TECHNICAL PANEL

Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 9:00 a.m.
Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege Street
Lincoln, Nebraska

MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mike Beach, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission

Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska

Steve Henderson, Department of Administrative Services, State of Nebraska

Christy Horn, University of Nebraska, Compliance Officer
Kirk Langer, Lincoln Public Schools
Walter Weir, University of Nebraska

CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

Mr. Weir called the meeting to order at 9:13 a.m. A quorum was present at the time of roll call. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC website and the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar on February 3, 2006. The meeting agenda was posted to the NITC Website on February 9, 2006.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

APPROVAL OF JANUARY MINUTES

Ms. Decker moved to approve the January 18, 2006 minutes as presented. Mr. Langer seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Beach-Yes, Decker-Yes, Henderson-Yes, Langer-Yes, and Weir-Yes. Results: Yes-5, No-0. Motion carried.

STANDARDS & GUIDELINES – DISCUSSION: NETWORK NEBRASKA/LB 1208

The next meeting of the NITC will be held on Monday, May 1st. The Technical Panel will need to approve recommendation at the April Technical Panel meeting. In order to accommodate this timeframe, standards will need to be developed and posted by March 6th for the 30-day public comment period. CAP will be involved in developing the standards.

Members shared their thoughts and feedback regarding the LB1208 hearing held on February 13th. Mr. Weir informed the panel that the University of Nebraska President JB Milliken is very supportive of the bill. Last week, Mr. Weir met with Senator Raikes to discuss recommended changes to the bill. Ms. Decker received feedback from the state’s Fiscal Office that LB1208 fiscal note was the best they’d seen and commended Steve Schafer and Tom Rolfes for their work. Members agreed that there was support for the bill. Senators had lots of technical questions.

Ms. Decker volunteered to work with Mr. Beach and Mr. Rolfes to develop a document that will address the technical questions from the hearing. Ms. Decker and Doug Christensen are scheduled to meet with Senator Raikes on February 16th, and will present the document.

Network Equipment/Edge Devices, Tom Rolfes. Heath Hollenbeck of the State’s Division of Communications has taken the lead for this standard. He also conferred with John Dunning and Ron Cone. Mr. Rolfes suggested that Mr. Langer take the recommendation to the ESU-NOC February meeting for their review and input.

Distance Learning Equipment, Tom Rolfes. Wayne Fisher of the Department of Education and the Distance Learning Coordinators, have been assisting the development of the standards for the distance learning equipment. There will be $20,000 in 2006 for peripheral equipment upgrades. By the summer of 2007, a list of allowable distance learning equipment must be developed. To help senators and policy makers understand the technical aspects, standards, and equipment needs, it was suggested to develop a website and/or some kind of visual graphics. Since there are no more hearings or opportunities to present this kind of information, the panel will need to work through Senator Raikes office for distribution. LB1208 is Senator Raikes’ priority bill.

Ms. Horn arrived.

Scheduling Software, Mike Beach. The Statewide Synchronous Video Network Work Group met on February 3rd to discuss specifications and needs of a scheduling system in four areas: hardware control, event logging, facilities coordination, and people coordination. Copies of the discussion results were distributed to panel members. The work group members are currently reviewing the document and providing input. Mr. Weir requested that the Technical Panel stay informed of these standards as they develop.

AGENCY IT PLANS (PDF 165k): DISCUSS CHANGES TO THE AGENCY-LEVEL IT PLAN FORM

Revisions to the agency IT plan form will be on the March agendas for both the Technical Panel and State Government Council. E-mail any suggested changes in advance to Mr. Becker. Completed agency plans will be due in August.

Mr. Beach commented that the N.E.T. staff reviewed the document and in their opinion the only useful section of IT plan is section 4. Also, some of the information may be too revealing to potential hackers.

REGULAR INFORMATION ITEMS (AS NEEDED)

Accessibility of Information Technology Work Group, Christy Horn. Ms. Horn asked members for recommendations for someone from the State of Nebraska to serve on work group. Ms. Decker and Mr. Henderson will discuss and provide some possibilities. Ms. Horn would like to get the group together before the next Technical Panel meeting.

CAP, Brenda Decker. The group is meeting today after the Technical Panel meeting. It has been an extremely busy time with the introduction of LB 1208. If LB 1208 passes, Network Nebraska becomes law.

Security Work Group, Steve Hartman. The work group has been discussing standards and guidelines for disaster planning/disaster recovery and business continuity. Since policies have to be developed, the work group agreed that these standards and guidelines should be addressed by the Shared Services Work Group. The Security Architecture Work Group would provide technical input. The Shared Services Work Group has agreed.

Statewide Synchronous Video Network Work Group, Mike Beach. The update was provided earlier in the meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS

The Governor’s Office will be submitting a $150,000 deficit request plus an additional $850,000 for next year in order to upgrade the state’s public safety radio systems for law enforcement agencies in state government. The Central Nebraska Region for Interoperability (CNRI) group was announced in a press release on February 10th. The system is truly interoperable. There is budget briefing today with Appropriations Committee regarding the Governor’s proposed budget requests.

NEXT MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting of the NITC Technical Panel will be held on Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 9:00 a.m. at Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mr. Beach moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Decker seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:37 a.m.

Meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Rick Becker of the Office of CIO/NITC.

Meeting Minutes