June 2008 Archives

University IT Services today released an updated draft of the University's Information Security Policy.

The Information Security Policy outlines a number of steps the University is taking to protect confidential information and the integrity of the University's information systems. It provides a framework for more detailed policies and procedures designed to further protect the University's information assets.

This revision was developed by Anand Malwade, IT Security Officer for in University IT Services. Anand recently joined Seton Hall University. Prior to coming to SHU, Anand was an IT security specialist for a major financial institution in NYC.

The revised Information Security Policy can be found online at:
SHU Information Security Policy DRAFT JUNE2008.pdf

This policy will be reviewed by the University's executive team and other constituencies over the next few weeks.

Please send any comments or suggestions regarding this draft policy to me (landryst@shu.edu) and Anand (malwadan@shu.edu).

Stephen G. Landry, Ph.D.

The University's Lotus Notes email system continues to experience problems.

These problems began in February when the University upgraded to a new version of Lotus Notes in preparation for the move to Microsoft Exchange later this year. The Microsoft tools that allow Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes to share information rely on the IMAP mail protocol. Unfortunately, the new version of Lotus Notes has a "bug" in the way it handles IMAP. As we've added more users to the Microsoft Exchange email pilot, this problem has grown worse. Lotus Development Corporation has provided several system patches to the University, but so far these have not fixed the problem. This has been a significant obstacle to the planned migration to Microsoft Exchange.

At this point, University IT Services is taking several approaches to resolving this issue. UITS has escalated the problem within Lotus Development Corporation in order to expedite the development of a system patch to correct this problem. Also, UITS is preparing additional Lotus Notes servers to bring online with the plan that to spread the current load across additional servers the problems will be alleviated.

Further updates regarding the bug in the Lotus Notes system will be posted to this blog.

Stephen G. Landry, Ph.D., CIO

Representatives from Finance and Technology, including Dr. Stephen Landry, CIO, Paul Fisher, Director of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center, John Fernandes, Director of PC Support Services, and Irene Wang, Mobile Computing Program Manager, presented today at Parents' Orientation. The presentation explained why SHU adopted a laptop program, how the program works, and some of the things that all parents and students should know about the program.

A copy of the presentation can be found here:
MCParentOrientation2008Presentation.pdf

Any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the University's Mobile Computing Program may be addressed to Dr. Stephen Landry, CIO (landryst@shu.edu).

Two presentations from Seton Hall University were part of the program for the Educause Enterprise 2008 Information and Technology Conference held this week in Chicago, Ill.

Matthew Stevenson, IT Architect in University IT Services, delivered the presentation "Storage and Server Virtualization" outlining Seton Hall University's robust virtualization initiative. Virtualization refers to technologies that enable IT departments to separate software applications from the hardware they were intended to run on, enabling many applications to reside on a few clustered servers, increasing the reliability while reducing the cost and complexity of the University's server environment.

Rob Brosnan, Director of Web and Digital Communications, Public Relations and Marketing, and Marie Somers, Manager of Web Development, University IT Services, delivered the presentation "Analytics and Optimization in Web Development", outlining the Web analytic systems (CoreMetrics) implemented as part of the University's Web redesign project and how data from that system has enabled the Web team to continually improve the impact of the University's Web site.

See the Educause Enterprise 2008 Web site at http://net.educause.edu/ent08
for the complete program for Educause Enterprise 2008, including links to the presentations.