Who would have thought that just two little digits could have created as much of a stir as the millennium bug? Yes, signs of Y2K are still apparent, with only 50 days left before the year 2000. Fortunately, the university has an entire team working to upgrade and “Y2K-proof” the entire computer system.
The Y2K bug originated in the 1980s when hard drive space was expensive. Many programmers decided to code for the last two digits of the date as opposed to all four in order to save memory space and money. What seemed like a perfectly reasonable and efficient idea turned out to have enormous implications. Social security numbers, birth dates, bank accounts, utility companies and nearly any other operation controlled by computer networks could all be affected, in disastrous proportions.
Saint Louis University recently completed phase one of a three-part project designed to improve computer technology. The first phase updated the remote access, the term used to describe how a person enters the network from an outside source.
The architecture backbone is the foundation upon which the entire computer system operates. “It is analogous to an interstate highway,” said Thomas L. Nowicki, Assistant Vice President of ITS Infrastructure Services. The backbone can be used to transport information from point A to point B via fiber optic cables and copper wiring. The material used depends on the amount of computer traffic that comes from the individual buildings.
The new upgrades will allow more people to enter the network with less back up. According to Nowicki, “It’d be like having your own on-ramp for the highway, which would certainly eliminate traffic.”
Nowicki has been at SLU for only three months, but he was confronted with the problem of modernizing and expanding the entire system from day one.
Phase two is a planning phase in which vendors are contacted and bids are placed. A committee of faculty members, staff and students will select the best company for the ob of installing all the equipment. Some of the tasks are quite involved; for instance, a trench will have to be dug to hold the wiring for the new business school. Expansions for some of the remaining buildings may take six to nine months. Phase three involves the expansion into the buildings.
The Project SLU2000 fund is responsible for providing the monetary assistance for this project. Phase one alone cost approximately $1.8 million. Projected total cost is unknown at this time.
Nowicki said, “In one sense I was surprised at how smoothly this went. In the other sense I wasn’t because of the detailed planning that was done behind it. Brad Frischkorn, the manager for network services, along with other system analysts and contractors developed a fantastic plan.”
