The Network Infrastructure Match at the University of Toronto |-------------------------------------| | Paper presented at CAUSE92 | | December 1-4, 1992, Dallas, Texas | |-------------------------------------| THE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE MATCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Frank H.P. Pearce Computing and Communications University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 1A1 ABSTRACT By all measures the University of Toronto is a very large educational institution with a strong commitment to teaching and research. Achievement of the University's commitment can be furthered by a ubiquitous communications and computing environment. A campus-wide network infrastructure that can integrate voice, image, video, and data is a key requirement of such an environment. The University of Toronto is not a fully-wired campus and there is a need to determine how to maximize the benefit of network infrastructure improvements. This is particularly true in light of the severity of the funding problems at universities - with no relief in the foreseeable future! This paper proposes a framework that may be used by other universities and colleges to evaluate how network infrastructure improvements may be made in a organized and responsive manner. It recommends steps that should be taken to reach such a goal and identifies areas other than the network that may need to be improved. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction The Setting: The University of Toronto was founded in 1827 by a British royal charter. It is Canada's largest university with an approximate enrolment of 50,000 students of which 36,000 are full-time students and 14,000 attend part-time. There are approximately 12,000 faculty and staff, and 250,000 alumni. The operating and research budgets are $475 million and $250 million respectively. The physical space consists of over 230 buildings with a total of more than 14 million square feet. The University has four campuses of which the St. George campus in downtown Toronto is the largest. Erindale College in Mississauga, and Scarborough College in Scarborough, are approximately 20 miles to the west and to the east of the downtown campus respectively. Each of these campuses has approximately 5,000 students. To the north of the St. George campus is the Downsview campus which houses the Institute for Aerospace Studies. The Five Initiatives: University of Toronto Computing and Communications (UTCC) has identified strategic initiatives to focus resources and support the University's computing and communications environment. These initiatives are collections of smaller projects and day-to-day activities that guide the division towards a set of goals. Five of these initiatives are focused on undergraduate learning, administrative local office systems, institutional applications and their transition from 3270 technologies, high-performance computing, and library services. Each has varying demands on the network infrastructure. A rating system was devised to assess these demands and to identify how well current and future networking technologies could support these initiatives. The Services: The five major initiatives that were identified will now be viewed from the service aspect. Table 1 lists the access requirements to two groups of information technology services: those accessible locally and those accessible remotely through the network. It rates as high (H), medium (M), and low (L) the dependence, in our judgment, of each initiative on the availability of a service. It can be readily seen that the success of the initiatives hinge on the availability of network-based services. 1. Local Access Services File Sharing: For all of the initiatives except for high-performance computing, file sharing will refer to the traditional file sharing mechanisms such as is offered by Novell, Apple and Sun central file server products. Since high-performance computing applications typically require access to vast amounts of data storage many data servers need to be made available on the same LAN. Sun's Network File System (NFS) is an example of a product that allows for many data servers. Shared Cycles: Shared cycles refers to the ability of a processor to perform work on a task that may not have been initiated by the processor itself. This service includes the simplified version of shared cycles, such as OS/2 client/server or Sun client/server architectures, and a more feature rich service that can serve the needs of high-performance computing and distributed computing. Shared cycles is of great importance to the High-Performance Initiative and to some extent is of relevance to the Undergraduate Learning Initiative. CD-ROM Technology: This refers to the capability of a workstation on a LAN to access a CD- ROM device that is connected to the same LAN. This is of extreme importance to the Library Services Initiative and to a lesser extent the Undergraduate Learning Initiative. Some administrative staff could make use of this technology. Printing: Users need access to a high-quality printer on the LAN that will support multiple type fonts, graphics, and that is readily accessible. This is a basic function that all initiatives need to address. Database: It is very important that the users of the Library and institutional applications have access to a database on their LAN. This will reduce the University's dependence on monolithic time-sharing systems and allow for autonomy where appropriate. Some of the data within the LAN databases will be part of an overall institutional database. ________________________________________________________________________ Table 1: Access Requirements to Information Technology Services INITIATIVE Undergrad. Local Office Inst. Appl. & High