Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Focus
Universal IP at Last
10/29/2004
There’s no end to what you can do over IP. Prepare your network, take our test, and go!
Heard the one about the New Age appliance repair person who shows up unexpectedly
at the door, and tells the housewife, “Your fridge e-mailed me”?
Well, now there really are networked, IP-enabled refrigerators.
Your campus may be in the same situation. Traditionally, there have been many devices and systems running independently, and using separate cabling and control systems. You now need to prepare to integrate many of these systems into your data or IP-based networks.
Why You Should IP-Enable These Systems Networked systems allow for remote device
management and troubleshooting, in effect permitting a systems administrator
anywhere on campus (or off, for that matter) to manage and support the systems.
For management consolidation. Devices can be managed from the operations center,
rather than by walking around, saving time and effort.
For cabling standardization. Separate systems and groups of components can share the same types of wires. This can help contain costs and improve aesthetics in new construction and remodeling projects.
IP-enabled systems can be set up to proactively send notifications when help is needed re: environmental conditions, lamp replacement, or fan/filter cleaning. Many systems link to e-mail or text pagers, to alert managers about issues needing attention. This proactive communication can minimize classroom downtime and may also prolong the effective life of devices.
IP is standards-based. This fosters the ability to interconnect many types of systems, and avoids proprietary-type control issues and costs.
There is global acceptance of IP as a transport mechanism, permitting the vendors
to offer their wares to a larger market, consequently driving down costs.
Candidates
While voice over IP (VoIP) is the current attention-getter, there are new applications for IP integration, including:
Video (with audio), both one-way broadcast and two-way interactive
Building Automation systems (control and management of heating/cooling and lighting management systems)
Physical security systems (cameras and security equipment controllers)
Multimedia systems (projectors, monitors—any device that has an Ethernet/IP connection or a serial connection)
Candidates Make It to the Campus
Video over IP. Back in ’99, Northcentral Technical College (WI) pioneered a video-over-IP network on a US campus. The new system was designed for live distance learning courses across several campuses, and the transport between buildings became IP, replacing an analog video system from the ’80s. It worked out so well that VoIP was added onto the system later. NTC chose Cisco Systems (www.cisco.com) for the network electronics and subsequent IP phones. Polycom (www.polycom.com) was ultimately selected for the video encoding/decoding units (codecs); Tandberg (www.tandberg.com) was also deemed acceptable.
Recommended Reading
- IBM Unveils New Software Designed To Streamline eDiscovery
IBM has announced the release of new Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software specifically designed to meet the needs of clients dealing with complex legal discovery requirements. The eDiscovery solutions expand on IBM's ECM platform and are intended to give organizations greater control of digitally stored documents in an effort to reduce costs and streamline the discovery process involved in litigation.
- Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2008 to Manufacturing
Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing (RTM) and, as an evaluation edition, to subscribers of its Microsoft Development Network and TechNet services, the company announced Wednesday.
- Security Woes Up, as PHP and OSS Make the List
Software vulnerabilities are up this year, especially Web browser-based ones, according to a new report from IBM Internet Security Systems. The X-Force 2008 Mid-Year Trend Statistics Report, released in late July, defined the problem broadly. A vulnerability is anything that results "in a weakening or breakdown of the confidentiality, integrity, or accessibility of the computing system."
- Textbook Publishing in a Flat World
According to the National Association of College Stores in a 2007 survey, the average cost of a new college textbook was $53. The founders of Flat World Knowledge, which launches with its first run of college textbooks this fall, consider that too high--so high, in fact, that they'll be offering textbooks for free, at least in versions that can be read online.
- CourseCast 2.0 Adds Podcasting, Streaming Media Features to Free Lecture Capture System
Panopto has released CourseCast 2.0, an update to the company's classroom capture system that's available free to academic users. CourseCast 2.0 had previously been available as part of Panopto's beta program for educators since June.
- It IS about Technology: Integrating Higher Ed into Knowledge Culture
For more than twenty years, we educational technologists have talked about "integrating information technology into higher education." The implication was that education would stay the same and information technology would benignly slip in and cause no ruckus at all. This rhetoric no longer applies, if it ever did, and does a disservice to us as we work through the intricacies of this age.
