Staff Happenings

Employee Referral Program Raffle Winner

Congratulations to Steve Quejada of Order Processing, who is the winner of this month's $50 Visa gift card employee referral raffle.

Comings and Goings

The following people have joined Information Technology Services. Welcome.

Michael Birdwell (Karen Zack)

Octavio Pena (Debbie Garcia)

Elizabeth Santisteven (Jimmy Hale)

Raveena Ulrich (Debbie Garcia)

its in bits welcomes more detailed employee news submissions from all staff. Please submit to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu

Tech Briefings

Tech Briefings

Fridays
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Turing Auditorium

Friday, April 17

Mathematica: A Technical Overview—Come hear author and educator Paul Wellin talk about Mathematica 7 and beyond. See how Mathematica is used for everyday computation as well as high-performance computing from the bio-sciences, finance, engineering, and mathematics. Mathematica features include built-in parallel computing, image processing, information and data visualization, computable data sources, and much more.

Friday, April 24

Advanced Programming Techniques in MATLAB—Taught by principal MATLAB developer Loren Shure, this master class will illustrate the usage and explain the benefits of many of the different function types available in MATLAB 7. You will learn how using the right function type can lead to more robust and maintainable code. Demonstrations will show how to apply these techniques to solve optimization problems and make it easier to program GUIs in MATLAB. This session will also provide you with an understanding of how different MATLAB data types are stored in memory.

Check the Tech Briefings home page for future sessions and to subscribe to the mailing list. Also see the Tech Express home page for information on upcoming presentations.

Technology Training Courses

IT Professional Development:

XML Introduction (ITS-2531), Wed, April 22, 9:00–4:00, $325

Project 2007 Level 1 (ITS-2021), Tues, April 28, 9:00–4:00, $325

SQL Basics (ITS-2521), May 7, 9:00–4:00, $325

NEW! Introduction to Drupal (ITS-3020), May 19, 9:00–4:00, $395

PHP Workshop (2 days) (ITS-2511), May 26–27, 9:00–4:00, $525

NEW! Perl Programming Plus Workshop (2 days) (ITS-2522), June 22–23, 9:00–4:00, $525

TechPort: Online Technology Training for Stanford—techport.stanford.edu (ITS-0611), through Aug 31, $195

The full listing of Current Courses is available on the Tech Training web site.

Upcoming Tech Training classes of interest to IT Services staff:

Excel 2007: What? You Don't Know Excel Yet? (ITS-1141), Thurs, April 23, 9:00–4:00, $325

Photoshop 101: Start Here (Photoshop Lite) (ITS-1460), Mon, April 27, 1:30–4:30, $195

* Web Design Level 2: Enhancing Your HTML Skills (Making Your Website Work) (ITS-2502), Wed, April 29, 1:30–4:30, $195

PowerPoint 2003 Tips and Time Savers Lecture (ITS-1325), Thurs, April 30, 1:30–4:30, $125

Sign up at axess.stanford.edu.

* Class is part of the curriculum to help prepare for:
Certification Workshop:
Web Professional in the Stanford Environment (ITS-2606), Fri, June 26, 9:00–4:00, $325
More information at webcertificate.stanford.edu.

Free Email / Calendar Training:

Outlook 2007 Email (ITS-2111), Tues, April 21, 1:30–4:30

Moving from Eudora to Other Mail Applications (ITS-2103), Wed, April 22, 1:30–4:30

Apple Mail (ITS-2113), Thurs, April 23, 1:30–4:30

Stanford Email (Webmail) (ITS-2110), Tues, April 28, 1:30–4:30

Classes with low enrollment may be cancelled one week in advance. More information on courses, registration, and training is available at the Technology Training Services site.

- Nancy Baumann
Technology Training Services

IT Employment Opportunities

There were no new job postings for IT Services this week.

To view the complete listings or to apply for a position, visit the StanfordJobs web site at: jobs.stanford.edu.

There are other open Information Technology positions at Stanford. To see what other opportunities exist on campus, link to the full list of all open IT positions at Stanford.

Quote of the Week

“Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.”

- Arthur Godfrey

News

A Note From Bill...

I would like to share some good news with you.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, we increased the capacity of the data center by approximately 50% with the completion of the Forsythe Remodel project...which, I might add, was finished on time and on budget. In addition, the project delivered a vastly improved cooling and power infrastructure. We have already reaped the benefits of this work, both by accommodating additional equipment for our clients and by being ready when we had to run Forsythe for almost a week on backup power.