Library Learning Systems Their Transit- Perfor- Services ion from 3270 mance SERVICE Technology Computing --------REMOTE ACCESS SERVICES------------------------------------------ Library Access H L H Electronic Mail M H Campus-Wide Info. Systems H L H File Sharing M L M Distributed Databases H H Shared Cycles H Video Conferencing M L Satellite Access M CD-ROM Technology L L M --------LOCAL ACCESS SERVICES------------------------------------------ File Sharing H H H H H Shared Cycles L H CD-ROM Technology M L H Printing H H H H Database M H H LEGEND: HIGH (H), MEDIUM (M), LOW (L) ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Remote Access (Network) Services Library Access: Access to the services that the Library has to offer via the network is of extreme importance to the Undergraduate Learning Initiative and the general University community. Some of the services that are currently being provided by the campus network are the University's cataloguing system and access to the Medline database. Network accessible CD-ROM technology will undoubtedly play a major role in the Library's future. Electronic Mail: Electronic mail refers to the exchange of electronic information on a University-wide basis. The short term goal is to support textual (plain text files) mail - the long term goal is to support multimedia mail. This service is of extreme importance to all of the University community and is critical to the Undergraduate Learning and Local Office Systems initiatives. Campus-Wide Information System: The Library Services and Undergraduate Learning initiatives would benefit greatly from a campus-wide information system. Information that could be included in such a system are things like course schedules, exams from previous years, social events, discussion groups, and University policies. Faculty and staff could also benefit from such a service if it were to be considered one of the needs of the Local Office Systems Initiative. The information system would use electronic forms of text, image, and perhaps video. File Sharing: To a lesser extent than local file sharing, remote file sharing is a desirable service. However, unlike file sharing within the LAN where there is a common ground for sharing files (that is, typically one file server protocol, but not always), there is a great diversity of proprietary file sharing protocols across the campus networks. The file sharing service that is envisioned for a network service would make such mismatches of proprietary protocols transparent to the users of the network. Such a service would be vastly beneficial to the Undergraduate Learning, High-Performance Computing, and Local Office Systems initiatives. Distributed Databases: This service could allow users to view a database as if it were local when in reality the data may be stored anywhere across the network. That is, the location of the data repository or repositories is independent of the location of the computing processor (or set of processors). This is key in the transition of institutional applications from centralized IBM 3270-based applications to an environment that will support a variety of operating systems and communications protocols. This service would play a major role for administrative users of a local office systems environment by allowing the data to be stored where it is most appropriate, and by eliminating data re-entry. Shared Cycles: This service would provide the same set of functions as the local shared cycles service and may only be required for the High- Performance Computing Initiative. Video Conferencing: Video conferencing refers to the use of video and audio to support communications (at a distance) within work groups or project teams, and for the purposes of this paper, will include distance learning where a teacher may confer with one or more groups or individuals. Such a service could lead to new ways of sharing undergraduate lectures across campuses. To a much lesser extent, faculty and staff could make use of this service to improve person-to-person communications while performing their administrative and academic duties. Satellite Access: The Undergraduate Learning Initiative could benefit by having access to remote broadcasts that are distributed via satellite. For example, students of a course offered by the Centre for Russian and East European Studies can currently view educational and news broadcasts from the Soviet Union. This service, which includes a rebroadcast and reception system, could be expanded to other undergraduate courses. CD-ROM Technology: This service would provide access to CD-ROM libraries via the campus network. This would be of great benefit to the Library Services initiative, and to a lesser extent, the Undergraduate Learning and Local Office Systems initiatives. II. What Is Section II briefly describes the "What Is" by describing the current physical and network infrastructures and how these infrastructures support the provision of information technology services to the user community. A. What Is - The Current Physical Infrastructure The physical infrastructure shall be defined as the media (and its enclosures) that is used to transport raw bits over a communication channel. It includes copper wires, fibre-optics cables, punch-down wiring blocks, ducts, conduit, etc. It does not include "intelligent" devices such as concentrators, repeaters, routers or gateways. Interbuilding Facilities: Interbuilding facilities are provided by the University's institutionally-owned cabling and by Bell Canada. The institutional cabling provides access to shared resources by connecting faculty, staff, and students to one of the three campus backbone networks as described below. The Bell cabling is leased by departments and is used primarily for voice and