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September 29, 1997
When Frank Trueba attended college in the late 1970s, he worked on some of the most rudimentary computers.
"They had no monitor," said Trueba, ResNet and technology systems manager at Housing, Dining, and Child Care Services. "We had to type something and then run to the printer to see how it looked."
Now Trueba, in partnership with Communications and Technology Services (CATS), is helping UCSC provide far more advanced technology to its students. More than 2,000 students who moved into Merrill, Cowell, Stevenson, and Crown Colleges, and Crown/Merrill Apartments this fall found in their rooms new connections to the campus network and the Internet. Students at The Village, UCSC's new modular housing, will be connected to the network in October.
The students also found active telephone service provided through the campus's telephone system.
These new connections are part of Student Communications Services (SCS), a partnership between Housing, Dining, and Child Care Services, and CATS. The project will be phased in over two to three years, at the cost of $10.2 million. When complete, the network will link all residence halls and apartments-- approximately 4,200 bed spaces in 160 buildings--and some public spaces at the colleges (earlier story).
SCS is made up of two components: Network Service and Voice Service.
SCS Network Service, dubbed "SlugNet," is a CATS-managed service that connects students' computers to the campus network and the Internet via high-speed Ethernet connections over a fiber-optic backbone. The ResNet organization provides in-room support to students in attaching their computers to the network and operating them.
SCS Voice Service, which replaces Pacific Bell service, includes active-on-arrival telephone service, optional voice mail, and competitive long-distance calling through the campus's Ericsson telephone system. In August, UCSC adopted a second prefix, 502, to serve the new users and changed the on-campus dialing plan to five digits to support campuswide calling.
"In today's market, where computers are such an integral part of people's work and personal lives, providing these services is something we need to do," said Trueba. "The goal of SCS Voice services is to provide better telephone services than is possible with Pacific Bell at competitive or lower cost," added Trueba.
Use of the CATS-managed Ericsson system will meet that goal, improve communications between students and faculty and staff, and make it easier to provide new SCS services in the future, he said.
As many as 70 percent of the 2,000 students whose rooms were linked to the fiber-optic network for this fall have personal computers, according to surveys administered by Housing, Dining, and Child Care Services and CATS. It's estimated that more than half of those need help connecting to ResNet, Trueba said.
UCSC has hired 12 "residential computer consultants" to help fellow students connect to the network and use it effectively. The university plans to hire approximately 10 more this quarter, Trueba said.
CATS has also set up a Web page to provide information about the system and what students need to use it.
Longtime CATS staffer John Rocchio, newly designated as technical manager for ResNet, reports that during move-in weekend, more than 220 students connected to the computer network.
"Judging from the number of questions and calls I've received, people are very interested in this new service," said Rocchio, who graduated from UCSC in 1989. "It's exciting. I think it will enable students to communicate in different ways than they do now."