University of Minnesota

Institute of Technology

Minutes of ITICC Meeting

November 16, 2000

3:40 p.m., 435 Physics

Dan Boley (CSciE), Tom Chase (ME), Tracey DeLaney (Astro), Abbey Eichman (Aero), Michael Greminger (ME), Andrew Hamann (ITSB), John Hickey (CSciE),

Peter Hudleston (IT Stud Aff), Phil Kachelmyer (ADCS), Jerry Larson (ADCS),

Larry LeMay (ADCS), Jim MacDonald (CSE&ITlabs), Dan MacEwan (Chem),

Roger Rusack (Phys), Tom Shield (AEM), Ben Speakman (Phys), Karen Swanberg (Geol), Dale Swanson (ECE), Chris Thorp (BMEn), Doug Victoria (CCE)

1) Status reports from CSci and ADCS

Few reports of problems. LeMay reported that the security was inadvertently out of commission for a week on the door to EE/CS 3-170 when the telephone number was changed. He also said that, after a long delay in processing the order, the wrong shades had been installed in ME 308. Hudleston said he would contact Facilities Management about this. MacDonald reported that Ansys was now running in ME 308.

Larson said that we are about to start extended hours (until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday) in ME 308; this will be until the end of the semester. Lind 26 is now open 24 hours a day and will remain so until the end of the term. Larson said the consultant could let students use Lind 24 overnight also, and monitor both labs.

The labs have been busy much of the day, but there were few reports of students having to wait to get on a machine.

2) Final Discussion of Tech Committee's Recommendations for Fall Lab Improvements

MacDonald presented the final proposal of the Tech Committee for lab improvements to be implemented prior to the start of spring semester. He provided an itemized list with notes. [Supplementary notes, based on discussion at the meeting, follow. Not all items on the list are addressed here.]

∑ The addition of five NT machines to ME 302 will increase the total number of machines in the room when used as a lab, and could also provide a place for recitation sections that need to use Windows machines, if the SGIs are rearranged. Chase had indicated the growing need for such a facility at the start of the meeting. He said there is an immediate need in a class on Industrial Manufacturing.

∑ Replacement of the 8 Linux computers in 4-204 with Suns makes sense given the age of the Linux machines and the availability of Linux now in Lind 24. It also a more rationale distribution of the computers for lab management.

∑ A new RAID system will allow us to increase the standard disk space allotted to students from 20 to 100 MB. Although not all students will need this amount of space, many will take advantage of it.

∑ Adding the DLT tape drive will greatly increase the back-up capacity and mean that tapes will be changed (under the present load) once every four nights instead of nightly.

∑ Several items improve the service to North Hennepin Community College and to Rochester. These labs have received little attention over the past few years, and this is an opportunity to upgrade those facilities, used by fee-paying students in the Information Networking and Networking Administration programs at NHCC and UNITE in Rochester.

∑ In regard to software, MS Project 2000 had been requested for use by various courses in CE and ME.

∑ One item not on the list it was agreed to include, rather than leave to contingency funding, is the installation of two wireless hubs in EE/CS discussed at earlier meetings. This will initially be at a cost of $1,700

The proposal was approved unanimously.

3) Other Businesses

During the course of discussion of lab improvements, Shield raised the issue of whether there was a need for software to allow Mac disks to be read on PCs. It was not known what demand there might be for this, although Bance said that he had received no requests from students. Bance noted that students could always format a disk for the PC on a Mac (in the ADCS labs or elsewhere ) and then use the disks in the IT labs.

There was a discussion of the campus agreement being developed with Microsoft that gives usage on unlimited numbers of machines of a suite of software, with the cost computed on the basis of FTE employees in the unit involved. The software involved includes Windows upgrades, Office Pro, Front Page, and Visual Studio Pro development tools, and the annual cost is $54 per FTE. The IT labs, which are part of the IT Administration, are buying into this. There is student licensing option available also. Those interested in finding out more can contact Kachelmyer, who is coordinating the agreement at the university.