low-speed data transmission. Fibre-optic and Twisted Pair Cabling: The University has been installing fibre-optic and twisted pair cabling between buildings since the early eighties to take advantage of existing underground steam tunnels. Underground ducts were also installed where access was not possible through the steam tunnel system. Typically, since 1985, the cabling installed between buildings has been 12 fibre strands and 100 unshielded twisted pairs (UTP). Of the more than 230 building included in the 4 campuses there are 27 (12%) buildings with fibre access and 36 (16%) with UTP access. Coaxial Cable: There is still some minimal use of IBM coaxial cable for access to the administrative computer. Most of the installed base is no longer being used and has been removed in some cases to free space in underground pathways. Airwaves: The University has a licensed broadcast antenna that is currently used to rebroadcast satellite signals to the St. George campus. Leased Cabling: Departments lease low-speed point-to-point links to connect terminals and modems to terminal-switched facilities and for the interconnection of local area networks. Intrabuilding Facilities: It is very difficult to assess the extent and profile of the intrabuilding facilities due to a lack of documentation that details the intrabuilding plant. One may characterize the blend as follows: - there is a variety of wiring media including IBM coaxial, shielded twisted pair, unshielded twisted pair, IBM token ring cabling, thick and thin coaxial (ethernet) - the wiring may or may not be in ducts, conduit, raceways and in some cases does not meet the building code - the wiring has varied electrical and physical properties - some of the UTP wiring that has been installed do not meet the minimum specifications of the "Standard for Building Wiring for Information Systems" B. What Is - The Current Network Infrastructure The network infrastructure shall be defined as the energized physical infrastructure plus the intelligent devices and communications protocols that allow for the end-to-end transport and packaging of raw bits over a communication channel. Institutional Networks: Backbone Networks: There are 3 major backbone networks that provide data communications capabilities. The Token Ring Backbone (TRB) and the General Purpose Backbone (GPB) provide the ability to interconnect local area networks at high speeds. The TRB operates at 4Mbps using the ISO/IEEE 802.5 token ring standard and the GPB operates at 10Mbps and uses the ISO/IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard. Both of these backbones use fibre-optics throughout. The third backbone, the Terminal Switched Backbone (TSB), is an older technology and is basically a large data switch for switching low-speed terminal traffic to host computers primarily using the RS232-based interface. A small number of distributed remote shelves and main switching nodes form the heart of the TSB system and are typically connected together using fibre technology. Centrex III: The University leases a large Centrex III network for voice communications. The only equipment that is owned by the University are the telephones. The wiring, switching system, management, etc., are the responsibility of the supplier. There are approximately 8,600 telephone numbers and 9,500 telephone sets. Point-to-Point: Low-speed data communications lines are used to connect 3270-based terminals to an IBM front-end. Other uses of such lines are to interconnect campuses and to provide modem pools. Approximately half of the point to point links are owned by the University and the remainder are leased. Satellite Reception and Rebroadcast System: The University established a satellite reception and rebroadcast system in 1990. This project is in its early stages of implementation and is currently being used to receive Russian broadcasts and to rebroadcast them to various points on the St. George campus. Departmental Local Area Networks (LANs): Over 32% of departments have LANs of which most are connected to one of the backbone networks. There is a wide array of network operating systems, configurations, and products including token ring, ethernet, LocalTalk, Novell, PCLAN, DecNet, etc. C. What Is - A Characterization of the Current Match Between Services and the Current Network The Methodology: The following approach sets a framework[1] that will be used to rank infrastructure improvements according to their contribution to the five initiatives: - assume that a pervasive infrastructure is in place using current network technologies and use a weighted rating to determine how well the access requirements of Table 1 could be met - describe an ideal infrastructure (next section) - assume an ideal infrastructure is in place using future technologies and use same rating system to determine how well the access requirements of Table 1 could be met - determine from the results of the comparison which initiatives are more likely to benefit from infrastructure improvements Scoring the Current Match: Assume that a pervasive infrastructure is in place using current networking technologies. The first line of each cell of Table 2 represents a current match rating and is arrived at as follows[2]: - rate how well each service can be provided by current networking technologies using a scale of 0-5 where "0" is not at all and "5" is excellent - weight the rating as follows: +if need for service was L in Table 1 then score = rating multiplied by 1 +if need for service was M in Table 1 then score = rating multiplied by 2 +if need for service was H in Table 1 then score = rating multiplied by 3 - add weighted scores and express as a percentage of maximum possible score (Maximum possible score is 5, 10, or 15 if access requirement is L, M, or