Acorn

Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Charlotte Hammond Sophomore Steve Wozniak performs a diagnostics test on laptops brought in to CNS to be repaired.

If there's one campus organization that has the entire administration and student body in its grasp, it's Computing and Network Services. Contrary to popular belief, they are more than just a group of computer nerds convening in the Brothers College basement.

"We're not just a bunch of people huddled around a metal desk in top secret making evil plans," CNS Helpdesk Systems Manager senior Jonathan Reams said of his employer.

CNS is primarily known for the free maintenance and repairs it offers for Drew-issued laptops. CNS supports not only the students, but also most of the other campus organizations that rely heavily on technology, including Administrative Computing, Instructional Technology Services, the library and Health Services. "Their applications are running on our equipment," Director of CNS Michael Richichi (CLA '91) said.

There are four main parts of CNS: the helpdesk, systems and networking, telecommunications and the Enterprise Applications group, Richichi said.

Enterprise Integration Specialist E. Axel Larsson (CLA '02) considers his department "the glue" of CNS. Larsson's job is to make all of the Drew applications work together, and he has written some of the programming used in the campus network.

"At Drew, everything is integrated," Larsson said. "Our goal is to insulate the user from having to know about all these systems." Thanks to CNS's work, students, faculty and administrators can use their uLogin ID and password to access all of the University's online programming-everything from e-mail to the new Emergency Notification System, which CNS also facilitates.

This concept-known as identity management, and implemented using the Novell program-is one of the many ways CNS stands apart from similar university technology services. "How we manage our student computing is much more akin to the way you operate a corporate network," Larsson said.

Each laptop distributed to students is a generic machine moments before they receive it, Larsson said. But once it is turned on for the first time, it is automatically customized with the user's personal information. At other institutions, Larsson said, students have to arrange the personal settings themselves. "[At Drew], your computer knows you," Reams said.

Continued...

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