Inseparable from all areas of University of California
operations and pursuits, information technology (IT) is a crucial component
of admissions processes, education, research, public service, health care,
student outreach, agricultural extension, library services, human resources-essentially
all major UC activities. Faculty, students, and staff not only utilize
but have come to rely on and expect high quality access to information
technology resources.
At UC, information technology is housed in all of the following areas:
campus central computing departments; faculty research labs and offices;
individual academic and administrative departments, schools, or divisions;
teaching hospitals; and the Office of the President.
Central computing organizations provide or coordinate campuswide IT
services, which generally include
- high speed networks
- voice services
- central services, such as e-mail and electronic calendaring systems,
videoconferencing, and Web site support
- administrative systems, such as student registration, accounts payable,
classroom management, etc.
- course or learning management systems
Additionally, individual departments and research labs or offices often
employ a wide range of technology systems and services for use within
their organizations.
At the UC Office of the President, Information Resources and Communications
(IR&C) provides a number of universitywide information technology services.
These include
- access to the high-speed California education and research network,
CalREN-2
- data warehouses containing nine campuses' information
- a Web-based undergraduate admissions system, applyUC
- the UC videoconference network
- numerous Universitywide administrative application systems, including
a sophisticated customized retirement system catering to over 500,000
members, as well as investment and accounting systems
- a licensing program to obtain low costs for high-volume multicampus
technology purchases
The Office of the President also formulates policies related to all areas
of information technology, including electronic communication and information
security. It is currently involved in initiatives to implement PKI using
digital certificates, and to implement the technical infrastructure universitywide
that will support new, technology-driven business processes, as described
in the New Business Architecture report.
Components of this infrastructure include campuswide directories, campuswide
authorization systems, and campuswide content management systems and portals.
The faculty, staff, and students who comprise the UC community utilize
a wide range of information technologies:
- Desktop workstations: About 90 percent utilize Microsoft operating
systems; about 10 percent are Macintosh
- Medium- and large-scale servers utilizing NT and various UNIX (primarily
Solaris, Linux, AIX) operating systems
- Mainframes and supercomputers
- Internet 2: UC was a founding member of CENIC, which is a consortium
of universities that developed CalREN-2, the California portion of
Internet2. Through CalREN-2, UC offers 600+ gigabit/second connectivity
between the campuses. Plans are currently underway to upgrade this
network to significantly higher speeds in 2003.
- Instructional technologies: These include locally developed course/learning
management systems and a wide range of other technologies in support
of instruction.
- Web services. The Web is used extensively for informational uses
and to provide access to computing information resources.
- Portals to facilitate access to the wide range of electronic resources
available
- Videoconference facilities
- Voice services: Most campuses operate their own phone switches.
Others contract with public carriers.
- Student computer facilities (including network connections) in residence
halls, computer labs, libraries, and classrooms
- Course Web sites
- Services for students including E-mail, wireless access, and modems
for off-campus use
- Online library resources, including campus circulation and catalog
systems; the Melvyl library catalog; a repository for pre-publication
scholarly works; an online archive of primary resource collections
in California; specialized, licensed content in various disciplines;
and access to social science and economic data from governmental agencies
