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The JISC’s Middleware Activities. Internet2 Middleware Workshop September 1999 Denver Annette Haworth & Norman Wiseman. Joint Information Systems Committee. Joint Information Systems Committee. Programme. i) JISC - background and activities ii) Current Position - ATHENS experiences
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The JISC’s Middleware Activities Internet2 Middleware Workshop September 1999 Denver Annette Haworth & Norman Wiseman Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee Programme i) JISC - background and activities ii) Current Position - ATHENS experiences iii) Middleware Priorities iv) International activities Joint Information Systems Committee
Government $17 billion HE Funding Councils $50 m Joint Information Systems Committee JANET Information Services Development Projects Funded activities Advice, expertise User Community Institute Services $1.5 billion Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Initiatives • JANET • national network with common technical and management standards, pervasive • Metropolitan Area Networks • International links • managed by UKERNA • free at point of use Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Initiatives • DNER A structured approach to delivering digital resources. • coherent appearance to the end user • single sign-on • seamless cross searching • different views of information - PORTALS • national negotiations for content • free at point of use Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC Initiatives • Technologies • track standards • evaluate promising new technologies • emphasis on dissemination • steering the community • Human Issues • culture change • feedback • training and awareness • institutional strategies - best practice and advice Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee ATHENS An Access Management System for Higher Education Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee UK Education Higher Education: 200 Institutions 1,500,000 students and staff Further Education: 600 Institutions 3,000,000 students and staff Joint Information Systems Committee
ATHENS Drivers for development: Growth in use of electronic services Simplify administration / increase efficiency Protection of rights: Suppliers Intermediaries & Customers Development of new markets: Lifelong learning and distance learners Government initiatives - UFI, NGFL Joint Information Systems Committee
ATHENS Strategy: Pragmatic Flexible - work with local naming schemes Quick Short term Develop existing product - ATHENS Joint Information Systems Committee
ATHENS ATHENS: An access management service controlling access to distributed resources on a network Single userid and password for all national services WWW, Telnet and Other resources Resilient Scaleable Free to HE Recommended for all JISC Services & Projects Joint Information Systems Committee
ATHENS Timetable Start of project April 1997 Live Service November 1997 Bulk Uploading Summer 1998 Switch off old systems September 1998 Resilient servers December 1998 Appoint service agent Early 2000 Full service (under SLA) Summer 2000 Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS Service Statistics: No. of DSP : 12 No. of registered resources : 70 No. of sites : 237 Total administrators : 1,209 Total accounts : 500,000+ Cost : £150k pa Joint Information Systems Committee
ATHENS Shortcomings Closed, proprietary, no standards Limited access models subscription, free at point of use Unsuitable for protecting sensitive information Possible scaling problems Joint Information Systems Committee
Lessons Lessons User skills important lessons for alternative solutions Data Service Provider requirements Single interface to manage multiple security models DSP’s want and need to tailor service. Institutional investment significant resource commitment must be protected Joint Information Systems Committee
Summary Summary ATHENS offers: The user - Single userid and password Intermediaries - easy administration Data Providers: Access to huge user base No / low maintenance versus setup costs Different levels of security http://www.athens.ac.uk/ Joint Information Systems Committee
Middleware Middleware Priorities: Lifelong learning - student accounts Replace ATHENS - non proprietary, - Public Key Infrastructure Links to e-commerce in HE context Wider choice of authentication strengths Joint Information Systems Committee
International Looking over our shoulders... Transnational - TERENA, Surf, JISC National Regional - Nordrhein-Westphalia EU Projects - PRIDE, and?... International Security Forum Australia - led by Macquarie Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee Joint Information Systems Committee Networks and Innovative Services for Education Joint Information Systems Committee