Campus network may have intermittent outages through summer
by E. Unger, Vice Provost for Academic Services and Technology
published June 28, 2005. updated 12:12 p.m. June 29, 2005
More than a week ago, the campus experienced a loss of network service
from Anderson and Seaton halls to the south campus edge, with the
exception of the Union. This was due to
old steam pipes being replaced in the tunnels to ensure those buildings
have heat and hot water this fall.
In order to replace the steam pipes, old wires in those tunnels
have to be
removed, the asbestos taken off the existing steam pipes, the steam
pipes cut up and removed, and new pipes put in place. In the
process of cleaning out old wires, the network fiber was cut in two
places.
The repair of the cuts caused an even more vulnerable network to
be created. The final repair cannot occur until later in the summer, but
another temporary fix will be applied at 5:01 p.m. June 30
(Thursday), at which time the area previously affected will lose service for at least
10 hours.
Steps have been taken to reduce the probability of accidental
breaks. However, an educated guess is that the loss of service will
occur again. The amount of work to be done in those very cramped and
exceedingly hot tunnels is great. A torch getting too close to the
fiber, or a piece of pipe hitting the fiber, or even a jerk of the fiber
could cause our temporary fixes to break.
This situation
illustrates the fact that our network on campus is extremely fragile. We
still have not found the money to complete the transition from the star
network created years ago to one with a loop or ring providing much more
resiliency.
LASER: Financial Information System goes live July 1
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published June 28, 2005
Three years after the project's inception, the first half of the LASER project is nearing completion
with the Phase I implementation of the Financial Information System (FIS). Beginning this Friday, July 1,
the new FIS will be up and running campuswide. To date, more than 400 K-State staff
have been trained on FIS, including K-State IT Help Desk personnel.
Orders and encumbrances for fiscal year 2006 will be released July 1.
In FIS the payment processes will remain the same, so any unencumbered
FY06 payment can be made immediately after July 1.
In Phase II of the FIS implementation, the team will work to enhance reporting capabilities
as well as provide departments with the ability to use FIS for their own unique financial-accounting needs.
Stay up-to-date on LASER news by visiting the
laser.ksu.edu website and the
LASER Newsflash.
K-State IT projects in the works this summer
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published June 28, 2005. updated 2:45 p.m. June 29, 2005
Below is a partial list of IT projects going on at K-State:
- Enterprise Project Management (EPM)
- Release of the K-State portal
- Single Sign-On (SSO) for the university
- Transaction Hub for the university
- Situational competency, simulations, and lessons learned for food and
agricultural bio-terrorism (NABC/TSWG)
- Metadata repository
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Student Information System
- Electronic grade submission
- LASER Project - FIS and iSIS
- 2005-2006 Federal Financial Aid Regulatory Update
- Implement DARS Web 3.0
- Changes to online Undergraduate Admissions processing
- Upgrade to SEVIS 5.0
- Upgrade Oracle Financials for Facilities to 11.5.10
- Implement FAMIS Bar Coding
- Upgrade to PowerPark Flex
- Legacy Database Project
- Release of Axio Learning, the commercial version of K-State Online
- Release of K-State Online version 5.5
- Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports
- Develop procedures for cleaning drives on computer before disposal
- Renovation of Data Center for
future Network Operations Center
- Operation PC for residence-hall students
- Research for campus groupware collaboration suite
- Upgrades to university computing labs and InfoCommons
- More enhancements on central e-mail system
- Construction of high-tech music classroom (McCain 324)
- Upgrades to the technology classrooms
- Re-engineering of the IT website
| Q/A: IT questions from K-Staters |
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published June 28, 2005
How many parents attended computer sessions at orientation?
About 800 people attended the Computing
Resources session over the 12-day period of New Student Orientation and
Enrollment.
Have a question or comment?
TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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| Web watch |
csszengarden.com
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published June 28, 2005
csszengarden.com is
"a demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based
design". This site allows graphic artists to control the visual
presentation of webpages solely through the use of Cascading
Style Sheets. It has more than 600 designs -- all using the
same text and basic elements but with unique design results due to
different CSS.
Find a good site? TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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