H, respectively.) A low score indicates that either the current network technologies are not sufficient and/or that the area that requires improvement is other than the network infrastructure (e.g., administration of service, a service is not fully offered, software to provide service is not mature). Some Discussion of the Ratings That Were Assigned in Table 2 Ability of Current Technologies to Provide Local Access Services: File Sharing: (rating: 4; except, high-performance computing: 2) For all of the initiatives except for high-performance computing, file sharing products provided by current technologies serve the needs of the LAN user very well. The administrative functions and tools for the file sharing environment and the way in which files may be shared across different microcomputer platforms are two areas that need improvement. The ability for multiple processes to access files that are located on many "data servers" on a local LAN has an important role in the High- Performance Computing Initiative. This is an area that is being researched. The speed of existing LAN technologies may prove limiting. File sharing in the high-performance computing environment is likely to be implemented with closed architectures for the near future. Shared Cycles: (rating: 2) The delivery mechanism for advanced forms of shared cycles beyond the traditional client/server Sun model is likely to be distributed/parallel processing. Only prototypes of such systems exist today. It would be very difficult to support the sharing of cycles in the High-Performance Computing and Undergraduate Learning initiatives at this point in time with anything other than the client/server model. Although current client/server models do not suffer greatly from network performance problems, it is unclear what impact distributed/parallel processing will have on the performance of the LAN. CD-ROM Technology: (rating: 1) While this technology has been available for some time now, and some CD- ROM standards are in place, there are very few LANs on campus with a CD- ROM player attached to it. Additionally, CD-ROM titles (libraries), or at least the search software that a given title may use, are platform- dependent. There are likely to be performance problems on the LAN when video is used. This technology is not being exploited to its full potential. Printing: (rating: 4) Most users have access to a quality printer in the LAN environment. Unfortunately, there are at least two popular standards for a printing protocol and it is therefore not always possible to print files from other sources (that is, other LANs or mainframes) on the local printer. In general, the printing services that are available to the LAN users suit their needs. Database: (rating: 2) Users of the Library, institutional applications, and office systems access databases in the LAN environment. There are a variety of products available but the degree to which the product conforms to a true database system is always questionable. The major areas that need improvement are standards adoption, support, and the ability for local data to be part of a remote database. The speed of the LAN may be a hindrance for databases that support graphics and video. Ability of Current Technologies to Provide Remote Access (Network) Services: Library Access: (rating: 3) The Library provides reasonable information and access to the Library's holdings to the University community, and in particular, to undergraduates. Areas that need improvement are CD-ROM availability, access to networked resources, and access to electronic forms of Library holdings. Currently most of the networked access to Library resources is for catalogue searching. It is very unlikely that the current networking technologies could support full access (text, image, video) to the Library's holdings when they are made available in electronic form. ________________________________________________________________________ Table 2: How Well Current and Future Network Infrastructures Meet Access Requirements - Current Match and Future Match INITIATIVE Undergrad. Local Office Inst. Appl. & High Library Learning Systems Their Transit- Perfor- Services ion from 3270 mance SERVICE Technology Computing --------REMOTE ACCESS SERVICES------------------------------------------ Library 3(9,15) 3(3,5) 3(9,15) Access 4(12,15) 4(4,5) 4(12,15) Electronic 2(4,10) 2(6,15) Mail 4(8,10) 4(12,15) Campus-Wide 0(0,15) 0(0,5) 0(0,15) Info Systems 2(6,15) 2(2,5) 2(6,15) File Sharing 2(4,10) 2(2,5) 2(4,10) 3(6,10) 3(3,5) 3(6,10) Distributed 2(6,15) 2(6,15) Databases 3(9,15) 3(9,15) Shared Cycles 2(6,15) 3(9,15) Video 0(0,10) 0(0,5) Conferencing 3(6,10) 3(3,5) Satellite 1(2,10) Access 2(4,10) CD-ROM 0(0,5) 0(0,5) 0(0,10) Technology 2(2,5) 2(2,5) 2(4,10) Total Weighted 19/75 (25%) 17/55 (31%) 6/15 (40%) 10/25 (40%) 9/40 (23%) Score 44/75 (59%) 33/55 (64%) 9/15 (60%) 22/40 (55%) 22/40(55%) --------LOCAL ACCESS SERVICES------------------------------------------ File 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 2(6,15) 4(12,15) Sharing 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 3(9,15) 4(12,15) Shared 2(2,5) 2(6,15) Cycles 3(3,5) 3(9,15) CD-ROM 1(2,10) 1(1,5) 1(3,15) Technology 2(4,10) 2(2,5) 2(6,15) Printing 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) 4(12,15) Database 2(4,10) 2(6,15) 2(6,15) 3(6,10) 3(9,15) 3(9,15) Total Weighted 28/45 (62%) 29/45 (64%) 30/45 (67%) 12/30 (40%) 33/60 (55%) Score 31/45 (69%) 32/45 (71%) 33/45 (73%) 18/30 (60%) 39/60 (65%) LEGEND Current Match Future Match FOR CELLS: a(b,c) a = rating d = rating d(e,f) b = weighted score e = weighted score c = perfect (maximum) score f = perfect (maximum) score ________________________________________________________________________ Electronic Mail: (rating: 2) Electronic