David McRaney  |  Journalist

iTech to undergo changes

USM's Chief Information Officer Homer Coffman said the university is currently operating on technology that was considered cutting edge in 1999. His organization plans to replace and upgrade the existing network over the next two semesters to bring the aging system up to 2006 standards.

"It will be like going from a dirt road to an autobahn," said Coffman. "I always tell people that technology years are like dog years. There are a lot of features that this new system will allow, and it will provide huge redundancy."

But, getting to this point has been a bumpy road according to Coffman, and he hopes both students and faculty will support a more integrated iTech.

NEW BLOOD

Coffman is the first CIO at the university. Since joining iTech in 2004, he has implemented a series of strategies to better integrate the information services at USM including a governance council where students, administration and faculty now have the opportunity to voice their concerns and express their needs directly.

Coffman said the upgrades are only one part of a collective plan to improve iTech from the ground up.

"We are in the process of re-inventing ourselves," he said. "We touch everything at this university. But, there has never been a formal process by which the university chooses the direction they should go in terms of improving the service."

Coffman said he is aware of the complaints and grumbles coming from both students and faculty concerning iTech and he attributes much of that turbulence to the fact that until now there has never been a process at USM designed to assess the life cycle of technology

"Our wireless network has been up for nearly seven years, and it

A VOICE FOR ALL

Coffman said an assessment completed this year of all iTech services determined there was a demand on the department constituting $20 million worth or service, but the current budget is limited to approximately $8.3 million.

"We are in the bottom 5 percent in technology funding in the nation," said Coffman. "We can't serve everyone's needs."

The new governance council will help alleviate the budgeting concerns by allowing representatives from the university tell iTech what their individual organizations and departments require from the information service, Coffman said. The need will be researched and a cost presented to the administration.

"It is a venue for everyone to have their voices heard," said Bill Derwostyp, interim director and chief security manager for iTech. "The SGA has a position, and the Faculty Senate just got put on the board. The meetings are also open to the public."

Derwostyp said USM students can learn how to take part in the governance council at www.usm.edu/itgovernance.

Coffman said the university must develop a funding process for the technology unit. He said iTech has traditionally been undervalued because no one has had to put a dollar amount on their services.

"We used to accomplish what was asked of us by taking away the quality of other services. I would like to get away from that and show you the dollars then ask if you want to spend these dollars," said Coffman. "Historically, whoever yelled the loudest got what they were asking for. Now we are saying that if it is not done through the governance council, we aren't doing it."

LEARNING CURVE

Both Coffman and Derwostyp feel like both faculty and staff of USM must become more educated about technology and its cost.

Derwostyp pointed out that one area of contention is over applications.

"A department may decide they want this new cool application that will do what they want it to do and it is only going to cost say, $200,000," said Derwostyp. "They don't realize that on the back end it's going to cost $500,000 for annual maintenance and for the hardware and resources to support that whole project."

Derwostyp said USM employees are often reluctant to spend money to update the versions of their software because everything they do still runs fine on the existing system. He said if hardware or software should fail, there may be problems repairing or replacing it.

Coffman said there is a learning curve with technology that has to be overcome. One of his organization's greatest challenges is pc procurement, he said.

Coffman believes because faculty and staff can purchase computers from wherever they wish based on what they personally want, the iTech help desk is trying to support over 500 different varieties of devices with 500 or more operating systems. Coffman said the solution is to standardize the organization's approach.

"80 percent of the cost of a pc is on my side, with network, virus protection and support," said Coffman. "Usually the faculty and the staff are good stewards and try to buy the cheapest thing, but they actually incur greater risk on the university by doing so."

53,000 EMAILS

"As soon as a student is plugged into our network, they are going to get infected," said Coffman. "We have hackers on a daily basis from China and Yugoslavia trying to reach our networks. 41 percent of all identity theft comes from university campuses."

He said security is one of the biggest problems USM faces, and before the CIO position was filled there was no mechanism to address those issues. When Derwostyp came aboard in 2004, he was USM's first security manager.

"53,000 emails go through our system every day," said Derwostyp.

"You have to update your system constantly," said Derwostyp. "Even the less chaotic viruses can be dangerous because they can cause damage over the long term. People tend not to notice unless there is a squeaky wheel."

He considers instant messaging programs like AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ to be the worst security risks to campus. Both programs are popular among students.

"People think that when they message someone across the room that it just goes from their computer to the other person," he said. "But, actually that information goes across the internet to a server then it comes back to the recipient."

Derwostyp said he and his staff are planning to provide a USM-only internet messaging service soon in an attempt to secure the network.

Progress in the realm of virus protection has been slowed because virus protection software vendors used by USM have been unable to define the recent virus outbreaks and therefore have been unable to destroy them until recently, said Derwostyp. But, he wants students to know that free virus protection is available through the help desk.

THE LONG ROAD

"Our responsibility is everything on this university that has a zero or a one in it," said Coffman.

He added that iTech Central Services provides the network on campus, the web services, the data center with 160 applications, the phones and the help desk. He said iTech is part of administrative computing, research computing, student computing, academic computing and instructional support for classrooms. Meanwhile, Ole Miss doesn't have a wireless service, and MSU only has pockets.

"We wish that we would not be an afterthought," said Coffman. "We touch everybody, and we would like to be integrated into everything that is done on campus. As an afterthought, we have to play catch up, and we do it with poor results. We must get in front of the cart instead of behind it."

University Librarian Kay Wall seemed excited about the idea of better integration.

"We are looking at some planning this year that would help meet the student's needs in the library concerning access to computers and information," said Wall. "We went to Georgia Tech and Emory, and we think we could create something more dynamic here. We want an information commons in the library."

Wall said with the help of iTech, she hopes to see an expanded and improved computer lab at the Cook Library as well.

"We've been faculty-focused for far too long," she said. "It's time we were focused more on the needs of students."

Coffman said that the university as a whole would improve as iTech evolved, and he wants students to know that they have a voice in the process.

Originally published in The Student Printz on November 22, 2005