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Governance Minutes ArchiveOctober 6, 1993
MINUTES Computing Committee Information Systems Building October 6, 1993 3:30 PM PRESENT: K. B. Rojiani, Sean Arthur, Earving Blythe, John Burton, David Goodyear, Tom McAnge, Harlan Miller, Frank Schima, Peter Shires, John Tombarge, Michael Williams ABSENT: Gregory Brown, Scott Johnson, Katherine Johnston, George Libey, Gerry McLaughlin, Bhaba Misra, Terry Rakes, Lawrence Skelly, Jay Stoeckel, Ernest Stout, D. B. Taylor VISITOR(S): Barbara Robinson and Bill Sanders (Computing Center) AGENDA ITEM 1: MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 1 MEETING Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of the September meeting. AGENDA ITEM 2: COMPUTING COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT, 1992-93 (ROJIANI) Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the Computing Commit- tee Annual Report, 1992-93. AGENDA ITEM 3: COMPUTING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENTS (WILLIAMS) IBM has announced they will drop support next year for the old versions of VM and MVS which are running on our central mainframes. Our hardware is too old to run newer, supported ver- sions of the operating systems. While the Computing Center is actively working toward a more distributed computing environment, dependencies on mainframes will continue to exist for several years. On VM1, for example, an average of 6500 different userids log on each week. Since some administrative applications, such as those for accounting, must continue to change to meet state and federal requirements, operating system support is critical to assure systems can continue to accommodate those changes. The problem is most precarious for MVS, which runs on the oldest machine, an IBM 3084. Committees in the Computing Center are ex- amining the dependencies and interdependencies of mainframe sys- tems and are likely to recommend a used machine be purchased to replace the 3084. Such an upgrade would not be a major purchase on the scale of previous mainframe procurements. Used hardware is relatively inexpensive and the objective would be a minimum upgrade which would allow the Computing Center to run supported software in the interim while migration to distributed systems proceeds. Implementing an upgrade would be a major project, how- ever, which would require significant systems programming effort, and the user community would need to make changes as well. There is some concern that the purchase might be misinterpreted, and the committee was encouraged to convey to the University com- munity that an upgrade in the traditional sense will not occur. Any purchase would besolely to minimize immediate risk for crit- ical transaction systems. The Computing Center continues to ag- gressively pursue and support migration from mainframes. It was suggested that owners of mainframe applications be formally asked to initiate planning for their own migration. A proposal will be drafted for the next meeting. AGENDA ITEM 4: SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS o Site License Subcommittee (Robinson) The subcommittee met in mid-September and discussed how ac- tivities might be better publicized. There have been arti- cles in Fastline and Spectrum and a direct mailing to deans, directors and department heads. A small scale effort by Bob Sumichrast, chair of the committee, to put flyers in 150 fac- ulty mailboxes resulted in five inquiries within a few days. This effort may be expanded. Proposals for this cycle were due September 30 and the sub- committee will meet soon to consider them. Awards will be made by October 18. The next deadline for proposals will be February 7, and publicity for that cycle will begin in early December. Two pending proposals were also discussed. One is for a vol- ume purchase of Acrobat, software which allows users to view documents even when they don't have the application that cre- ated it, and the other is a new Microsoft program which is similar to the WordPerfect plan already in place. Bob Sumichrast has been talking to the bookstore and other ven- dors about managing the Mircosoft distribution, and he hopes to have something in place by the end of the year. The status of several purchases from last year was also dis- cussed. The Computing Center is now distributing Mathematica, about 300 copies to date. Approximately $20,000 of Word Perfect software has been purchased by departments and is being distributed. This is a fairly labor-intensive process but seems to be very well received on campus. o Other subcommittees No other subcommittee meetings were held. AGENDA ITEM 5: COMMITTEE ISSUES AND SUBCOMMITTEES (ROJIANI) The current subcommittee structure has been somewhat ineffective and a transition subcommittee will be appointed to suggest changes. It is hoped the Computing Committee can become more proactive, rather than concentrating on acting as a conduit for information transfer. Ad hoc subcommittees formed to address specific pressing issues may be more effective in helping this occur. With this in mind, a motion was made, seconded and passed to dissolve all existing subcommittees, excepting the Site License Committee. AGENDA ITEM 6: ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA None. The next meeting will be held on November 3 at 3:30pm in confer- ence room D in the Information Systems Building. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
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