BACK ISSUES: Select One: View All --------- | -- 2002 -- | April | -- 2001 -- | Oct/Nov Aug/Sept June/July April/May March Jan/Feb | -- 2000 -- | December Oct/Nov September July/August June May April March February January | -- 1999 -- | December November October September July/August June May April March February January | -- 1998 -- | December November October September July/August June May April March February January | -- 1997 -- | December November

Volume 2 Issue 1January 1998

Technology Updates From the Chancellor's Office

Charles Mawson
Analyst, Telecommunications, CCCCO

On December 3, 1997 the California Community College (CCC) satellite sub-committee met via audio conference to discuss future satellite standards for the CCC system. The latest recommendations from the consultant firm (Skjei Telecom, Inc.) hired by the California State University Satellite Network (CSUSAT) were evaluated, and the committee decided that in addition to affirming their prior recommendation that colleges should purchase satellite equipment compatible with the MPEG-2 standards having our satellite system compatible with future CSUSAT standards was in the CCC system's best interest.

CSUSAT will release an RFP to vendors in January 1998, with an anticipated review, evaluate bids and award contract in February. CSUSAT hopes to have their satellite uplink operational by June. The CCC satellite sub-committee is recommending to Chancellor Nussbaum that the Chancellor's Office enter into a memorandum of understanding with CSU to purchase satellite equipment under their RFP so as to obtain favorable prices for our colleges. A similar mechanism enabled us to obtain very favorable prices to purchase video equipment for the colleges last year.

There are now over 120 PictureTel video conference systems ordered and approximately 60 actually installed. All remaining systems will be installed by the end of January.

A 16 port video bridge will also be installed in PictureTel's San Francisco headquarters by the end of January. Initially the port will be configured into two eight port bridges. As experience is gained with bridge utilization, the bridge configuration will change as needed. Information on scheduling bridge time will be distributed as soon as the bridge is installed.

There have been requests for recommendations on how to use the $24,500, 1997-98 monies from the Chancellor's Office allocated to video conferencing. The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office has started discussions with PacBell and PictureTel to see if group purchases can be made for additional video units, document readers, and scan converters to save the colleges money.

Please send your comments or experiences via e-mail to Charles Mawson (cmawson@cc1.cccco.edu), at the Chancellor's Office.