Norman Wiseman JISC Head of Programmes Presentation to CNI Seattle, December 1998

1. Joint Information Systems Committee Norman WisemanJISC Head of ProgrammesPresentation to CNISeattle, December 1998 ATHENS One Year On Joint Information Systems Committee

2. Joint Information Systems Committee Programme i) Reprise ii) Current uses of ATHENS iii) Feedback iv) Lessons and challenges Joint Information Systems Committee

3. Joint Information Systems Committee 1. Reprise The story so far …….. Joint Information Systems Committee

4. Reprise Background JISC is the Joint Information Systems Committee JISC receives funding from all of the UK higher education funding bodies JISC provides network and other infrastructure services to 1.5 million students and 200,000 staff in UK higher education Joint Information Systems Committee

5. Reprise Drivers: 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

6. Reprise Strategy: Pragmatic Flexible Quick Short term Develop existing product - ATHENS Development work done by NISS, a JISC Service Started April 1997, launched November 1997 Joint Information Systems Committee

7. Reprise ATHENS: An access management service controlling access to distributed resources on a network Single, unique userid and password for all services WWW, Telnet and Other resources Resilient Scaleable Free to HE Recommended for all JISC Services & Projects Joint Information Systems Committee

8. Administrator Sybase RDBMS Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Reprise ATHENS Administration - details ATHENS dB server API Secure Authentication Network Joint Information Systems Committee

9. WWW client Telnet client Bespoke client Sybase RDBMS User Id and Password Challenge Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Reprise Athens Operation ATHENS dB server API Network Secure Authentication Joint Information Systems Committee

10. Joint Information Systems Committee 2. Current uses of ATHENS How it has been used since the service was launched. Joint Information Systems Committee

11. Current Uses of ATHENS Service Statistics: No. of DSP : 7 No. of registered resources : 61 No. of sites : 237 Total administrators : 1,209 Total accounts : 341,000 Number of daily accesses : 30,000 Peak Load : 10/second Joint Information Systems Committee

12. Current Uses of ATHENS Service Costs: Annual running costs $1000 per institution per year about 50c per account per year may increase Software development costs Development partner for NISS Joint Information Systems Committee

13. Current Uses of ATHENS MAN ATHENS Resilience Backbone Scottish I/connect Site link to b/bone Non-MAN site ATHENS server *UK Outline Map based on Manchester City College Web site original Joint Information Systems Committee

14. Current Uses of ATHENS Data Service Provider Issues: Anonymity - culture change Licensing - additional functionality Profiles - many possibilities Managing access -variations on a theme Joint Information Systems Committee

15. Profile User Sybase RDBMS Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Current Uses of ATHENS USER Profiles ATHENS dB server API Secure Authentication Network Joint Information Systems Committee

16. Profile WWW client Sybase RDBMS User Id and Password Challenge Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Sensitive Protected Current Uses of ATHENS Handling Sensitive Documents ATHENS dB server API Network Secure Authentication Joint Information Systems Committee

17. Certificate/ Cookie WWW client Sybase RDBMS User Id and Password Challenge Secure Authentication Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Current Uses of ATHENS Proxy/certificate Operation ATHENS dB server API Network Joint Information Systems Committee

18. Profile WWW client Certificate Server Sybase RDBMS Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Sensitive Protected Current Uses of ATHENS Certificate systems ATHENS dB server API Network Joint Information Systems Committee

19. Current Uses of ATHENS New Users: Commercial uses Piraeus / ISOS International Consumer products company Europe Australia Joint Information Systems Committee

20. Current Uses of ATHENS Issues for Information Services: Training and nurturing Bulk uploading Account management Progressive improvements to interface Statistics service volume processes Joint Information Systems Committee

21. Joint Information Systems Committee 3. Feedback What users and information services staff have told us about the ATHENS service. Joint Information Systems Committee

22. Feedback Independent Survey JIBS Survey Two samples first response 32 sites, 10 anonymous second response 39 sites, 3 anonymous Sites represent from 50 to 25000 users http://www.athens.ac.uk/info/exchexp.htm Joint Information Systems Committee

23. Feedback Synthesis of responses: Experience with managing accounts (personal, self registration, groups) Comments on loading information Agent for culture change Licence management The process - ‘no problems’ Joint Information Systems Committee

24. Joint Information Systems Committee 4. Lessons and Challenges The lessons that have been learnt so far, both surprising and unsurprising, and the challenges that lie ahead. Joint Information Systems Committee

25. Lessons and Challenges 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

26. Lessons and Challenges JISC Proposals for ATHENS Development of full service Three year commitment Functional improvements for services - new models for licensing, access, charging etc Coordination with other JISC security initiatives Joint Information Systems Committee

27. Lessons and Challenges Future Input eLib Phase 3 projects (hybrid libraries) Authentication workshop Institutional demands for local implementation Working with publishers and other content providers International work Joint Information Systems Committee

28. Lessons and Challenges Challenges Managing the growing variety of systems and suppliers Roaming across the digital landscape Scalability Finding an ‘Internet’ solution Joint Information Systems Committee

29. Lessons and Challenges Conclusions Original goals achieved Access management appears as important as authentication technology ATHENS has shown that you can manage many different security models minimise impact on users minimise management overhead for information services Joint Information Systems Committee

30. CNI, Seattle 1998 Joint Information Systems Committee Networks and Innovative Services for Higher Education Joint Information Systems Committee