Computing & Information Technology
[June 7, 2002] One of the benefits of this relationship is C&IT's assumption of firewall responsibilities. Prior to WSU's firewall installation, DALNET implemented its own in early 2000 after we suspected that a hacker had accessed our WebPAC server. WSU has since installed a firewall schema (NetScreen) and has staff whose key responsibility is its operation. C&IT has offered to run DALNET's firewall - at no additional cost. After careful consideration, we decided to relinquish operation of the firewall C&IT. While evaluating our core competencies, we determined that operating a firewall is outside the mainstream skills we wish to maintain. DALNET has also acquired a NetScreen firewall that allows us to take advantage of the WSU staff's expertise. An additional benefit of this new arrangement is that it is less expensive than upgrading DALNET's current firewall. C&IT have also been working to identify and resolve the e-mail problems that the staff at Botsford Hospital is experiencing when sending e-mail directly to staff at DALNET. This situation is especially intriguing because they are able to send e-mail to the various Listservs lists at WSU. C&IT has been diligently investigating the cause of this situation and have requested that MERIT make some changes to their routing that should resolve this e-mail problem. One of the key financial investments that DALNET has made is in the servers that run our various services. We plan to meet with C&IT and Sun to discuss maximizing the way DALNET uses its existing equipment and developing plans for our future equipment needs. Because WSU is a Sun Center for Excellence, DALNET, and its members, have an opportunity to benefit from that strategic relationship. |
