4 June 1996 Meeting Minutes

Lebanon High School
6 p.m.

Present: Terry McCain, Tom Garoffolo, Dave Truitt, Jack Hughes, Tony Allender - Interested resident, John Wallace. Representatives from VI on the server.

John distributed information from Midwest Bankers Group, Inc. on the possibility of leasing the system. No payment plan had been mentioned so that option was left flexible. May even want to go on a quarterly basis. The price quoted included free installation.

The first questions centered on the "firewall". The numbers are striking in the proposal and we need some clarification. It is not vital to the system. It really should be on a separate machine than the server, otherwise it is very complicated. Will the data be backed up on a daily basis ? How will you monitor to know if there has been an intruder in the system ? You can do some things independent of the firewall to enhance security. Be careful on what you download from the net - keep track on the information that comes from Sun Electronics. You can avoid the firewall if you manage your system well.

John: The budget probably should have contained more for hardware.
The ideal firewall system would have a connection to the net then to our system. The schools now have a LAN which would provide the connection to the Net. There are a lot of scare tactics going on now on the net concerning security. The log file is critical to keep an eye on. You can always add the firewall at a later date.

July would be the earliest time the system could be installed. There is at least a two week lead required to obtain the equipment. The budget only allocated $ 13,500 for hardware. These numbers were guess-timate. How do we go about transferring money from content development to hardware. The budget says hardware/software so we are somewhat short on the hardware alone. Could money be transferred from training ? - Nothing is really budgeted for that item. Terry has experience in UNIX so that will not be necessary.

Jack would like to run some fiber to the Middle School with some available funds. Ameritech has an offer where schools could connect to the net but Jack indicated it would require the schools to spend $ 40,000.00 to obtain $ 18,000.00 to hook-up.

The installation would be free and would be located in the phone room @ LHS. The entry was originally designed somewhat weird but can be worked around. A table or shelf will be provided to locate the server. The Unix person (Terry) could do the necessary partitioning on the set-up. Terry has good experience in this realm and can handle the set-up if VI should just drop off the system.

VI was excused at this time and thanked for coming for the evening session. Mention was made about the possibility of moving before the end of the month due to the expiration of VI's contract w/ Sun. They will still carry SUN Equipment but perhaps from a different supplier. The price would be approx. $ 21,000.00 for the hardware and total support for Two (2) years. Are we interested in the unlimited support for the full two (2) years. John will follow up w/ what the maintenance/support includes, how should the support an/or maintenance be paid for (i.e.- pay up front for the full two years)

John's questions for VI: How do we pay for support - two years up front ? What is unlimited support ?


[BCCN | About BCCN | By-Laws | Membership & Fees | Acceptable Use Policy | Budget | Minutes | Board of Directors]

Last updated: 11 December 1996
This page maintained by Terry McCain, BCCN.