Our original projection was that our expanded capacity would last until approximately 2014. However, clients from all over campus have been lining up to put their machines into the updated facility. As a result, current forecasts suggest that we might run out of capacity by 2011. To further expand the capacity of the building, we have submitted a Forsythe Expansion Phase 2 project, and I am pleased to pass along to you that we learned recently that the Provost has approved that project to begin next year. This will help us continue to provide space for all of our clients and help them house their machines in the safest, most cost-effective manner.

Just last month the Auxiliary Data Center (ADC) project in Livermore was completed, and that facility is now live. The ADC was designed not only to increase data center capacity, but also to serve as a backup data center to Forsythe. Most of the University’s mission-critical systems are also fully or partially replicated in the ADC. Once all of the systems are up and running we will conduct a recovery exercise to make sure that we can use the systems in the event of a Forsythe outage.

The final piece of our computing facilities strategy is the Scientific Research Computing Facility, currently expected to be located at SLAC. This facility, solely for research, will be a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, green computing facility. Again, I am pleased to be able to tell you that the Provost recently removed this project from “On-Hold” status. It is on the capital planning calendar, to be completed in 2013. We will work in the coming months to try to accelerate that schedule and complete the project in 2012, if possible.

We began working on our computing facilities strategy three years ago now, and it is truly wonderful to see all of the recent progress and University support. My thanks to all of you who have participated in the myriad phases of these three projects!

- Bill Clebsch
IT Services

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Just a reminder about the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day program this Friday, April 17. The program is targeted for children between 10 and 15 years of age. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Turing Auditorium and will conclude at 12:15 p.m. Activities will include a tour of the Forsythe data center, a tour of the cable TV hub in Puichon, a walking tour of the Stanford campus, and a panel discussion on careers in IT.

We look forward to your children's participation in this event!

If you have any questions about the event, please contact John Freshwaters or Matthew Ricks.

- Matthew Ricks
Computing Services

Upcoming AlertSU Test

The next test of the University’s emergency-notification system, AlertSU, will take place on Saturday, April 18. On that day at noon, the system will send test messages to the phone numbers and email addresses of all staff and faculty listed in the StanfordWho directory, and to the contact points of all students listed in Axess. Because a crisis can strike at any time, emergency management staff decided to take this opportunity to test the system outside of normal business hours.

All students and employees, including staff classified as temporary or casual, should update their directory information before April 17. Faculty and staff can make changes at StanfordYou, selecting "Maintain your directory and AlertSU emergency contact information." If a home phone number is listed, anyone home during the time of the test will get the alert. The message will not require a response.

In the event of a major emergency, AlertSU can send out important announcements simultaneously via phone, email, and text message.

April is also earthquake-preparedness month in California, and April 18 marks the 103rd anniversary of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. This is a perfect opportunity to review your departmental and personal emergency preparedness plans to ensure that you and your family are prepared for an emergency.

For more information about the AlertSU system, go to the AlertSU web site or visit the Environmental Health & Safety web site for information about campus emergency plans.

- Jo-Ann Cuevas-Pagliaro
Campus Readiness

IPP Time

This is a friendly reminder that the month of April is Phase 3 of this year's IPP performance evaluation process. If you have any questions about this process, please direct them to your manager or executive director, or to HR.

- Nilda Bonet
Human Resources

Speaking of Computers Spring Edition

The spring issue of Speaking of Computers is now online at: speaking.stanford.edu. This e-newsletter highlights the latest news in technology-related and computing activities, services, and resources on the Stanford campus. You'll find articles in the winter issue that cover such topics as:

  • The Axess Timecard, which replaces the old Kronos system on May 5.
  • CourseWork enhancements and a new CourseWork blog.
  • WebEx Meeting Center software, which is now available to all faculty and staff in pilot.
  • Spring Tech Training classes, including a variety of training opportunities to help the transition from Office 2003 to 2007.
  • IT Services has launched a new collaboration tools installer for Stanford departments and groups who want to install Drupal, MediaWiki, WordPress, and/or phpBB.
  • IT management of computer systems, offered by the Computer Science Department.
  • And much more!

Speaking of Computers is published at the beginning of Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters by SULAIR Publications.

Please send any questions or feedback to Eleanor Brown.

- Eleanor Brown
SULAIR Publications

About its in bits

A regular summary of IT business, news about personnel, and pointers to other information of interest to IT Services staff. Coordinated, compiled, and published by the Communication Strategy and Standards Team. its in bits is published on the first and third Wednesday of the month.

Submissions are due by Noon on the Friday before the scheduled issue, to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu for consideration. its in bits is distributed via email to its-all-staff@lists.stanford.edu and the subscription list itsinbits-subscribers@lists.stanford.edu People outside of IT Services can self-subscribe via mailman.

The next its in bits will be published on Wednesday, May 6, 2009.