October 16, 2003

IT news

Information Technology has announced a two-year plan to upgrade and enhance the operational integrity and security of the network infrastructure by converting all shared Ethernet connections on both campuses to switched Ethernet at no charge.

If current local wiring permits, the replacement switched service will operate at 100Mbps; otherwise, it will operate at 10Mbps.

“IT has compiled a list of networks in priority order based upon immediate security needs,” said Tom Board, director of Technology Support Services. “The first upgrades will be made this fall to those networks which may have data that falls under HIPAA regulations.”

Subsequent “tiers” of networks to be upgraded include those with student or staff records, those in key administration areas, other administrative networks, and networks known to need the additional capacity. Additional details, including the list of buildings to be converted, can be found at www.it.northwestern.edu/reference/connections/shared2switchlist.html.

The shared-to-switched program does not involve adding connections required to eliminate hublets. IT recently announced a new data network price model to encourage schools and divisions to remove existing hublet devices. Hublets are a security risk, hamper effective network management, and have recently been ordered removed from the infrastructure (see “Policy Restatement and Enforcement Plan for Unapproved Campus Network Extensions,” dated June 2003, on the NUIT Policies and Guidelines Web site, www.it.northwestern.edu/policies/). Additional information can be found at www.it.northwestern.edu/news/archive/jul03/hublets.pdf.

IT has announced the release of Eudora 6.0 e-mail software to faculty, staff and students for use on and off campus.

This version of Eudora has a number of new features, including SpamWatch for automatic filtering of junk e-mail and Content Concentrator for grouping and viewing threaded messages (a series of messages following the same topic.)

The release of Eudora 6.0 follows IT’s decision to discontinue production of the annual Anti-Virus/E-mail Software CD. As of fall quarter, IT plans to distribute the latest versions of Symantec Anti-virus and Eudora on a quarterly basis via the Web. This decision was made in the interests of providing the University community with the most recent software available.

The software can be downloaded from the IT-Services site at aquavite.northwestern.edu/it-services/browse.cgi?s=Eudora.

Faculty, staff and students can use Eudora on University-owned or personally-owned computers for the purpose of accessing the University network. For assistance with software installation, consult your local IT support technician or UNITS representative.

Eudora 6.0 runs on Windows 2000/XP Professional, Windows NT Workstation and Mac OS X (10.1 and above). More detailed information about Eudora is available from www.eudora.com.

Faculty and staff can obtain a subsidized one-year site license for Mathematica 5.0 under terms of a recent agreement between IT and the vendor, Wolfram Research.

Mathematica, used for technical computation and data analysis, will be available for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, and Mac OS 9 or later. Unix and Linux versions are available to eligible users.

Site-licensing provisions for Mathematica cover University-related business or research; home use is also available. To request a home-use packet, purchasers must forward their confirmation e-mail (the one received after placing a successful order with software.northwestern.edu) along with their preferred shipping address, to mathathome@northwestern.edu. Purchasers should also indicate which operating system they use on their home computer.

The site-license period coincides with the University’s fiscal year. The software cost is subsidized by IT until August 31, 2004, with a projected annual price of $99 for the following year.

Information about ordering Mathematica is available from the IT software site at http://software.northwestern.edu.

IT has announced that, as of the fall quarter, it will distribute the latest versions of Symantec Anti-virus and Eudora e-mail software on a quarterly basis via the Web.

In the past, this software has been distributed to the community on a yearly basis via the software CD (most recently distributed as the Anti-virus/E-mail Software CD).

“So much of the software we use changes so frequently, mass-producing CDs no longer makes sense for us,” said Wendy Woodward, associate director of Technology Support Services.

In addition to the latest software versions, installation instructions will also be available online and updated as needed on a quarterly basis. “Having these files online means users can easily burn them to a CD or download them from their offices or our computer labs,” said Woodward.

Launch of the newest files and a refresh of the IT Software Repository occurred during the first week of classes. If users prefer, they can buy a pre-burned Anti-virus/e-mail Software CD from the Information Center, available on a limited basis for a nominal fee.

IT will also reset NetReg (the network registration software currently used for residence hall computer networks) on a quarterly basis. During this re-registration process, students’ computers will be scanned to ensure that software patches or fixes, as well as virus definition files, are up to date.

Faculty, staff and off-campus students will be reminded quarterly to download the most recent software versions, thereby reducing the chances of becoming vulnerable to widespread virus attacks.