Internet technology upgrades set [The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.]

Dec. 08--WARRENSBURG -- University of Central Missouri governors voted to spend $3,275,000 for network upgrades Wednesday.

Vice provost for information technology, Jim Graham, said the bid by Cisco Systems, World Wide Technologies' vendor, ends Dec. 31. The price jumps by nearly $1 millionJan. 1.

Current vendor Enterasys Networks' bid is about $500,000 higher.

Campus wireless capacity on the 1990 system is saturated and will be a problem in less than two years, Graham said.

UCM President Charles Ambrose said improving network infrastructure is vital.

"In the future, a lot of our data transfer is going to come from 'the cloud,'" he said.

The cloud refers to accessing servers on the Internet, rather than local servers, to store, manage and process data.

Cisco will provide security firewalls, routers, floor switches, wireless access points, controllers, maintenance, software and licenses for five years.

UCM Vice President for Finance John Merrigan said UCM's investment earnings fell to around 2.5 percent, less than the 2.75 percent interest on a capital lease arrangement Cisco Financial Services offered. Interest over five years would cost $150,000 he said.

The board approved payments of $1.3 million from the Office of Technology, $400,000 from residential housing and $75,000 from Greenwood Park insurance claim proceeds. The remaining $1.5 million will come from student tech fees and institutional contingency funds.

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