Senior IS executive: Clive Martis, director information and communication technology services
Reports to: Deputy vice-chancellor
Size of IS shop: 130
PCs: 4000
Mobile PCs: 800
Terminals: 200
Hand-held devices: No longer tracked
Total screens: 5000
Industry: Education services
PC environment: Windows XP, Linux, Apple, Cyclone, Dell, Lenovo, HP,
Toshiba
Server environment: Windows 2003, Linux, Sun, VMS, VMWare
DBMS: Oracle, SQL Server, Jade, Interbase, MySQL, Filemaker
Address: University Drive, Ilam, Christchurch
Website: www.canterbury.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: New primary data centre; BlueFern IBM
supercomputing facility; campus data network backbone upgrade.
THE DELIVERY OF a new, primary data centre to house administrative
and academic college-based computing, as well as the BlueFern IBM
supercomputing facility, is on track for delivery for the University of
Canterbury in the third quarter of this year.
Planning has also begun for the 2009 provision of a secondary data
centre that will operate as a live DR site. Clive Martis, director information
and communication technology services, manages a team of 130.
The Campus Computers shop closed and this has been replaced with
an online sales channel with the new preferred suppliers of Dell, Cyclone,
Lenovo and Apple. A review of the requirements for the systems and
processes necessary to comply with the Public Records Act continues.
The outsourcing of telecommunications has resolved into three areas:
Landlines and mobile connectivity; help desk and PABX management;
and cable and infrastructure management. While Telecom has continued
as a connectivity supplier, other contracts are in the process of
fi nal review. These will be linked to a number of PABX and management
software upgrades, in preparation for a forward plan to a more
integrated communications environment.
Web-facing channels are in the spotlight, with new e-commerce
and e-business sites under development. These are being supported
with an extensive development in infrastructural stability through the
creation of a web farm, with protection provided by F5 Networks and
big IP network security devices. With a second-tier network disk storage
expansion, and a campus data-network backbone upgrade that will
progressively extend on-site network performance to a peak of 10GB/
sec, these two projects signal a signifi cant commitment to maintain a
robust and resilient IT infrastructure.