Volume 4. No 5
Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis February 1996
Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis February 1996
In an effort to provide more responsive modem service to the campus, the Division of Information Technology is pursuing a campus recommendation to contract with a private vendor to provide modem service. A Request for Quotation was reviewed by the Joint Campus Committee on Information Technology (JCCIT) at its January meeting.
The Committee on Academic Planning and Budget Review (CAPBR) will review the financial feasibility of outsourcing modem service to the campus.
Included in the RFQ is the JCCIT's recommendation to pursue an agreement which guarantees all campus users some free access per day. The RFQ also outlines several different levels of service, to which users may subscribe. Rates will be based on the desired level of service.
Before soliciting bids from vendors, Information Technology will incorporate recommendations from JCCIT, CAPBR, and administrative offices that will be affected by the change into the RFQ.
The ever-increasing demand for network services continues to put a strain on the campus modem pool, and despite expansions, campus users still complain of busy signals. One hundred new modems were installed on Jan. 16, for instance, and since then the busy rate has grown to indicate a need for at least 32 more modems.
The cost associated with continually expanding the modem pool has become prohibitive, and, as a result, I.T. will no longer be adding new modems to the pool - thus freezing the support at 500 modems.
Some departments may be entertaining the idea of purchasing their own modems, and Information Technology advises that such a move would be less efficient and more costly over the long term. Those accessing a decentralized modem pool would still have to dial in through the campus telephone system. Consequently, if modems were decentralized, there would be no way to differentiate between voice calls and modem calls, and the modem traffic would result in more busy signals for voice callers. If this were to occur, Information Technology would be forced to add more communication trunks to campus, and the cost would be passed on to campus departments in the form of a higher telephone rate.
In addition to providing 15 minutes a day of free access to all users, the RFQ prepared by Information Technology calls for: