications from universities and research
transfer technology, and was used to inaugurate the institutes in humanities, natural sciences, and
Global Terabit Research Network, a trillion-bit-per- the social sciences, along with popular periodical
second international research network, whose formation literature.
IU led. A new secure, Web-based file transfer system
• The NSF-supported ReciprocalNet was publicly
known as Slashtmp provides secure file transfer service
released in conjunction with the launch of the NSF’s
for files that may be too large or too sensitive to send
National Science Digital Library in December. The
via e-mail. ANML also developed tools to detect and
IU Molecular Structure Center leads this inter-
protect against security attacks, including a tool that
institutional collaboration to create a national
detects distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks, a
digital library of molecular structure data, with
particularly challenging type of attack.
software for visualizing data and for building lessons
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based on the data.
I The first of the Indianapolis-based Labs — the
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The first externally funded lab affiliated with the The Institute for Museum and Library Services
Pervasive Technology Labs opened in 2002 under the (IMLS) has extended for a third year its grant to IU
direction of Dr. Donald F. (Rick) McMullen. With for digitizing and publishing on the Web the 15,000
support from the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center slides in the Cushman Collection in the University
and the NSF, the Knowledge Acquisition and Projection Archives.
Laboratory (KAPL) will draw closely on the networking
advances developed in the ANML. Security. In the face of heightened concern about
computer security, especially in the aftermath of 11
Digital Libraries. Advances in the University’s digital September 2001, IU has adopted a two-part strategy to
libraries initiatives extend access to unique and rare address cybersecurity: locally — at Indiana University
collections in a range of areas, and provide platforms — and nationally in the higher education community.
for research on the design, development, and use of
electronic research resources. Initiatives aimed at improving the security within the IU
community in 2002 included a three-year contract with
IU continues to take a leadership role in encouraging Symantec providing the IU community with Norton
research and collaboration in applying IT to the study AntiVirus and Ghost, important tools in maintaining
of music. Variations2, under development at IU, is a security at the desktop. To maintain the security of
digital library framework for use in music research and departmental systems, the Information Technology
instruction. Its searchable digital databases of sound, Security Office (ITSO) increased the capacity of its
images, and historical materials promise students, service for assessing external vulnerabilities in 2002,
instructors, and researchers new ways to analyze conducting 45,000 scans of some 6,300 computers in
material and conduct research. Variations2 is being 183 departments.
tested and evaluated by users at IU Bloomington and
in the US, and also in the UK and Japan. It also offers a An aggressive communications campaign built
platform for research in human-computer interaction, awareness of secure IT practices and behavior across
networking, and intellectual property. With NSF the campuses. ITSO developed courses in security
support, IU co-sponsored the 3rd Annual International for departmental and campus technicians, and the
Conference on Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR2002) annual Statewide Conference for IT staff focused on the
in Paris. ISMIR is the world’s only conference in music theme of cybersecurity. A culture of secure computing
information retrieval that studies systems for indexing, practices at the local level helps protect the IU
searching, and recalling musical data in research and community in the face of external threats.
education.