mail is being widely used on campus today but it is not available (except for a small minority) in the desktop environment. [3] Additionally, there are many proprietary mail systems which do not interoperate. Products that do provide interoperability through a common interface are not as stable as vendors claim and may restrict the type of mail (e.g., word processing file) that may be exchanged. There is no support for multimedia mail via the network. Some things that need to be improved are security, directory services, support for campus-wide mail, interoperability standards and products, and support for multimedia mail. The current networking technologies are a major stumbling block to implementing multimedia mail. Campus-Wide Information System: (rating: 0) No campus-wide information system can be supported. The bandwidth of the current networks would need to be increased to support a heavily- used system. File Sharing: (rating: 2) Currently there is little use of file sharing across the network. The current networking technologies do provide the basic infrastructure, but the file sharing protocols (Novell, AppleShare, NFS, etc.) may prove to be problematic in a widely distributed network which supports network services other than file sharing. It is also unclear as to how the performance of the network might be affected. Policy and technical issues remain to be resolved. Distributed Databases: (rating: 2) While there are many vendors that claim they provide distributed database products, in practice, the products provide only a subset of what is truly a distributed database environment. Some of the problems that remain unsolved are network scaling, distributed query processing, distributed transaction processing, and integration with distributed operating systems. Nonetheless, there are products that provide a reasonable subset of functions such that data may be distributed and replicated over a number of database machines connected by a network. One such product, Oracle, is being implemented at the University with the intention of moving towards distributed institutional database systems. There may be database performance issues due to the network delays of the existing infrastructure. Further research and product development is required to provide a truly distributed database system. Shared Cycles: (rating: 2) The status and problems are the same as for the local access service. Video Conferencing: (rating: 0) There is currently no video conferencing service primarily because the existing networking technologies in use at the University do not support the transport of video. However, even with such a facility in place, the costs of hardware and the fact that this area is in its infancy (particularly for distance education and desktop video conferencing) will preclude its pervasive use. Satellite Access: (rating: 1) This service needs to be extended beyond its current use. In addition to expanding the service by installing additional equipment, policy decisions need to be made on the management of viewing access and the scheduling of signal reception. There may be some demand for a satellite transmission service in addition to the reception service. This service is in its early stages of implementation. CD-ROM Technology: (rating: 0) There is no CD-ROM service available via the network. The Library is likely to be the provider of such a service and could use this technology to provide electronic access to its holdings. The technology and speed of the existing network will probably limit the type of information that may be accessed. It is unlikely that access to full- text, image, and video could be supported. III. What Should Be Section III describes the ideal physical and network infrastructures and how this ideal could improve the delivery of information technology services. In short, it describes the "What Should Be". A. What Should Be - The Future Physical Infrastructure The ideal physical infrastructure would consist of: - intrabuilding cabling (fibre-optics and twisted pair) to the desktop as described in the "Standard for Building Wiring for Information Systems", - interbuilding cabling facilities (fibre-optics and twisted pair) as described in the wiring standard, and - intercampus communications facilities that would link together the four campuses. It would have the following characteristics: - based on international standards or guidelines where possible, and - provide equal access to all. B. What Should Be - The Future Network Infrastructure The ideal network infrastructure would have the following characteristics: - complete coverage and interconnection of the campuses including residences, - integration of voice, data, image, and video at the desktop, - support for sophisticated network services, - network transparency (eliminating the need for the user to understand network protocols, implementation issues, etc.), - based on international standards or guidelines where possible, - fully functional remote access to the institutional network provided by an external provider, and - provide equal access to all. C. What Should Be - The Future Match Between Services and the Future Network The next section continues with an analysis using the methodology described in section II.C.3 (The Methodology) to determine to what degree access requirements of users are met by the services provided by the ideal network infrastructure. Scoring the Future Match: Assume than an ideal pervasive infrastructure is in place using future network technologies (voice, video, image, and data integrated within one network). The second line of each cell of Table 2 represents a future match rating and is arrive at as follows: - rate how well each service could be provided using the rating system described in previous