Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 1

Why Standards?Campus Perspective

Bernard W. Gleason

XML Forum

Alexandria, VAMay 8, 2003

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 2

Executive Concerns

Return on investment and expanding budgets

Recreational use of network and de-personalization

Slow adoption of technology in instruction

Limited fiscal resources to train and support faculty & staff

Containment of “out of the blue” & spiraling licensing costs

Viruses, spam, hacks, identity theft, music downloads

Inter-institutional collaboration and resource sharing

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 3

Collaboration and Resource Sharing

“It seems to me that we can’t do it alone and that progress, or may be even survival, might be dependent on collaborating and sharing resources with other institutions. It doesn’t make sense for every institution, big and small, to be duplicating resources and services.”

Quote from the President of a small college

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 4

Middleware

Middleware is the collection of software standards that will facilitate the secure, private, transparent and real-time interconnection of distributed people and applications and the exchange of information over the Internet.

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 5

Elements of Middleware

Identity Management & Directory Services

Data Interchange

Single Sign On & Transitive Trust

Security and Privacy

Web services

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 6

Personal Observations

Extended Campus and New Trust Relationships

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 7

Trust Relationships Scenarios

Transitive Trust

Portal Model

Liberty Alliance

Trusted Intermediary

Internet2 Shibboleth

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 8

Transitive Trust

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 9

Portal Model

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 10

Liberty Alliance

My customer number 123 is your customer number 789

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 11

Trusted Intermediary

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 12

Internet2 - Shibboleth

•Uses institutional credentials•Supports anonymity•User-determined release of data (privacy)•Home directory authentication & authorization

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 13

Personal Observations

Extended Campus and New Trust Relationships

Grid Computing

Mobile and external access may exceed on-campus traffic

Privacy on an equal level security

Open Source and Open Standards

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 14

Personal Observations

Virtual Enterprise Applications

Vertical and Specialized Applications

Service Providers and Intermediaries

Universal Identity

Web Services Architecture

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 15

How, When, What?

Maturation of Standards

Demonstrations of new business and trust models

Recognition of fiscal and functional advantages

Compliance with mandated policies and regulations

Commitment to improved convenience to customers

Demand from inspired and influential group of colleges

Information Technology © 2001 The Trustees of Boston College 5/8/2003 Slide 16

Questions

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