TECHNICAL PANEL

Tuesday, February 10, 2004, 9:00 a.m.

University of Nebraska-Varner Hall

3835 Holdrege Street, Lincoln, Nebraska

APPROVED MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Michael Beach, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
Brenda Decker, Department of Administrative Services, State of Nebraska
Christy Horn, University of Nebraska, Compliance Officer
Kirk Langer, Lincoln Public Schools, Technology Director
Steve Schafer, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska
Walter Weir, Chief Information Officer, University of Nebraska

ALTERNATES PRESENT:

Steve Henderson, Department of Administrative Services, State of Nebraska

Rick Golden, University of Nebraska

Rick Becker, Office of the Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska

CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND MEETING NOTICE

Walter Weir called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. A quorum was present at the time of roll call. The meeting notice was posted to the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar and the NITC web sites on January 14, 2004. The meeting agenda was posted to the NITC web site on February 6, 2004.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

APPROVAL OF JANUARY 13, 2004 MINUTES

Mr. Henderson moved to approve the January 13, 2003 minutes. Mr. Beach seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Beach-Yes, Decker-Abstained, Horn-Yes, Langer-Yes, Schafer-Abstained, and Weir-Yes. Results: 4-Yes, 2-Abstained, 0-No. The motion was carried by majority vote.

TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE – VIDEO STANDARDS WORK GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Mike Beach, Video Standards Work Group Chair

Per the recommendation of Technical Panel, the video standards are scheduled for a review in January 2004. Mr. Beach presented the proposed slate of members for the Video Standards Work Group. He noted that some of the members served on first review. A telehealth representative is still needed and suggestions and/or recommendations were asked of the panel.

Mr. Beach moved to approve the membership slate. Mr. Schafer seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Decker-Yes, Beach-Yes, Weir-Yes, Schafer-Yes, Langer-Yes, and Horn-Yes. Results: 6-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by majority vote.

VOICE OVER IP (VoIP) (PDF 214k)

Brenda Decker

The draft document was presented at the last meeting for informational purposes. Mr. Weir distributed a document entitled “Technology Forecast” developed by the Janus Research Group, Inc. projecting the future of VoIP.

UPDATE ON DISTANCE EDUCTION NETWORK COMPLETION (DENC) GRANT (PDF 106k)
Wayne Fisher

Mr. Fisher reported that the project is almost complete and is on time and under budget. There are four schools left that need to be completed but the rest are all functioning. There was one correction to the report – the Central Consortium expiration date should be 2009. There were approximately 10 school districts that did not want to participate. Mr. Fisher entertained questions.

AGENCY IT PLANS – DRAFT REVISED FORM (PDF 188k)

Steve Schafer

The State Government Council has reviewed the document and made no major changes. The panel recommended the following:

• For Section 3.A.1 – include Mozilla in the list of browsers.
• For Section 3.D - provide definition of disaster recovery and business continuity.

The document will be presented to the NITC at the March meeting. It is anticipated that I.T. Plans will be due in August.

NITC PROPOSED CHANGES TO POLICIES AND PRACTICES (PDF 120k)

Every two years, the NITC must make funding recommendations on technology investments. The NITC would like a more proactive role in this process. The new process allows the NITC and councils to concentrate their efforts on the identified strategic initiatives.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND WORK GROUP UPDATES (as needed)

Accessibility Architecture Work Group, Christy Horn. Ms. Horn has been researching what other institutions have implemented. A work group charter was presented to the panel. Recommendations for persons to serve on the work group were requested.

Mr. Schafer moved to approve the Accessibility of Information Technology Work Group (PDF 60k) charter. Mr. Langer seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Langer-Yes, Schafer-Yes, Weir-Yes, Beach-Yes, Decker-Yes, and Horn-Yes. Results: 6-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

CAP, Brenda Decker. Ms Decker provided an update on CAP activites.

Security Architecture Work Group, Steve Schafer. A meeting was held yesterday, February 9th, to focus on network security and an update from IMS and DOC regarding firewalls was provided. OmniTech will repeat a vulnerability scan sometime in March. There was a discussion regarding next steps for standards and technical training. The work group will meet again in 2 months.

Statewide Synchronous Video Network Work Group, Mike Beach. Still moving forward in the 3 areas: statewide scheduling, governance, and funding sources. The work group is meeting today to discuss funding opportunities and strategy.

NIS, Tom Conroy. Mr. Conroy provided an update on the project. Mr. Conroy entertained questions.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Walter Weir. The Nebraska Department of Education is continuing with the development of a Statewide Student Record System. Discussions have focused on confidentiality over the web and the replacement of Social Security Numbers with a state assigned number. He will send members the URL for member’s input and suggestions.

Rick Golden. Provided a report on the Statewide Network Conference that he and Dr. Jim Emal attended.

Gene Hand. The FCC is meeting on Thursday, February 13th. Some items to be discussed include: VoIP and broadband over power line interference issue.

Steve Schafer. The RFP for a Business Continuity Consultant has been released. The SGC is moving toward the development of an enterprise architecture.

NEXT MEETING DATE, TIME AND MEETING ADJOURNMENT

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

With no further business to discuss, Mr. Weir adjourned the meeting at 11:20 a.m.

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

Meeting Minutes