University Business December 2006 - (Page 45)

Do you outsource any IT functions? YES 44% NO 56% OF THE INSTITUTIONS THAT OUTSOURCE IT, WHICH ASPECTS OF IT ARE OUTSOURCED? OTHER* IT SUPPORT 39% 20% HELP DESK TRAINING Outside 15% 18% Services* 2% SECURITY Networking 18% 8% *Respondents defined other as: cable installa- tion, cable tv, credit card processing, cabling, AV support and installation, human resources, various details, ERP Support, Banner administration system, database, network maintenance and monitoring, printer support, dial-up access, e-mail, firewall, telephone, ERP hosting services continue studying in the event of an emergency. Datamonitor's Engelbert says the effectiveness of wireless depends Technology is very fragile, Kondrach cautions. She keeps a on how innovative the IT department is and how student-centric functioning fax machine available and still maintains pay phones the institution is. The group in the middle still isn't sure the invest- on campus as protection against emergencies that might take out ment is worthwhile, as they have visions of students surfing the web, rather than paying attention to lectures. Manchester College leaders considered Although the largest part of his budget was software licensing, Farnham has also spent a pulling dorm phone lines, but students lot of money on security and redundancy so the network will function 24/7. He has put in feel it's a free service they are entitled to. place Virtual Machine Software VMware to distribute the server load, so if one crashes the others will take up the slack until repairs can VoIP or cell phone access. be made. He is waiting for approval of a new mobile computing For network security, Case has Cisco Clean Access in place, to devices policy he wrote, which makes the individual user respon- ensure that equipment connected to the network has met certain sible for the security of the unit in their possession. requirements so threats are as minimal as possible. He also uses Kondrach says security is also very high on her priority list. Cisco ASA devices for intrusion prevention and a MARS device One breach and your institution's reputation changes. Of course, to track activity. the difficulty is in finding the balance between security and access. On security, Engelbert says that although the IT department is She says one benefit from all the recent breaches is that end users often acutely aware of the danger and knows that it is easier to put know security is an issue, which is making them more supportive protections in place than to clean up after a breach, it is often hard of her efforts. Although security is on her mind, she isn't pushing to get decision-makers to understand, unless they've lived through it. to have all hours, all function redundancy like Farnham is. Rather, It's almost in the same bucket as disaster recovery or business conti- she is going for enterprise critical applications. Looking to the ex- nuity until your back is up against the wall, she notes. ample of Hurricane Katrina, she is working to keep the school's Another hurdle for institutions of higher education is business running, such as course information so students can universitybusiness.com December 2006 | 45 TechSpndg.indd 45 11/17/06 4:08:00 PM http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business December 2006

Table of Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Future Shock
Admissions
Financial Aid
On the Hill
EDUCAUSE 2006 Highlights
Technology Spending Survey '07
101 Smart Revenue Generators (and Money-Saving Ideas)
Parking: A Lot To Look At
Engaging Alumni Online
One River, Not Two Streams
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business December 2006