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Innovation in Campus Information Technologies at Rice University - Our Story in Pictures

First, take one visionary Vice Provost for Information Technology, and mix well with stakeholders throughout the campus.

Add one Director of Networking, Telecommunications, and Data Center Operations who is passionate about the future of networking, who grew the previous network as an IT employee, and who literally grew up with its predecessors as an undergraduate on campus.

Add a Director of Systems, Architecture and Infrastructure who speaks Kerberos and Shibboleth and who is dedicated to security, stability, and enough storage to go around.

Make sure the two directors play well together and are committed to the same end result for the overall project.

Buy a bunch of blue wires. Install throughout campus, preferably at night when no one is looking

Remember to warn pedestrians and golf carts to mind their step.

Rewire existing network closets.

Or build new ones.

Identify new hot spots for best wireless connections. Remind customers that these are only temporary markers, so it's okay if they don't match the current building decor.

Rent a new data center and collaborate with researchers to install a state-of-the-art computational research computing cluster.

Make sure the really big data center with the really big research computing cluster has a really big generator. Especially before hurricane season arrives.

Build a new data center before the rented property becomes the home of a light rail line for public transportation.

Establish a schedule for moving equipment and servers to the new data center.

Roll out the new network to students over the summer and test like mad. Make sure to offer personal support to help students migrate their computers.

Find a spokesperson to help students connect to the new network back in their residence halls. Due to historical importance or other building restrictions, the old network faceplates and the new network faceplates might exist in the same room at the same time for a number of years. At Rice, Network Faceplate Guy offers easy connection instructions in his PDF(1.49MB).

Roll out the new network to academic and administrative building across campus and begin migrating faculty and staff computers. Create a dynamic team of contractors for the migration initiative.

Interview customers before migrating their machines to determine the applications and systems they use in their daily, monthly, and annual routines. Some combinations may challenge the migration team. Create a savvy team of key support staff members to resolve these tough architecture migration issues.

Then, of course you need representatives from each IT area to meet weekly at least. This team tracks the progress of each component of the project (wiring, testing, migration, wireless, clean access, storage, communications within IT and with the rest of the campus, etc.).

Finally, thank all the IT staff members and migration team specialists for their dedication and persistence to completing the enormous project on time, in budget, and in a way that builds a strong rapport with customers. Appreciation should be expressed early and often.