Report from NYSERTech 2008
Stephen Kankus, Chief Operating Officer, NYSERNet, Inc.
Lawrence Gallery, Membership Manager, NYSERNet, Inc.
Imagine arriving at work some frosty January morning to find that overnight a water line has burst, knocking out power to your building, flooding your data center and taking all of your computing and networking gear offline. How would you get your key information technology and systems back online so your enterprise can continue to operate?
On Tuesday, July 29th, this question was the centerpiece of NYSERTech 2008 - NYSERNet's annual technology conference. Sixty-five representatives of thirty-eight NYSERNet member institutions gathered at Syracuse's Museum of Science and Technology (The MOST) to share knowledge and perspectives on a host of technological and networking related topics, with business continuity the primary focus.
The day began with breakfast and a demonstration of NYSERNet's extensive network and data center monitoring capabilities by Steve Knapp, NYSERNet's Manager of Network Operations, followed by guided tours of NYSERNet's Clinton Square Business Continuity Center (BCC). The BCC is a state-of-the-art facility designed by and for NYSERNet's members to enhance their enterprise-wide business continuity capabilities - a resource custom built to help answer the question posed in the opening paragraph.
After the tour, participants walked to Armory Square and The MOST, where the main program commenced. Bill Thirsk and Harry Williams of Marist College, Mike Benedetto of the American Museum of Natural History and Jimmy Kyriannis of New York University each spoke on his institution's approach to planning, developing and implementing disaster recovery and business continuity solutions and, more specifically, on how these solutions integrate and leverage the BCC. Bill Hurley (Le Moyne College), Jenny Gluck (Syracuse University) and Joe Isbell (Eastern Suffolk BOCES) followed with presentations on emergency communication, focusing on the complexity involved in notifying a large and highly mobile community in the event of emergency and the solutions their institutions developed.
The morning sessions were followed by lunch at The MOST. Participants used the opportunity to network with their colleagues and ask questions of the morning's presenters and NYSERNet staff. Others wandered among the museum's many new exhibits, which MOST staff happily activated during the morning and afternoon breaks, as well.
After lunch, Bill Thirsk, Harry Williams and Jimmy Kyriannis were joined by Eric Sedore (Syracuse University), Shaun Black (Le Moyne College) and Mike Hojonowski (Cornell University) in a panel discussion on server virtualization. Ken Dubey of AdvizeX Technologies followed with a presentation on virtual storage concepts. Steve Kankus, Bob Bloom and Bill Owens of NYSERNet joined Ken to present the results of a just completed AdvizeX/NYSERNet member survey seeking to identity common needs for a potential virtual storage service.
The final sessions of the day focused on NYSERNet services. Sharon Akkoul and Larry Gallery introduced a new Internet service purchase program that enables NYSERNet members to leverage the power of a national buying group called The Quilt to secure below market pricing. Bill Owens provided an update on NYSERNet's Research and Education network and plans for future enhancements. NYSERNet's President, Tim Lance, offered closing remarks, thanking all who participated. "We are grateful for the time and energy all participants gave to this event, and fascinated by the subtle technical differences in the way institutions use the BCC. This will continue to be a living lab in which we all learn."p>
Post-event evaluations were highly favorable. Many of the meeting's attendees work in organizations with limited IT resources, so learning from peers working with similar constraints was refreshing for them. As one participant put it, "the [presenters] understand our limitations, but told us ways to protect our institutions without busting our budgets and overextending our staff." Other participants shared the assessment that "listening to others with similar experiences" was what they liked most about NYSERTech. Participants expressed their appreciation for the thought-provoking nature of the presentation topics and the overall organization of the event.
At the end of the day, the question of how to continue operating an enterprise in the event of an IT-effecting disaster was not met with a single answer. Every IT organization must tailor solutions that meet its unique institutional needs. What is clear is that this continues to be a topic of keen interest to NYSERNet's members and that by working together and leveraging our collective intellectual capital, we can together advance effective solutions. We look forward to next year"s event.
Speaker slides from NYSERTech 2008 can be found on the NYSERNet web site at: http://www.nysernet.org/nysertech/.
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NYSERNet is a private not-for-profit corporation created to foster science and education in New York State. Its mission is to advance network technologies and applications that enable collaboration and to promote technology transfer for research and education. An Internet pioneer, NYSERNet has delivered next-generation Internet services to New York State's research and education community for more than twenty years. NYSERNet members include New York's leading universities, colleges, museums, healthcare facilities, primary and secondary schools, and research institutions. NYSERNet's Board of Directors is composed of CIO's and other senior personnel drawn from and representing New York's leading research universities and institutions.
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