section - add weighted scores and express as a percentage of maximum possible score Some Discussion of the Ratings That Were Assigned in Table 2 Ability of Future Technologies to Provide Local Access Services: File Sharing: (rating: 4; except, high-performance computing: 3) The administrative functions and tools for the file sharing environment and the way in which files may be shared across the different microcomputer platforms are two areas that need improvement for all initiatives. This will not be improved by the ideal network infrastructure. For the High-Performance Computing Initiative, file sharing capabilities (in a distributed computing environment) could be improved somewhat by the ideal infrastructure, however the ability to improve such a service lies with the research and software industries. Shared Cycles: (rating: 3) The ideal network infrastructure would have some impact on improving the ability to support a shared cycles service in a LAN environment. However, distributed/parallel processing systems (the main vehicle for shared cycles) are not at a point where they can be implemented with support for multiple platforms and operating systems. This service could not be provided at the desired level of service. CD-ROM Technology: (rating: 2) The ideal infrastructure would impact the ability to provide a CD-ROM networked service (especially for image and video traffic). Still missing are standards for storage access and retrieval, and networking. Additionally, there are administrative and legal issues that need to be addressed before such a service is viable. The provision of this service could be marginally improved. Printing: (rating: 4) The ability to provide printing would not be improved by the ideal network infrastructure. Access to printers and printing protocols are the areas that need to be improved. Database: (rating: 3) The ideal network infrastructure would improve access to databases containing images and video. Areas that need to be improved are standards adoption, support, and participation in remote databases. The ability to provide this service would only be marginally improved if the ideal infrastructure were implemented. Ability of Future Technologies to Provide Remote Access (Network) Services: Library Access: (rating: 4) The ideal infrastructure would support access to electronic information in text, image, and video forms. However, the basic functions of information storage and retrieval have still not been standardized. Additionally, it is unclear whether the current holdings, as opposed to the newly acquired, will be put into electronic form. Nonetheless, the Library does provide electronic catalogue searches of its holdings, and provides limited access to databases and CD-ROM technologies. Electronic Mail: (rating: 4) While the ideal network infrastructure would vastly improve the capability to provide multimedia mail to the desktop, there are many areas that need to be improved and that are independent of the network. Security, directory services, support for campus-wide mail, and interoperability standards and products, are but a few of the components. Provision of this service would be noticeably improved by the ideal network infrastructure. Campus-Wide Information System: (rating: 2) The ideal network infrastructure would noticeably improve the capability to deliver a campus-wide information system that is heavily used and includes electronic forms of images and video. However, the administration of the system is key to ensure that the information is timely and accurate. The mixed environment of computers and operating systems on campus will also prove to be a challenge. The ability to provide this service is rated as low (rating: 2). File Sharing: (rating: 3) File sharing that is supported by the ideal network infrastructure would be improved since delays in the network would be minimized. The policy and technical issues need to be addressed with respect to what file sharing protocols will be supported. Distributed Databases: (rating: 3) The ability to provide a distributed database system that is supported by the ideal network infrastructure would be improved. However, a lot of research and product development is required to provide a truly distributed database system. Additionally the administration of such a system is likely to be complex. Shared Cycles: (rating: 3) The status and problems are the same as for the local access service although the ideal infrastructure would improve network delays. Video Conferencing: (rating: 3) The ideal network infrastructure would vastly improve the ability to perform video conferencing. However, the costs of hardware and the fact that this area is in its infancy will preclude its pervasive use. Satellite Access: (rating: 2) This service would benefit from the ideal infrastructure in that it would be possible to distribute the received satellite signal through the infrastructure rather than using receive antennae. However, the scheduling of the signal reception and the general administration of the system will still be problematic. CD-ROM Technology: (rating: 2) The ideal infrastructure would support access to full-text, image and video, and would improve the rating of this service. However, standards for CD-ROM storage and retrieval mechanisms have not been finalized, and most of the Library's holdings are not readily available in CD-ROM format. IV. Observations from Table 2 - a pervasive network infrastructure is not enough (see the discussions for the assigned ratings) - network services will benefit more from infrastructure improvements implemented with future networking technologies than will local (LAN) services; that is to say, current networking technologies are less of a barrier to providing services in the local