News Update Tuesday January 17 2006 -- Campus Technology

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News Update Tuesday January 17 2006

01/17/06

CT News Update:
An Online Newsletter from Campus Technology

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Sponsor
* Email Security Strategies - What to Plan for in 2006
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News for Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006

* Stanford Joins Software Vendors to Audit Open Source Projects

* Podcast I: Classes-to-Go Offered Via Multimedia Podcasts

* Podcast II: UCTV Offers 'Vodcasts' to Health Community

* Web Directory of Continuing Higher Ed Programs Debuts

* Deals: MSU Offers Students Free Multimedia DL Service

* Deals: Palm Beach Community College to Consolidate IT

* ONLINE RESOURCES
http://www.campus-technology.com/resources/index.asp
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Sponsored By
Email Security Strategies - What to Plan for in 2006

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protected from attacks. Make sure that you are ready with
the right technology choices - listen to this 1/19 On Demand webinar.

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Stanford Joins Software Vendors to Audit Open Source Projects

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a
$1.24 million three-year grant to Stanford University
(CA) and software firms Coverity Inc., and Symantec Corp.,
to perform security audits of open source projects.
The grant is part of a larger initiative called the
Vulnerability, Discovery and Remediation Open Source
Hardening Project, designed to research technologies
to safeguard Internet security.

Stanford will receive $841,000 in funding over a
three-years, Coverity $297,000 and Symantec $100,000.
Plans call for Coverity to do daily automated security
audits of open source projects and post defects it finds
in a public online database. Security audit firm Coverity
was founded by Dawson Engler, associate professor of
Computer Science at Stanford. The Stanford group will help
to develop secure open source software. Symantec will provide
recommendations on best security practices for the
U.S. government.

The automated system, which should be running by March,
will identify bugs and make them accessible to developers
so that the security holes can be patched before their code
is released in an application.

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Podcasting I: Classes-to-Go Via Multimedia Podcasts

Blackboard is offering its enterprise education customers
a third-party application that will enable them to capture,
store, and index classroom lectures for later replay on
hand-held MP3 devices.

The technology, from Tegrity, will be offered as a
Blackboard Building Block that will enable schools to
convert classroom discussions and lectures to a format
that can be replayed by students. The on-demand content
would be accessible through Blackboard on any computer or
iPod. Each podcast can be automatically indexed and
enhanced with instructor audio, slides and annotations
from class.

El Centro College of the Dallas, Texas, County Community
College District is the first Blackboard enterprise client
to adopt Tegrity enhanced podcasting. Tuck Minnett, El
Centro's Director of Distance Learning, said that "iPods
are everywhere and their portability is becoming an
inevitable part of education's future. Our students are
now able to reinforce their learning while on the way to
school, work, home or just juggling their busy schedules."

The technology is described and available for download at
http://www.blackboard.com/extend/b2/.

Podcasting II: UCTV Offers Video Podcasts to Health Community

UCTV, a 24-hour satellite channel of programming at the
University of California is offering healthcare professionals
a series of educational video podcasts, dubbed "vodcasts,"
to help educate them on disaster preparedness. The six
one-hour programs are sponsored by the California Preparedness
Education Network (Cal-PEN) and U.C. Davis Office of Continuing
Medical Education. The series includes vodcasts on disaster
preparedness, as well as bioterror, chemical and radiation,
and emerging epidemic threats.

UCTV said it picked the series as its first foray into the
video podcasting medium because of its timeliness and the
importance of having the content accessible to healthcare
professionals at any time or place. It unveiled its vodcasting
service at the American Public Health Association (APHA)
conference in Philadelphia. "Technology is moving so quickly
and constantly pushing us to apply it in innovative and
ultimately useful ways," said UCTV's director Lynn Burnstan.
"By providing this important series through mobile television,
UCTV is meeting the ever increasing demand for public health
information from reliable sources like the University of
California."

For more information visit, http://www.uctv.tv/calpen

Web Directory of Continuing Higher Ed Programs Debuts

A national continuing education association and a listings
firm launched an online directory of certificate and degree
programs offered by regionally accredited colleges and
universities. The directory was developed by the University
Continuing Education Association (UCEA) and Educational
Directories Unlimited, Inc. (EDU), which say 17 million
U.S. adults are now pursuing higher education opportunities.

The directory will help prospective students search for
programs via degree level, format, subject and, if applicable,
zip code. The site will also offer advice for going back to
school. UCEA President Roger Whitaker, who is also dean of
the College of Professional Studies at George Washington
University, said the directory would provide adults seeking
to further their education a "trusted resource" to find
"credible programs that meet their interests."

The directory is available at: http://www.UCEAdirectory.org

Deals: Michigan State U. Offers Students Free Multimedia Service

Michigan State University said it providing its students,
faculty and staff a way to legally download digital songs,
access movies and television shows, and share downloaded
tracks. MSU is making available the Ruckus multimedia
download service at no cost to any current MSU student
accessing Ruckus on campus. Off-campus students, faculty
and staff can access Ruckus for a price that involves a
combination of monthly and per track fees.

David Gift, MSU vice provost for libraries, computing
and technology, said Ruckus was picked for its ability
to market directly with each student, minimizing MSU's
investment of resources, and for meeting the technical
and economic terms of the bid. "This arrangement with
Ruckus is one of several things Michigan State University
is doing to promote legitimate online trading in music
and video files," he said. With the service students will
be able to legally share music, movies and television shows;
create playlists; send personal media recommendations to
friends; and browse classmates' profiles and media
libraries.

Deals: Palm Beach Community College to Consolidate IT

Palm Beach Community College in Florida picked IBM systems
and Linux to simplify its IT infrastructure. The college
wants to consolidate multiple tiers of its computing
operations into a more efficient, open infrastructure.
It will use a combination of technology, including IBM's
eServer zSereis 890 midrange mainframe, storage, and blade
servers, to create a paperless network. The school said
its move to a virtualized network environment will help
safeguard important campus information in the event of
severe hurricane conditions in southern Florida.

"We were looking to secure and automate as many of our
critical workloads on the mainframe and get greater
economy of scale by moving to Linux for a low-cost,
high-performance solution," said Tony Parziale, CIO of
Palm Beach CC.. "As a result, we will have only a handful
of servers instead of nearly a hundred, significantly
reducing our IT staff's time maintaining and connecting
systems. This allows us to focus on more strategic initiatives
like distance learning."