meeting 51 minutes - DOC - DOC

							                                                  H.E.W.I.T
                                       Minutes of Meeting Number 54
                                     24th Feb 2010 – via VideoConference


     Present
     Alan Davies (University of Glamorgan) – Chair
     David Morgan (University of Glamorgan) – Secretary & Minutes Clerk
     Michael Webb (University of Wales, Newport)
     Gina Woodward (Cardiff University)
     Sean Cullinan (University of Wales Institute, Cardiff)
     Tony Ollier (Swansea University) – Deputy Chair
     Lyndon Shirley (Swansea Metropolitan University)
     Roger Matthews (Aberystwyth University)
     Julie Snelson (Bangor University)
     Robert Stockton (Glyndwr University)
     Chris Price (Swansea University & WNL)
     Steve Gibbs (University of Wales, Lampeter)
     Wendy Xerri (Trinity University College)

     Chair’s Items
     The Chair welcomed Wendy Xerri to the meeting, as a new representative of Trinity University College
     and the soon-to-be-created University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Wendy has recently been
     appointed to the post of Director of Knowledge and Information at Trinity University College.

1.   Apologies
     Owen Parry (University of Wales, Federal Body)
     Karl Williams (Trinity University College Carmarthen)

2.   Minutes of Last Meeting
     The minutes of the last meeting (October 2009) were agreed as an accurate record.

3.   Matters Arising
     PSBA Voice Services – DJM and CAP to cover under Item 4.3.

     Draft MoU for WRENA – Chris Price advised that the document needs revising, to include comments
     received from meetings of HEWIT and ITSysman, and would take this forward now that David Harrison
     has returned to work.

4.   Project Reports

     4.1       PSBA
           Chris Price provided a detailed update on PSBA, having circulated a comprehensive PowerPoint file
           in advance. Highlights and discussions resulting from the update included:
           a) Over 2,000 sites are now connected, an increase of 700 since the last meeting.
           b) The Backbone traffic is reaching levels that may require attention on a number of links.
           c) The NAPs at UA premises are all to be upgraded to 1Gbps links.
           d) Capacity Management – the recent JANET survey had a generally poor response from Wales.
               This would be repeated every 6 months. The survey is sent out to the Management Contact at
               JANET sites.



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           e) The Gwent Locality Group, comprising 12 Recipient Organisations (ROs) including UWN and
              Coleg Gwent, were progressing their “Neighbourhood Network” Plans.
           f) Other candidates for Neighbourhood Networks cover the Mid & West Wales region and the
              South Wales region.
           g) Participation in Neighbourhood Network Design solutions is not compulsory, though the aim is
              to make these developments financially and operationally attractive to ROs.

           PSBA Video Services
           h) Discussions are continuing on moving WVN under the umbrella of a PSBA Video Service,
              alongside the Welsh Health Video Service.
           i) Noted that it is essential to preserve use of the JANET VCS and Booking Service.

           PSBA Voice Services
           j) Noted that the PSBA network was established with the intention of carrying voice traffic, and
              that the Health sector already pass voice over PSBA.
           k) The project team are currently in discussion with potential suppliers and have held 2 supplier
              workshops to assist in developing the specification prior to procurement.
           l) Deliverables could include an all-Wales gateway for Fixed-to-Mobile (FTM) calls.

           PSBA and HPC
           m) Noted that HPC Wales may use the PSBA Network Infrastructure to establish a dedicated high-
              speed link between the two main compute clusters at Swansea and Cardiff.
           n) CAP, as PSBA Sector Engagement Manager for HE, has met with Prof. Martyn Guest, Karen
              Latham (HPCWales lead in WAG) and Logicalis. The WVN contract expires in March 2010.

     4.2        WVN Update
           a)   Most of the New Studio rollout is complete.
           b)   There is an upcoming video-presentation from CERN to Sixth Form Colleges in Wales, on the
                Large Hydron Collider.
           c)   Noted that the current contract for WVN services expires at the end of March.
           d)   A Business case is to be presented to the Minister for Education, covering the proposed
                migration of WVN into a PSBA Video Service.

     4.3      RSC Update
           a) Round 4 starts in September and DCELLS has confirmed funding. In England, the RSCs have
              received confirmation that their existing contracts will be extended for the Academic Year
              2010-2011.
           b) It is proposed that the RSC Wales staff relocate to Hendrefoelan, where a Training Suite will be
              established.

5.   Items for Information and Discussion

     5.1        VLE Status Review
           a)    UOG are reviewing their VLE provision, which is currently a hosted Blackboard service. It is
                likely that they will remain with Blackboard, but bring the service back in-house.
           b)   Swansea University have a consortium agreement in place covering the 3 HEIs in the area.
                Pricing is banded by FTE numbers.
           c)   UWIC have recently committed to a 3 Year contract with Blackboard.
           d)   AD enquired on the prospects of joint negotiation with Blackboard for all Welsh HEIs, and
                agreed to explore a Wales-wide approach to Blackboard supply and pricing. ACTION:         AD




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     5.2    HPC Wales procurement
     Gina Woodward provided a summary of the HPC initiative to date, the main points being:
         a) A workshop had been held at Gregynog last June to develop the proposal.
         b) The aim is to develop a HPC skills base, in additional to the HPC Infrastructure. This will include
            Training, Education and Outreach activities.
         c) The Infrastructure will be a distributed Hub & Spoke, to include 2 major hubs at Cardiff and
            Swansea, plus Tier1 spokes at Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glamorgan, and Tier2 spokes the
            remainder HEIs.
         d) £10M of funding is available from UK-BIS (the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills),
            with further bids for £34M of European funding in progress.
         e) The Final Business Case is to go to WEFO at the end of March. The £10M BIS funding is
            conditional upon the European funding.
         f) HPC Wales will establish a SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to oversee the acquisition, operation
            and development of HPC Wales.

