News 07-26-2002
San Diego State Secures Healthcare Network
San Diego State University has licensed secure networking technology that will
enable student patients or student health service staff to communicate securely
via the Internet. The customized messaging technology, from Healinx Corp., would
protect online prescription ordering, routing and renewals, online appointment
scheduling, lab results, referrals, and medically reviewed content. Greg Lichtenstein,
medical director of SDSU, said, "with our highly mobile population, it has often
been difficult to contact our patients -- even those with cell phones -- and
we are pleased to be able to use a secure messaging system to improve communications."
Under the agreement, Healinx will deliver a co-branded version of its secure
messaging platform for SDSU. To encourage usage, SDSU Student Health Services
will actively promote the online service to the student population.
Sponsor: Walk-up Registration Open at Syllabus2002
The ninth annual Syllabus2002 education technology conference for higher education
is now open with registration available on site today from 3-6 pm; Saturday,
July 27 through Tuesday, July 30 from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM and Wednesday, July
31 from 7:30 AM to 3 PM. Don't miss keynote speakers Diana Laurillard, Lawrence
Lessig and Jack Wilson, as well as a full conference program with six tracks
of breakout sessions, pre-conference workshops, technology classrooms and an
exhibit hall.
For complete details go to http://www/syllabus.com/summer2002/index30.asp
Caltech, Sun, Beef Up Computer Center Tools
The California Institute of Technology's Center for Advanced Computing Research
(CACR) has been chosen by Sun Microsystems Inc. as a center of excellence in
large scale data analysis and storage. The designation gives the CACR access
to Sun shared-memory technology, including Sun StorEdge T3 disk arrays and Sun
Fire V880 servers. CACR studies the performance, availability, movement and
management of large datasets. It will analyze large-scale, heterogeneous, distributed
scientific data in the fields of astronomy, physics, digital imaging, seismology
and neuroscience. "CACR was established to ensure that (Caltech) is at the forefront
of computational science and engineering," said James Pool, executive director
of CACR, who added that the deal will help "advance data-centric and grid-centric
research."
For more information, visit: http://www.cacr.caltech.edu
Dartmouth Automates HR, Payroll Processes
Dartmouth has installed an e-business software suite from Oracle Corp. that
will allow the university to standardize several human resource and payroll
processes. The university, working with human resource consulting firm Xcelicor,
Inc., issued paychecks to 4,000 student, faculty, and employee workers from
the Oracle Payroll application using Xcelicor's implementation services and
application tools. The new application will enable Dartmouth to achieve 100
percent payroll accuracy for every unique type of employee, according to Lisa
Celone, functional project manager of Dartmouth. The project team worked to
transfer knowledge of the application to Dartmouth staff throughout the implementation,
enabling the university team to assume full responsibility for the project at
go-live, she added.
Group Looks to Web Hoster for Internet Access
The Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS), which manages
telecom services for 40 colleges and universities in the state, has turned to
an Internet managed hosting service to provide high speed Internet access to
its university members. The service is being offered by the Conxion Corp., a
Santa Clara, Calif., hosting services provider. Because its network was built
for managed-hosting customers, it has capacity available in the "access" part
of the network. As a result, schools that need Internet access, but do little
hosting or "pushing" out to the Internet, can use the network at competitive
rates. Once connected, they are charged for a minimum committed "push" of 10Mbps
on a DS3 and 20Mbps on an OC3, and up to five times that amount of access, or
"pull," traffic is free.
Chip Developers, U Albany, to Collaborate
Sematech, the consortium of semiconductor manufacturers, and the University
at Albany-SUNY, have are working on a strategic alliance to conduct research
and development in the area of advanced lithography infrastructure for extreme
ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The deal would kick-off a program in EUV infrastructure,
to be managed by Sematech and housed in Albany's wafer cleanroom complex. Sematech
chief executive officer Bob Helms said the technical challenges faced by the
semiconductor industry are too great for any single organization to solve alone.
"We'll be able to do critical work on EUV infrastructure faster and better as
a result of this alliance," he said.
For more information, visit: http://www.sematech.org
Awards, Deals, Contracts, in Higher Education
-- The University of Notre Dame has signed a contract with SciQuest Inc., the
parent company of procurement automation software developer Higher Markets Inc.,
to deploy the procurement platform at Notre Dame. "Procurement is a key area
in which we expect to achieve substantial administrative savings over the coming
years," said James J. Lyphout, vice president for business operations at the
university. Added Tim Gibney, assistant vice resident for procurement services:
"As a result of e-procurement, we anticipate a significant improvement in our
purchasing procedures with measurable cost savings in the process."
-- James Madison University and Case Western Reserve University will launch
off-campus stored-value "cashless" programs for their students this fall. Both
schools are working with Student Advantage, Inc.'s SA Cash program. The system
enables students, faculty, and staff to buy food, necessities, and entertainment
at off-campus businesses via transaction processing equipment installed on the
premises of local businesses. The systems are compatible with the universities'
host systems and permit transaction settlement through the schools. Student
Advantage builds its off-campus retail networks, in conjunction with the universities,
by screening, recruiting and offering marketing support from local merchants.
