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Campus Projects

Infrastructure & Outages

Compromised Credential Management

Currently, there is no unified system or process for reporting compromised credentials (e.g., NetID and password, authorization codes, etc.) on campus. Each unit or department handles these situations differently. As a result of this ad hoc approach, there are significant gaps in campus's ability to prevent, detect and mitigate the effect of credential breaches. In November 2008, a working group of the Madison Technical Advisory Group (MTAG) developed a set of <recommendations> to help protect user credentials and to put systems into place for detecting, reporting and responding to compromised credentials for campus IT services. The Office of Campus Information Security (OCIS), in conjunction with the working group, has begun implementing these recommendations, which include the creation of a public awareness campaign that includes posters, brochures and a video.

Service Outage Page

DoIT has created a new web site to publish information about planned and unplanned DoIT Data Center-hosted IT service outages on campus. The site will help departments, IT staff and end users plan for and understand when and why services are unavailable. The site URL is: www.doit.wisc.edu/outages

Infra Incident Tracking Software Implementation

This project will replace the Clarify Incident Tracking System with a new product called infraEnterprise from Infra Corporation. The goal is to provide an incident tracking system for DoIT and the campus that can be used across multiple groups and can generate detailed reports, measure achievement of service levels, and generate alerts in real time. Infra will unify the multiple, disparate systems DoIT now uses for incident, change and configuration management. The project implementation date for Phase I, incident management, has been set for June 2009. Change and configuration management implementation date announcements are forthcoming. Contact Sandee Seiberlich of DoIT User Services for more information.

IP Reclamation Project

As the number of new buildings, building expansion projects and handheld WiFi devices increases on campus, so does the demand for additional IPv4 addresses. As the campus steward of IP address blocks, DoIT has started a project to reclaim unused campus IP space and create guidelines to assist departments with allocating IPs more efficiently. In July 2008, departments with underutilized IP space were contacted to discuss options of reclaiming or reconfiguring available IP blocks. Read more.

DoIT’s network engineering team is also actively researching IPv6 and its impact on the UW campus network.

Data Center HVAC/Electrical Upgrade

In conjunction with Facilities, Planning & Management, DoIT is currently in the process of a two to three year project to increasing the reliability of the campus data center at Dayton Street. Improvements are being made to the heating and cooling systems, the electrical system and backup generators. For more information, contact Terry Bradshaw.

Network Upgrade Projects

The installation of the high-performance 21st Century campus network over the last five years has made it possible for additional cost-saving initiatives, including continued deployment of Wireless access in all campus buildings and select outside locations. We are also working towards roaming capability. Demand for wireless services continues to grow for all types of mobile devices (laptops, handhelds, cell phones).

The Central Firewall Service provides redundant high bandwidth service to departments formerly utilizing smaller stand alone firewall devices as part of the campus network service. The Node Collapse Project was initiated to simplify the network maintenance and realize reduced electronics costs. The initial design of a two tier (supernode-node-radial) evolved to a one-tier (supernode-radial) design. Radials are the service endpoints in the 150 campus buildings that are served by one of the supernodes at Computer Sciences, Animal Sciences or the North Murray locations. The project began in 2006 and final installation is expected to be completed by 2010.

And finally, the Building Automation Network project is aimed at transitioning from a separate data network to the campus data network, providing more reliability and saving operating costs. The BAN provides access control, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) management, alarms monitoring, elevators management and security video for campus buildings. This project is a joint effort between DoIT and Facilities, Planning and Management (FP&M) and has been underway since spring 2007. It is expected to be completed by 2009. For more information on these projects, contact Perry Brunelli or Al Krug.