Rice Sallyport | The Magazine of Rice University | Fall 2007

Taking a Bigger Byte

by Jessica Johns Pool

Most of us have a hard time keeping our home computer working. Imagine what it’s like organizing and maintaining a complex university network that serves 7,400 faculty, staff and students.

That’s what network administrators in Rice’s Office of Information Technology face every day. But the task has just gotten a little easier with the opening of Rice’s new state-of-the-art Data Center. Located on South Main, the Data Center is the most recent and visible element of a holistic three-year project designed to create a technological foundation to support teaching, learning and research into the next decade.

Titled “From Megabyte to Petabyte and Beyond: Future-Ready Network at Rice University,” the project has included a major, simultaneous overhaul of academic, administrative and research cyber-infrastructure, said Kamran Khan, vice provost for Information Technology. “Reliability, security and quality of service were the big drivers for this project. With the new infrastructure, the possibilities are endless.”

The project’s accomplishments haven’t just been noticed on campus. Campus Technology magazine recently named Rice a Campus Technology Innovator and cited the university as the first academic institution to use multiprotocol label-switching virtual private networks. Rice was one of only 13 universities chosen for the 2007 award out of a pool of more than 330 nominees.
“When making our selections, we look for true innovation — projects that involve not only a solid technology implementation, but also something more that really makes the school stand out,” said Rhea Kelly, managing editor of Campus Technology. “Rice is being recognized for its forward-looking networking project — its decision to forego traditional switched networking to leverage carrier-class technology and create a high-capacity, advanced virtualized network, allowing students, faculty and researchers to do some pretty amazing things on campus.”

IT began planning for the undertaking in 2004 then gathered input from faculty and students and acquired funding in spring 2005. Contractors soon began installing 1,400 miles of copper wire in 63 buildings on an unusually fast timeline. Just one year later, IT used itself as a guinea pig by testing its own migration to the new system.

Campus Technology magazine named Rice a Campus Technology Innovator and cited the university as the first academic institution to use multiprotocol label-switching virtual private networks.

In summer 2006, residence halls were rewired, and, by move-in week, IT had set up temporary help desks in each hall to help with the new network connections. The group then systematically began migrating faculty and staff to the new network.

The 20,000-square-foot Data Center, which officially opened in July, offers plenty of room to grow for future computing needs. Its state-of-the-art cooling systems and 65-foot elevation offer protection from Houston’s heat and floods.

“Considering the scope of this project, it’s amazing to see what we’ve accomplished in the past 18 months,” said William Deigaard ’93, director of networking, telecommunications and Data Center operations.

The initiative has dramatically improved several areas of campus information technology infrastructure by increasing network stability and bandwidth and enabling wireless access across campus while significantly decreasing the number of viruses. The project also consolidated servers, provided centralized firewalls and reduced the risk of data loss.
“Improved gigabit connectivity also allows our researchers to solve very large data-intensive problems and connect to national gigabyte networks,” Khan said. “This project gives Rice the backbone it needs to accomplish the goals outlined in the Vision for the Second Century and provides additional services for our faculty, students and staff.”