2000-02-10. MUN Gazette, vol. 32, no. 12

              'Memorial
j University of Newfoundland
Publications Mail
Registration No. 551 988
Volume 32 Number 12
A MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND PUBLICATION
February 10, 2000
MUNet II: The Sequel
Photo by HSIMS
Federal Health Minister Allan Rock (L) was in St. John's last week to announce new funding for Memorial researchers. On
hand for the announcement were premier Brian Tobin and Dr. Kevin Keough (R), vice-president (research and international
affairs). For more on the announcement, see Page 2.
By Jean Graham
Four years ago, Memorial
University's computer network was one of the most
advanced in the world. Today,
while somewhat beyond tin can
and string technology, MUNet is
in dire need of an upgrade.
"We are the victims of our own
success," said Brian Power, manager of the Communications
Group, in a proposal originally
written 18 months ago in support
of an upgrade. "MUNet's acceptance and the speed with which the
university is integrating MUNet
into their business and academic
needs has exceeded our most
enthusiastic expectations ... as predicted, we have simply outgrown
MUNet and need to upgrade our
capacity."
The university community has
reacted enthusiastically to the technology. There are 5,000 connected
computers, rather than the 2,500
predicted in the original proposal.
Each of those computers is able to
do more that requires network
resources.
From office printers to the
widely-used student records system (Banner), each application
needs network access. New appli
cations are constantly in development: Web courses, physical plant,
and the university ID card, for
example.
And then there's the Web
which, as Mr. Power pointed out,
"did not exist five years ago." That
is, it existed, but its use was
nowhere near as widespread as it
is today.
Predicting the technical needs
for a network, he added, is "a lot
like crystal ball gazing. Five years
ago, we couldn't have predicted
what we have now, although we
came pretty close. When we built
MUNet I, we said it would last
four years.
Currently, about 23 per cent of
MUN's ethernet segments are congested, with the "most conservative" estimates predicting a 35 per
cent congestion rate by the middle
of this year. What's congestion?
It's when too much is being asked
of a network. While C & C monitors usage levels, most users are
aware of the congestion problem
only when it reaches a critical
point and crashes.
It may sound very gloomy, but
Memorial's computing people
aren't recognized internationally
see MUNnet, page 2
Cambridge bound
By James O'Brien
Special to the Gazette
Faustina Hwang, master's student in electrical
engineering, has been awarded a full scholarship to undertake her doctoral studies at the
University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
The award, funded by the Canadian Cambridge
Trust, is designed "to enable some of Canada's most
promising students to pursue graduate studies at
Cambridge University," which the Trust describes as
one of the world's great centres of learning.
Students voice
concerns ^
Ms. Hwang, who completed her undergraduate
program in electrical engineering at Memorial with a
93 per cent average, is currently conducting her
research at C-CORE, an applied research and development corporation affiliated with Memorial.
Winner of the Memorial University Medal for
Academic Excellence, as well as national awards in
the form of the PRECARN's Gordon MacNabb
Scholarship and an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, Ms. Hwang will be one of the first graduates of
the faculty's fast track program. Under this program,
exceptional students are registered simultaneously for
an undergraduate and graduate degree.
Andy Fisher, Dr. Theo Norvell, Dr. Siu O'Young,
and Dr. Ray Gosine, who coincidentally obtained his
doctorate from Cambridge in 1989, supervised Ms.
Hwang's thesis research, which is related to a C-
CORE project in intelligent systems.
"Working with specific applications in mind, and
in a team environment like at C-CORE, helps to keep
things in focus," Ms. Hwang explained.
Ms. Hwang is enthusiastic about the move to
Cambridge.
"I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge," she said. "In addition to the strong academics
and the reputation of the university, this will give me
the chance to see another part of the world. I think
see BOUND, page 11
Meet the
regents "J
Net notes
While MUNet II will have a huge impact on many aspects
of computing at Memorial, says Brian Power, it will
have no effect on Internet usage. The university buys
bandwidth in units of megabits per second and "when traffic tops
out, we buy another meg," he explained.
This is expensive however, and Brian Power said "I don't know
how long we can continue adding bandwidth."
It is almost impossible to function as a university employee or
student without Internet access today. However, even for on-campus
machines, there is a "significant amount of personal use" involved in
that bandwidth.
C & C does not track the usage of individuals, but it can record
the frequency at which sites outside the university are accessed.
"A large number of people on campus use OZ-FM in RealAudio
as background music in their office," said Mr. Power. "This is a big
bandwidth eater."
When the Bank of Canada announced last year that people could
search on-line for "lost" or unclaimed money, C & C recorded
30,000 hits on the site the next day from the MUN campus.
The most popular site overall for on-campus users? The sport's
network ESPN's home page.
According to the Computing Appropriate Use Policy, limited personal use of computers by authorized users is both permissible and
potentially beneficial, in that it helps users learn about new technologies which can have long term benefits for the university. That must
be balanced against the effect on the system of these kinds of activities. Driving up bandwidth costs only serves to detract from the university's ability to invest in other technology and service improvements.
Juggling
school,
books g