Syllabus News Update for Tuesday, February 24, 2004

• 02/24/04

Managing a Windows network?
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=5447

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News for Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004

* Georgia Tech Joins Effort for 10 Gbps Hardware Standard
* Carnegie Mellon Opens Branch Campus Programs in Qatar
* OpenGIS Offers Developers Online Compliance Testing
* U. Cologne Deploys ‘Storage Virtualization’ Solution
* MIT Student Invents 'Desktop Printer' for Eyeglass Lenses

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Georgia Tech Joins Effort to Adopt 10 Gbps Hardware Standard

Georgia Tech has joined an alliance to develop a hardware
standard to simplify and accelerate the implementation of
next-generation 10Gbps systems. A Georgia Tech research center,
the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC), will provide
compliance testing for the effort, called the Unified 10Gbps
Physical-Layer Initiative (UXPi).

Dr. Joy Laskar and Joseph M. Pettit, Professor of Electronics
and director of the GEDC, will lead Georgia Tech's UXPi
research. "Getting neighboring chips, boards and computers to
interconnect and communicate without bottlenecks is a key
challenge to ubiquitous computing and communications," says
Laskar. "Georgia Tech's role in this alliance is to expand the
industry's understanding of the next generation 10Gbps physical
layer, and we'll do that, in part, by leveraging a
state-of-the-art test bed with an advanced integration platform."

Five companies launched the UXPi in September 2002 The industry
trend toward serial connectivity will reduce system costs,
simplify system design and provide scalability to meet emerging
bandwidth requirements.

Read more: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=5441

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Carnegie Mellon Opens Branch Campus Programs in Qatar

Carnegie Mellon University will open a branch campus in the
Arabian Gulf nation of Qatar to offer its undergraduate
programs in computer science and business. The new campus will
be called Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and will offer
programs leading to degrees based on the same admission
standards and curricula as its main campus in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Carnegie Mellon will become part of the 2,400-acre,
multi-institutional Education City in Doha, Qatar's capital.
Carnegie Mellon joins Cornell University, Texas A&M University
and Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha. As with the other
programs, the Qatar Foundation is covering all costs associated
with the development of the Carnegie Mellon campus.

In Mellon expects to enroll a first class of undergraduates
(25 in each degree program) in Qaar by fall 2004. Carnegie
Mellon officials also plan to grow enrollment slowly as is the
practice in Pittsburgh, with only about 50 students enrolling
annually in each degree program by 2014.

Read more: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=5442

OpenGIS Offers Developers Online Compliance Testing

The Open GIS Consortium has created an automated process for
software developers to validate compliance for OpenGIS
specifications. The compliance Web site provides automated
tests for Web Map Service 1.1.1 (WMS) and Web Feature Service
1.0 (WFS), and a Geography Markup Language (GML) validation
tool with links to reference implementations. Developers that
successfully test for specification compliance can apply for
formal OGC certification. Once granted, developers can affix
the "Certified OGC Compliant" seal on their products and
marketing materials.

Read more: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=5443

University of Cologne Deploys ‘Storage Virtualization’ Solution

The University of Cologne is deploying a network-hosted
“storage virtualization” application that will allow it to
manage its data storage centrally and to allocate storage for
individual professors and departments dynamically. The school
is using technology from IBM and Cisco: IBM TotalStorage SAN
Volume Controller Storage Software for the Cisco MDS 9000
Family of Multilayer Intelligent switches.

The University is also considering using the module's support
for Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) to link up additional
SAN-director-based storage infrastructure clusters on the
campus using the existing IP-Backbone, to avoid the expense of
building a second dedicated fibre infrastructure for SAN
purposes.

MIT Student Invents 'Desktop Printer' for Eyeglass Lenses

MIT doctoral candidate Saul Griffith, whose inventions include
a "desktop printer" for low-cost eyeglass lenses, received the
prestigious $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for inventiveness
during a ceremony at MIT. Merton Flemings, director of the
Lemelson-MIT Program, which sponsors the annual award, cited
Griffith's innovative device for manufacturing low-cost
eyeglass lenses and his work creating comic strips that inspire
children to learn about science and engineering as important
reasons he was chosen this year.

"Saul tackles some very challenging real-world problems, yet
at the same time there is a wonderful sense of playfulness and
simplicity to his work," Flemings said. "His low-cost
vision-testing and lens-manufacturing inventions could
dramatically improve life for billions of people in developing
countries who cannot access, nor afford, prescription glasses."

"It's sometimes easier for engineers and scientists to work on
the next generation of computer chips or the next PDA, but
there are some beautiful problems that a lot of people don't
go after because it's hard to get support and funding and it's
incredibly hard to be successful," Griffith said. "It would be
nice if my work inspired others to address some of these
problems and make them more acceptable."

Griffith's advances in low-cost lenses sprung from his interests
in rapid prototyping technologies and efficient manufacturing.
Using a process dubbed programmable molding, he created a
portable device similar to a desktop printer that can produce
any prescription lens from a single-mold surface in five to 10
minutes.

Read more: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=5444