June 2007 IT News
Changes for Campus IT
Stephen Hess, formerly Associate Academic Vice President for Information Technology, has been named the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the University of Utah and now reports directly to President Young. This change will help streamline the data processing and technological needs of faculty, staff, and students in areas such as research, financial management, and planning. As a result of this change, effective June 1, 2007, Administrative Computing Services (ACS) now reports to the CIO along with the Center for High Performance Computing, the Office Information Technology, Media Solutions, Instructional Media Services, and the Utah Education Network. The University CIO is responsible for setting campus wide information technology (IT) policy, technical standards, and strategic planning. “IT is evolving rapidly and changing the nature of higher education by providing new and creative ways to improve research and education. In my new role, I intend to update and develop long term IT strategies for the future,” said Hess. Long term IT strategies for the University of Utah can be found in the Campus IT Strategic Plan. The Information Technology Council provides governance and direction for enterprise IT projects.
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Thousands of Dollars saved in Cable Reclamation Project
Conduit used to run fiber optic and copper cables has been in very short supply in some campus areas. Because accurate cable records were not kept in years past, some very old, unusable cables have filled conduit space even though their use was discontinued years ago. In summer 2006, the OIT wire and cable crew identified a couple of starting points where unusable cables had been cut or abandoned. They began following these old cables, removing them along the way. In some campus areas, where it was believed that expensive construction projects would be required before new cable could be installed, the crew was able to free up conduit space. Space was also cleared in the tunnel that feeds wire to the Park Building and neighboring buildings. To date, three formerly congested areas have at least one complete conduit that is free of old cable. Network capacity was significantly enhanced when dual 144-count fiber cables were pulled from the Eccles Broadcast Center to the Park Building in separate, redundant paths through reclaimed conduits. Limited cable capacity was also a problem for at least ten years in the mall area between Eccles Broadcast Center and the Marriott Library. It would have cost over $200,000 to place a new conduit in the mall. It cost only $11,000 to reclaim the old conduit.
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