norman wiseman jisc head of programmes presentation to cni seattle, december 1998
DESCRIPTION
Joint Information Systems Committee. Norman Wiseman JISC Head of Programmes Presentation to CNI Seattle, December 1998. ATHENS One Year On. Joint Information Systems Committee. Joint Information Systems Committee. Programme. i)Reprise ii)Current uses of ATHENS iii)Feedback - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Norman WisemanJISC Head of Programmes
Presentation to CNISeattle, December 1998
ATHENS ATHENS
One Year OnOne Year On
Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
Programmei) Reprise
ii) Current uses of ATHENS
iii) Feedback
iv) Lessons and challenges
Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
1. Reprise
The story so far ……..
Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
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
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, NGFLJoint Information Systems Committee
Reprise
Strategy:
• Pragmatic
• Flexible
• Quick
• Short term
Develop existing product - ATHENSATHENSDevelopment work done by NISS, a JISC Service
Started April 1997, launched November 1997
Joint Information Systems Committee
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
Reprise
ATHENS Administration - details
Joint Information Systems Committee
Reprise
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
Administrator
SecureAuthentication
ATHENS Agent
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
Athens Operation
Joint Information Systems Committee
Reprise
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
ATHENS Agent
WWW client
SecureAuthentication
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
User Id andPassword Challenge
Telnet client Bespoke client
2. Current uses of ATHENS
How it has been used since the service was launched.
Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
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
Current Uses of ATHENS
• 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
Current Uses of ATHENS
Service Costs:
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
ATHENS ResilienceATHENS
Resilience
*UK Outline Map based on Manchester City College Web site original
MAN
Backbone
Site link to b/bone
Scottish I/connect
Non-MAN site
ATHENS server
Data Service Provider Issues:
Anonymity - culture change
Licensing - additional functionality
Profiles - many possibilities
Managing access - variations on a theme
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
USER Profiles
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
User
SecureAuthentication
ATHENS Agent
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
Profile
Sensitive
Handling Sensitive Documents
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
ATHENS Agent
WWW client
SecureAuthentication
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
User Id andPassword Challenge
Profile
Proxy/certificate Operation
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
ATHENS Agent
WWW client
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
SecureAuthentication
User Id andPassword Challenge
Certificate/
Cookie
Sensitive
Certificate systems
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
ATHENSdB server
API
SybaseRDBMS
Network
Information server
ATHENS Agent
WWW client
Protected
UnprotectedDocuments
ProfileCertificate
Server
• Commercial uses– Piraeus / ISOS– International Consumer products company
• Europe
• Australia
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
New Users:
• Training and nurturing
• Bulk uploading
• Account management
• Progressive improvements to interface
• Statistics service– volume– processes
Joint Information Systems Committee
Current Uses of ATHENS
Issues for Information Services:
3. Feedback
What users and information services staff have told us about the ATHENS service.
Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
• 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
Feedback
Independent Survey
• 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
Feedback
Synthesis of responses:
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
Joint Information Systems Committee
• 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
Lessons and Challenges
Lessons
• 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
Lessons and Challenges
JISC Proposals for ATHENS
• 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
Lessons and Challenges
Future Input
• Managing the growing variety of systems and suppliers
• Roaming across the digital landscape
• Scalability
• Finding an ‘Internet’ solution
Joint Information Systems Committee
Lessons and Challenges
Challenges
• 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
servicesJoint Information Systems Committee
Lessons and Challenges
Conclusions
Joint Information Systems Committee
CNI, Seattle 1998
Joint InformationSystems Committee
Networks and InnovativeServices for Higher Education