     5.3      HEWIT Mailing List
           a) Members reviewed the current mailing list membership, and agreed to a number of
              amendments to reflect where staff that have left their Institutions, and the addition of new
              representatives. Noted that in general Institutions may nominate two representatives for
              membership of the mailing list.

     5.4      ICT Funding (and impact on Services)
           Members shared situations and plans at their respective institutions:
           a) UoG - a 3% reduction on Staff costs this year, and planning for a 5% cut on non-staff. A
              Voluntary Early Retirement scheme is in place.
           b) Aberystwyth - a 5% reduction on staffing.
           c) Bangor – 10% on staffing.
           d) Cardiff – Targeted cost savings are being considered. Noted a similar situation at many RUGIT
              Group Institutions, with scenario planning for reductions of 5% and above.
           e) Glyndwr – a 3% to 5% reduction across the board. Anticipating “natural wastage” and VER
              schemes will assist in meeting the targets.
           f) AD enquired if others were aware of a WAG Value-for-Money benchmarking of ICT Services, to
              be undertaken by the company “SOCITM Consulting”. Participating public sector organisations
              would be invited to complete an on-line self-assessment. No other members were aware of
              this initiative. [Post-meeting Link, see http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-
              1.nsf/0/0C5AE154C856C9DE802576A8005C466C?OpenDocument ]

6.   Gregynog 2010
     Members received an update on the preparations for this year’s colloquium.
        a) Meeting Rooms and accommodation needed to be booked by 29 March. Noted a 50%
            cancellation fee after 7 April.
        b) Numbers would be estimated based on recent attendance figures. Noted that the pressure on
            Staff Development funds at a number of Institutions may have an impact on attendance.
        c) Sponsorship would be explored to offset costs.
        d) Noted a downward trend in carry-forward monies from previous years.
        e) Evening events and activities could include the usual walks and croquet, and also something
            new and different such as a “Murder Mystery”.
        f) Session Recording is both costly and the value is debatable. Agreed to forego for this year.
        g) Programme Themes and Topics may include: HPC, Research, Mobile Computing, ITIL V3.
        h) SC thanked Aberystwyth for passing on information from last year’s colloquium, and to Owen
            Parry for assistance with this year’s preliminary planning.


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           i)   Noted that Owen Parry has worked with Vodafone to improve the mobile phone reception to
                the Gregynog Estate.

7.   Site Reports
     Site reports had been submitted to the Mailing List prior to the meeting.
     Highlights and discussions from individual site reports arising at the meeting included:

     7.1      Aberystwyth
           a) The HPC developments were originally placed with the CCO (Commercialisation and
              Consultancy Office), though Information Services are now fully involved. RM advised that IT
              departments should explore local plans and engage with their Research communities.

     7.2      Bangor
           a) Preparing a Business Case for Email and Communication/Collaboration Tools. GW advised that
              Cardiff had worked with a consultant on the vision for their MWE (Modern IT Working
              Environment) toolset and would forward contact details to JS.         ACTION:       GW

     7.3      Cardiff
           a) Funding secured for a JISC project – RAPTOR, an eResource usage and reporting tool.

     7.4      Glamorgan
           a) As submitted report, nothing to highlight or add.

     7.5      Glyndwr
           a) Noted use of their Attendance Recording system for UK Border Agency reporting.

     7.6      Lampeter
           a) No report received. Nothing to highlight at the meeting.

     7.7      Newport
           a) Interest in Online Assignment Marking - the process of marking electronically as well as the
              technology. TO advised that eMark was in use at Swansea, and AD advised that Turnitin was in
              use at Glamorgan.

     7.8      Swansea
           a) Noted that Chris West would be taking early retirement and succession planning was in train.
              It is proposed to merge the Library and Information Services department with the Admin
              Computing Unit.

     7.9      Swansea Metropolitan
           a) As submitted report, nothing to highlight or add.

     7.10 Trinity University College
         a) No report received.

     7.11 UWIC
         a) SC enquired if any sites had experience of aggressive selling techniques by providers of
            PostCode software. Bangor and Newport reported they had indeed.
         b) Developing a system to store and interrogate CVs for Academic Staff.




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     7.12 University of Wales
         a) As submitted report.

8.   AOB
        a) Noted the drive on Regional Collaborations and Shared Services. Current examples include
           SWWHEP (Swansea, SMU, TCC) and UHoVI (Glamorgan and Newport). Anticipate that there
           will be further encouragement to introduce and partake of shared services within the sector.

9.   Date of next meetings
        a) 16:00 – 18:00, Thursday 10th June 2010, @ the Gregynog Colloquium
        b) 10:30 – 13:30, Wednesday 20th October 2010 at Aberystwyth (provisional)




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