Imsong Lee, Ph.D.
Chairman of PA COMNET
Terman Library in the Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
Rob Pound, Manager of Information Technology at City of Palo Alto was able to substitute for Nancy Palmer who was called away. He provided a handout on the new Information Technology organization and operations. The Government Information Systems organization is building an extensive data base on the physical aspects of the city, utilities, streets, buildings, trees, etc. He gave examples of current activities of Information Technology Services, such as supporting budget process and police and fire record keeping. They would like to have representatives of PA-COMNET work with them representing the public to improve services. The feedback box of Palo Alto's home page sends messages to all council members and senior staff, and is an easy way to address all of them at once. Some council members don't read e-mail.
Areas of ITS support include administrative services such as budget preparation, time keeping, cash receipts, paramedic accounts payable, fire records, incident reporting, community class scheduling, building inspection permits, optical imaging for Utilities, utility customer billing, payroll, human resources, accounting, purchasing and stores.
Internal efforts for strategic plans include support of computer hardware, software communications applications, PCs, upgrading hardware & software, establishing customer liaison, help desk software system, PC inventory control, systems change control function, documentation, voice mail, e-mail, remote access, interconnections, telenet, Internet, LANs, PC maintenance, peripherals, and wiring.
They want to have a multi-department steering committee to help with activities that directly involve the public. The idea is to serve both city staff and the public effectively.
Charlie Williams of Com21 described work that they have done with cable modems, especially in the schools. They began tests on the Cable Co-op system in Feb. 1995, and installed the 1st residential cable modem in Sept. 1995. Initial work was to check out the system. Walter Hayes, Jordan & Palo Alto High schools are hooked up to cable modems via Cable Co-op over the existing cable system. Capacity is 2 mbps (megabit per second) downstream and 80 kbps upstream as well as 1 mbps burst rate upstream. His experience with his home modem is that his wife and 7 year old boy now use the modems and enjoy it where the low speed phone modems put them off. One modem can feed several computers. The Palo Alto cable plant is very good, but cable systems need experience working with modems. Speeds of 30 mbps were developed years ago and are usable now. It's the upstream speed that's not established yet, and won't be for several years. The cable modem isn't a limitation on creating home pages and providing a location on the Internet. The limitation is the provider access, not speed.
Roger Hu who graduates today described Gunn-net. They were hooked up in November, and now have 600 computers hooked up with Unix servers and a working LAN. Gunn-net is melded into a college-type network with servers, which is very sophisticated, equal or better than most college networks, and is unique in the U.S. The students created and maintain it. A major goal is getting the teachers up to speed on the system. Some are very adept already. There are several issues, such as fiduciary responsibility of students, log on accounts, tying all the departments into the system, etc. All students will have responsible use of the Internet, but some may not have e-mail accounts or other features. There will be work over the summer to get wider access such as library information, newspapers, magazines, etc. at public libraries. Some will be available by the end of June, all Santa Clara County libraries will be interconnected by the end of the year. Any library eventually can be searched for available books, etc., and eventually with means to retrieve materials and have them delivered. Much of the hardware was contributed by companies such as H-P. All parts of the campus now are interconnected and are on-line with the Internet.
Library use was the beginning of the reason for getting Gunn on line. The primary hub is in the library. Some kids spend all day on Netscape and just skip classes. The library has adapted well to the system, helps students find things on line, and serves as an additional resource. They can't physically stock all the needed books, so having on-line access is vital.
A question was asked about how specifications for the Gunn system are established. What kind of documentation is available, especially at the city. Gunn has a very comprehensive technical document available. PAUSD is hiring a network administrator to try to keep things functioning and correct. They have a vision of what they want but are doing it sequentially.
A question was asked if a TCI buy out of Cable Co-op will affect the existing arrangement between the schools and Cable Co-op. Since TCI hasn't been able to get @Home up in Sunnyvale despite original promises of service by March, but still has nothing to offer, it's unlikely that they will take over and run anything in Palo Alto in the near term.
The estimated cost of cable modem access was of interest. Bob Moss noted it was better to have higher rates initially because the early adopters will pay the fee gladly, higher rates will discourage excessive demand and allow experience with installing and operating the system before there are many users, and will provide income to help pay for the equipment and installation costs. A range of $50 to $150/month was possible initially. Charlie noted that cable companies seem to be hung up on $30 to $40/month because that's what cable costs, and they aren't comfortable going much higher, even when the service such as the cable modems is worth more.
Keith Cooley reported on the TAP (Telecommunication Advisory Panel) meeting June 11 on the Phase 4 of telecommunications study. They are looking at accelerating implementation of a network. Initial proposal is to have the city build a 15 mile fiber ring around the city using 96-strand and 144-strand fiber cables. Cost would be about $1.5 million using existing spare conduit space. The proposal will be sent to the Utility Advisory Commission on June 25, and City Council in early Aug. Rob considers this a once-in-a-lifetime chance that should not be missed. Keith will post a summary of the TAP meeting and recommendations. The recommendation will be to go ahead, and look at possibilities for partnering.
Saturday afternoon June 15, there will be a room for training kids, teachers, etc., noon to 4 PM at the Digital Picnic at 2520 Mission College Blvd., Mission College. Digital Clubhouse is sponsoring it. They are a spin-off from Smart Valley.
PA-COMNETer's should review Keith's post on the proposed Phase 4 recommendations, compare them with existing PA-COMNET positions, and discuss on-line what we support, oppose, and wish added or deleted, in time for the June 25 Utility Advisory Commission meeting which will review the recommendations. Actions taken by the Utility Advisory Commission will be submitted to the City Council in early August, either the 5th or 12th.
The next meeting will be Wednesday July 10, 7:30 AM at the Terman library.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:36 AM
Submitted by,
Bob Moss
Reviewed by:
Imsong Lee, Ph.D.
Chairman of PA COMNET