environment than in the non-local environment - to some extent the maximum scores in Table 2 indicate where the money is best spent (although this should only be considered as a guideline); for example, support for Undergraduate Learning and Local Office Systems initiatives could be vastly improved by infrastructure improvements V. The Road To The Future - Recommendations Finally, section V provides some insight to get from "What Is" as described in section II, to the "What Should Be" as described in section III. Much work needs to be done in order to provide sophisticated network services to the University community. Improving the network infrastructure is an extremely important part of this process but by itself will be insufficient. Four recommendations on how to proceed are: 1. Promote adherence to the "Standard for Building Wiring for Information Systems" to improve the intrabuilding infrastructure: To date there are no intrabuilding facilities that conform to the wiring standard. The most notable omission is the lack of fibre in building pathways and to the work area (desktop) from the telecommunications closet. Additionally, much of the installed twisted pair wiring that is used by department LANs does not meet the specifications of the standard. At a minimum the wiring standard should be aggressively promoted by - assuring that new installations and major upgrades of LANs adhere to the standard, and - assuring that plans for new buildings and renovations of work areas in existing buildings adhere to the standard. A more proactive approach would also include - educating the community on the importance of adherence, - an identification and prioritization of buildings (including residences) which need improvements, and - the development of a multi-year programme to allocate resources, such as funds and space for wiring closets and equipment rooms, to implement intrabuilding infrastructure improvements. 2. Apply a method, such as the one proposed, for assigning limited resources to institutional network infrastructure improvements: Few if any of the interbuilding connections conform to the recently adopted wiring standard. Only 12% of the University's buildings have access to fibre and only 16% have access to twisted pair facilities. It is imperative that more interbuilding facilities be installed to meet the computing and communications demand of the University community. To improve the interbuilding facilities at the University a multi-year programme should be developed to address the following: - the allocation of resources including funds, personnel, and space, to make infrastructure improvements that adhere to the wiring standard, - a prioritization of clients who would be best served by interbuilding infrastructure improvements, - the identification of areas on campus that need the most improvement, and - the alignment of infrastructure improvements with UTCC initiatives. 3. Formalize the specification of initiatives with respect to requirements for infrastructure: Many of the initiatives assume that a suitable and extensive infrastructure is in place today when in fact this may not the case. To assist in the process of determining where and when infrastructure improvements are most needed, the following should be identified for each initiative : - the location of the clients, - what high-level services (e.g, electronic mail, shared cycles) are required and when it will be technologically possible to provide these services; for services that can not be provided, it should be made clear what areas are insufficient (e.g, network infrastructure, policy, software), and - a multi-year implementation schedule such that infrastructure improvements may be scheduled when most appropriate. 4. Construct an "information systems architecture": Much more than a pervasive network infrastructure is required to provide a computing and communications environment capable of supporting the strategic initiatives identified in this paper. There are additional technological requirements such as hardware and software to support distributed databases, shared cycles, and systems that can interoperate. There are also non-technological components such as administrative functions, policies, and formal definitions of information services. To formally address these additional requirements an "Information Systems Architecture"4 should be constructed which would include the four major architectural sub-groupings defined by: - an application architecture: the structure of business processes (coded into software) that process data for the organization, including acquired as well as developed programs, - a data architecture: the structure or model of the information assets of the organization, principally databases, - an information technology (IT) architecture: the structure of the underlying infrastructure that supports data and applications, including hardware, systems software, and communications networks, and - a management and organization architecture: the structure and roles of people and processes that support the information systems architecture. NOTES [1] The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate how this mechanism may be used to reveal the areas that need improvement and to establish priorities. All ratings and opinions in this analysis are the author's own. The numbers in Tables 1 and 2 are the author's best judgment without the benefit of extensive study. [2] The purpose of the second line of each cell is explained in section III.C. [3] Access to electronic mail should be within the desktop environment. A user should not have to use terminal emulation to access mail facilities. [4] L. David Passmore, "Infrastructure Thinking", Ernst & Young Presentation at ComNet '92, Washington, D.C., January, 27, 1992.