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October 15–18, 2013
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About
EDUCAUSE
ECAR-CIA Contacts
Co-chairs: Jim Jokl, University of Virginia, and Mark Katsouros, The Pennsylvania State University
Staff Liaison: Karen A. Wetzel, EDUCAUSE
ECAR-CIA Working Group Roster
In March 2013, members of what at that time was known as the ACTI Communication, Collaboration and Mobility (ACTI-CCM) Working Group reviewed and updated its mission to better reflect the work and goals of the group. At the same time, the group decided to update its name to the Communications Infrastructure and Applications Working Group to support their updated mission. Ideas for new projects and undertakings come from the CIA membership, with input from ECAR members and the broader higher education community. Guidance in identifying new developments and strategic priorities also comes from the overarching ECAR Working Group Strategies Committee, focusing on those advanced core technologies with the greatest potential to impact higher education’s mission.
Current Projects
Emergency Communications
The importance of effective emergency communications cannot be denied. ECAR-CIA will be summarizing recent changes in emergency communications, and address the impact these changes have on campus and statewide. Expected completion: spring/summer 2013.
See the November 6, 2012 presentation, Emergency Communications Management & The Clery Act and the April 28, 2013 EDUCAUSE Live! webinar by the same name.
Unification of Communications
What direction is the integration of communications with related systems, such as LMS and mobile platforms, going, and how can we help campuses who are looking to move in that direction? Work expected to begin in 2013.
Softphone Deployment and Support
This group aims to identify best practices for deploying and supporting softphones -- on campus, off campus, on a desktop machine, or on other devices. Work expected to begin in 2013.
Voice Integration with Third-party Products and Services
There is a growing trend to integrate voice services with third-party products and services, e.g., SIP services and cloud applications such as Google Voice. Examples of current projects and information on how this might happen locally will be included. Work expected to begin in 2013.
Mission
The ECAR Communications Infrastructure and Applications (ECAR-CIA) Working Group focuses on the challenges that higher-education institutions face with respect to enterprise communication, collaboration, and mobility. Group participants pool their collective resources, time, and energy towards investigating specific challenges and opportunities in this space, sharing individual solutions, and developing effective practices for the higher-education community.
ECAR-CIA aims to help the organizational decision-makers in this space (senior IT managers, CIOs, CTOs, COOs, CFOs, provosts, etc.) focus on the important communication technology issues: emerging and evolving technologies, operational challenges, peer benchmarking, policies and procedures, federal and state regulations, staffing and service structures, strategic planning, sustainable funding models, and other relevant topics. In addition, we believe it is crucial to provide a forum for meeting with vendors, especially as more core IT services are potentially commoditized and/or cast into the cloud, and as the seamless integration and interoperability of multiple vended and locally-developed solutions becomes even more of a necessity and challenge.
The scope of this working group typically includes investigations around:
- Telecommunications, including IP telephony, dual-mode phones, wireless, mobile infrastructures, and fixed-mobile convergence
- Unified communications
- Collaborative communications, including presence awareness, videoconferencing, telepresence, application sharing, and collaboration platforms
- Communication in the cloud
- Support for specific communications technologies, such as VoIP, SIP, campus LAN/Wi-Fi, cellular, GPS, and GIS
- Emergency communications management and notification
- Social networking
The working group welcomes input, ideas, and participation from the higher education community. Contact us at ECARWG@educause.edu
Resources
- Emergency Communications Management and the Clery Act (February 2013)
A reprisal of a presentation given by ACTI-CCM co-chair Mark Katsouros (Pennsylvania State University) at the November 2012 ACTI-CCM meeting, this EDUCAUSE Live! webinar highlights improvements made in emergency communications management/emergency notification system (ECM/ENS) capabilities, implications of the Clery Act , and an overview of mobile “killer apps” in the emergency communications realm. - ACTI-CCM Meeting (November 2012)
Meeting at the 2012 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. Includes presentations on unified communications, emergency communications, distributed antenna systems, and more. - Distributed Antenna Systems: ACTI Briefing Note (October 2012)
This ACTI-CCM publication provides an overview of distributed antenna system (DAS) solutions for in-building wireless coverage for cellular voice services on higher education campuses. - SIP Services: Communication in the Cloud (August 2012)
ACTI Conversation webinar featuring Randy Brogle (Internet2), Walt Magnussen (Texas A&M University), and Ric Simmons (Louisiana State University) speaking on Internet2 NET+ SIP cloud-based services, including the RFP process that was used to procure the services, what services are being offered, and the status of deployment. - ACTI-CCM Winter 2012 Update
Presentation at the January 10, 2012 ACTI Member Meeting - ACTI Communication, Collaboration, and Mobility (CCM) Meeting, October 18, 2011 (EDUCAUSE Annual Conference 2011)
- Special Projects
See all ECAR-CIA Resources. Visit the EDUCAUSE library.
Join This Group
Members meet biweekly to identify and discuss specific projects. To get involved, contact us.
Publications
Distributed Antenna Systems: Briefing Note
This briefing note provides an overview of distributed antenna system (DAS) solutions for in-building wireless coverage for cellular voice services on higher education campuses.
First Look: Integrated Communications Technology Survey
In late 2011 this group conducted a survey in order to better understand what peer institutions are doing when it comes to universal communication (UC). The short survey had questions in three main areas:
- Voice Platforms and Services
- Voice Integration with Related Platforms
- Your Opinions
This First Look includes highlights from section one of the survey, as well as shares more information about the areas covered in sections two and three.
