Volume 3. No 1 Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis Fall 1994

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Joan Gargano

Director, Distributed Computing Analysis and Support (DCAS)

The growth in networking and client-server architecture spurred the formation of I.T.'s Distributed Computing Analysis and Support (DCAS) group. "Two years ago, we didn't even exist," says director Joan Gargano, whose role is to facilitate access to and use of network resources.

People expect electronic communication and online services to come right to their desktops. This means that many of the services that once were provided by a centralized computer -- such as security and knowing how to find and access computer related resources -- have to be provided in new ways in the networked environment.

"Our job is to make sure these new services are available and reliable. Providing these services in a networked environment is a lot more challenging than providing them in a mainframe world and requires doing things in completely new ways," says Gargano. "Considering the exciting ways this new way of computing can be used -- the expanded access to information and types of tools that are available, for instance -- we think our work is well worth the effort."

DCAS is always interested in hearing from the campus about new client/server applications under development and the types of services that are needed. Send e-mail to dcas@ucdavis.edu. DCAS provides descriptions of its current work through the World Wide Web.