Racal-Datacom PremNet Fiber Network Improves Higher Learning At Wichita
State University

May 24, 1993 -- SUNRISE, FLA -- The city of Wichita, Kansas is known as the
"air capital of the world" boasting Boeing Aircraft, employing 20,000
people, and Beech Aircraft, Cessna, and LearJet. It is small wonder that
Wichita State University (WSU) is known for its emphasis on aeronautical
engineering and aviation. WSU is especially proud of its Wind Tunnel
Testing Facilities, one of the top aircraft design devices in the U.S.

Founded in 1895, WSU offers 67 degree programs in more than 150 areas of
study in six undergraduate colleges and four associate degree programs.
There are 44 master's degree programs offered, nine doctral programs, and
three specialist degrees in more than 100 areas of study.

WSU's computing environment is extremely sophisticated and houses an IBM
ES9000 and a DEC 4000 server in a client-server configuration to meet
advanced educational requirements and needs. The IBM mainframe supports
two vector processors for numeric intensive computing research and other
applications. The goal of client-server computing at WSU is to enable the
campus population of users to access information when it's needed, where
it's needed, no matter where the information is located.

Recently, WSU constructed a new computer center to administer and control
equipment and transmission facilities for the more than 40 buildings that
comprise the 330-acre campus. The center is in the north wing of a new
$11.6 million state-funded science building in the middle of the campus.
The center opened in July of 1992. The building also houses computer labs,
artificial intelligence research labs, and nuclear physics, laser physics,
and optic labs.

"Recabling the entire campus to relocate the computer center would have
been a logistical and financial nightmare," said Gary Ott, Director of
University Computing at WSU. "The trick was to find a way to relocate
without having to recable. Luckily, the solution was at hand. We had
already laid fiber in the ground several years ago." After much discussion
between Ott and his staff, they decided that the best solution would be to
install a Racal-Datacom PremNet fiber optic backbone multiplexer systems
to connect 15 campus buildings. It was agreed that the network would be
ideal for transporting WSU IBM 3270 applications. Also, Ott was confident
that the Token Ring and Ethernet based network would position the
university to grow its data and video needs for the future. 

Client-Server Environment

Ott's challenge in creating a client-server environment has been to enable
faculty and students to better learn and to be productive particularly
when collaborating with others on research projects. The PremNet network
is a key ingredient of the client-server environment because it allows Ott
to more easily embrace the goals of these individuals by providing them
with the right computing resources such as groupware and other software
tools accessible from their desk-top systems.

Second, the selection of information technology has allowed a migration
path to meet evolving and future information needs. This is fortunate as
use of the two computer labs housing a total of 70 individual computer
stations has increased dramatically. Said Ott, "students are lined up at
7AM every morning to get into our computer labs and have to be asked to
leave at 11PM closing time. They're going to force us to expand our
hours."

Third, Ott has successfully been able to balance the risks of providing
information and software to these users versus the need to meet academic
needs and at the same time meet WSU security guidelines and policies. 

Network Collaboration

As an example of productivity through collaboration, Ott cites use of the
international Bitnet and Internet networks that WSU is connected to.
According to Ott, departments across the board use these networks to
accomplish research.

"Let's say you're an engineering professor writing a paper on something as
obscure as 'structured rapid prototyping for software development,"' Ott
said. "You are collaborating with colleagues in Italy and Ireland to
jointly author the paper, and you know that the majority of your research
material happens to reside in host computers housed in Japanese and German
universities. You are on a tight deadline to publish."

From his DEC 486 IBM compatible workstation, or Apple MAC, the professor
can access the Internet network which allows access to approximately 1
million computers around the world. He has the capability to access
library computers in Japan and Germany, search indexes for tides of books
and periodicals, download the information, and either incorporate it
directly into the paper, using the flexibility of Windows software, and/or
search separately for the actual books and periodicals. Because WSU
provides a client-server environment, computers using different protocols
present no access problems, and whole files of information can easily be
downloaded to the professor's PC over the 100 Mbps offered by the PremNet
campus network.

Using Bitnet and/or the Internet, the WSU professor can concurrently
establish e-mail connections with his colleagues. He can electronically
send copies of the existing paper to them, have them work on it, and
receive back a master copy incorporating all additions and changes. He can
also include an e-mail audit trail telling him who looked at what sections
and who made what changes/additions. More than 400 faculty are currently
using the network.

"It's a far cry from the days of asynchronous and synchronous
communications over coax where the most exciting things we did were
payroll, human resources applications, and software programming using IBM
PC ATs or compatibles," Ott said.

But Ott stated that it was definitely not a particularly exciting prospect
trying to manage the network before the fiber network was installed. With
coax direct cabled from each terminal in each of the 15 buildings back to
the Data Center, it was a spaghetti nightmare that made problem detection
and administration extremely difficult. These problems were compounded by
the fact that the coax was aging. "Imagine having to physically go out and
check miles of coax cable every time someone had a communications problem
and you get some idea of the magnitude and unreasonableness of the
situation," Ott said.

"By replacing several thousand coax cables with a few fiber strands, our
communications ducts are no longer overloaded with a spaghetti mess and we
no longer have to chase all over campus looking for a needle in a
haystack. With Racal's Communications Management Series (CMSR) 400, we can
quickly isolate faults down to PC ports, or to PremNet multiplexer ports,
and fix the problem." CMS is a windows system that manages Racal-Datacom's
broad line of LAN and WAN offerings.

Secure, Cost Effective Network

Use of the network allows Ott and WSU to minimize the cost of word
processing, spreadsheet, and database software and also to maximize its
utilization. Instead of buying many separate copies of different types of
software and then taking the time to separately install each copy, Ott has
all software stored on a server. From there, it can be efficiently
downloaded over the network to individual workstations in a fraction of
the time it would take to individually install. This also makes
administering software upgrades an easier job. At the same time, Ott is
able to capitalize on savings from a multi-user license versus the cost of
purchasing individual copies.

One further benefit is that downloaded software can be protected from
unauthorized copying by allowing read only access to it at workstations.
Read only access also protects the software from intentional or
unintentional destruction.

As if this is not enough, sophisticated safety features for the science
building include motion detectors to monitor movement through stairwell
entrances, and computer-run digital locks and code-number pads for offices
and computing rooms.

Reflecting on the new computing environment, Ott stated that "it was a
dream come true."

Racal-Datacomm, 1601 N. Harrison Parkway, Sunrise, FL 33323-2899
Mailing Address: PO Box 40744, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33340-7044
305-846-1601;  Fax: 305-846-3935

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