Additional Modems Planned for Faculty and Staff

 
Even after this summer's modem upgrades and modem pool reconfigurations, staff and faculty are encountering busy signals when dialing in to the campus modem pools. In response, on November 18, the Information Technology Policy Board authorized the addition of 184 56K modems (half allocated to staff and half to faculty) by the end of January 2000. These new modems will bring the total number of campus modems to 1,126.

The Board decided to fund the additional modems in an effort to alleviate dial-up congestion through June 30, 2000. In the meantime, the Board will continue to explore the options for remote access at UC Davis.

In the Staff and Faculty Modem Pools, contention ratios (number of users per modem port) are growing. The Faculty Modem Pool currently has a user-to-modem ratio of 14 to one. The Staff Modem Pool currently has a ratio of 17 to one. (By comparison, the contention ratio on the Student Modem Pool is 13 to 1.) Staff and Faculty Modem Pool usage is expected to rise 1 percent each month over the next year, driving those ratios even higher.

For more information on the campus modem pools, see http://access.ucdavis.edu/. For more information on the Information Technology Policy Board, see http://itpb.ucdavis.edu/.