As a top 20 public research university, the University of Maryland must have an innovative and robust information technology infrastructure that meets and exceeds the needs and expectations of the university community. Creating this infrastructure requires meticulous up-front planning to ensure that all components of the infrastructure, including building wiring, network backbone, Web hosting servers, mainframe and administrative applications, are enhanced without disruptions to the campus community.

Right now, the university is creating an information technology master plan that will provide guidance on future services and capabilities during the next few years. This plan will be reviewed by the Deans, the Campus Information Technology Leadership group (composed of the information technology contacts in each campus unit), the campus-wide Information Technology Council, and the President’s Cabinet.

The plan will be used to achieve four major goals as follows:

• Create an innovative education and research environment. We plan to provide leading edge information technology services to the campus community. Planned services include a computational grid that can be used by faculty and students for research, thesis study, and classroom assignments; expanded wireless data networking in all academic buildings on campus, initially using current generation technology then enhancing wireless coverage using next generation technology such as WiMAX; a central campus-wide high-performance computing facility that can be used for high-end computation by the faculty and staff; a knowledge management service to provide quick and easy access to campus information repositories at the desktop with more sophisticated technologies than simple Google searches; and secure access to all campus services through the Internet.
  
  
• Provide virtual presence and support for international programs. Virtual presence through traditional videoconferencing and research applications like the Access Grid will be available on campus in dedicated conference rooms as well as at the desktop. Innovative uses of virtual presence can be used to provide informal education and presence in major cities around the world to connect students on campus to other cultures and vice versa.
  
  
• Take a national leadership role in networking. Networking these days is all about the convergence of voice, video, and data. To be a leader, the university must employ convergence services over the campus network. Cable TV, telephone, and Web surfing will all rely on a robust networking infrastructure with sufficient capacity to carry peak networking loads. In addition to campus networking, the university must also have high bandwidth connections to the major national networks. We are fortunate to have the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads as our campus connection to the commodity Internet, Internet2, and, hopefully soon, to the National LambdaRail optical network.
  
  
• Take a national leadership role in computer security. Security must be a major focus for our university. Being a leader requires a significant investment in staff, hardware platforms, and software tools to effectively monitor and combat viruses, worms, and intrusions from the Internet. Finding solutions to these problems in a dynamically changing environment with new students arriving each semester and new computers being placed on the network every day is a challenge that requires careful planning to confront.

As the Information Technology Master Plan is developed, drafts will be placed on the Web for review and comment. We welcome your participation in defining the university’s IT future!