ITSC Digest

Issue 2, February 9 1999.

Universal Year 2000 (Y2K) Problem
ITSC set up a committee to tackle the Year 2000 (Y2K) date problem for the centrally managed computer systems in August, 1997. Since then, we have been making great effort to promote awareness of the Y2K problem, and to make our computer systems and the campus backbone network Y2K compliant. The current status is that the campus backbone network is now Y2K compliant. The academic systems will be compliant by June 1999, while the administrative systems will be compliant by September 1999. We are also working on a contingency plan which will be ready by June this year.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you once again to tackle the Y2K problem now if you have not done so. Visit http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/digest/issue2/y2k.html for our recommendations.

High-Performance Computer Installed for Data-intensive Computing
In late 1998, ITSC acquired a SUN E6500 high-performance computer. The E6500 has ten 336MHz UltraSparc CPUs, four GB memory and 65 GB disk storage.

The SUN E6500 is positioned in the high-performance computing environment of ITSC as a server for data-intensive computing. It is complementary to the earlier-installed high-performance computer, the SGI O2000, which is a server for numerically intensive computing.

Applications for data-mining, genetic sequence search, financial and economic data retrieval and computing will be available on the E6500. While research projects are the primary candidates for the system, it also supports course teaching in these areas.

For more information about the computing service and facilities of the high-performance computing environment of ITSC, please check http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/compenv/hpc/index.html.

Windows 98 Upgrade Recommendations in the University
Windows 98, using a very similar user interface, is an enhancement to Windows 95 with many software corrections and additional tools to help each user maintain his or her system better.

Windows 98 also provides good support for the latest marketed hardware, such as large hard disk and Universal Serial Bus ports. Despite its advantages, Windows 98 demands more hardware resources including CPU, memory and disk space.

Read our recommendations on Windows 98 upgrade at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/issue2/win98.html

Administrative System Developed by ITSC
Starting from January 1999, two new services have been made available on the Campus Network through ITSC. These are online support for both academic result enquiry and application for admission to Graduate School.

Academic Report Inquiry Online

Can't wait to know your results? Academic results are posted on http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/rgs/studenq/student.htm in a new format!

Students can now check their results for all courses taken at CU starting from the first term in 1998-99. This system will eventually allow everyone to check all results of all their courses at CU.

To ensure security and privacy, ITSC has designed the system so that your identity is verified by both your student identity number and your Campus-wide E-mail password. Moreover, we will obtain a Certificate of Authority (CA) to validate our website as a safe one. Most importantly, the data transmitted is encrypted through the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.

Online Application for Admission to Graduate School
What if your friend in Canada decides to apply for the CU Graduate School just before the deadline?

Your friend does not have to worry because he can now browse through our website at https://grsntb.grs.cuhk.edu.hk/grs/admission.htm to retrieve, complete, and submit his application.

Applicants all round the world can save trouble and time by using our online system for application and course syllabus. Applications will be directly converted to the admission system network and applicants will be given an application identity to check that the application has been properly transmitted.

Flexibility is also lies in the payment method: online applicants can pay with their Visa or Master credit card, or use the application identity number to issue a voucher. ITSC has employed the use of a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to prevent a third party from tapping the information.

ITSC Modem Pool Support to V.90 Protocol
All modem pools can now support the V.90 standard. You can now enjoy a high speed connection if your modem also supports the V.90 standard. Since the FCC regulations prohibit modem transmissions exceeding 53.3kbit/s, the download throughput would be between 42-53kbit/s depending on the telephone line quality.

ITU (International Telecommunication Union) ratified the V.90 standard in September 1998 and it is not expected that there will be another version of V.90. Since some vendors using other systems put their products into the market before the standard was ratified, compatibility may be a problem. Other products may even fail to operate at V.34 speeds. If you encounter a connection problem, upgrade the modem code to the latest version. If the problem is till there, please try to change the connection method to K56flex or downgrade to the previous version which does not support V.90. Or, fix it to V.34.

Computer Systems and Services Operating Hours During Chinese New Year Holidays
During this Chinese New Year Holidays, most of the computer systems and services will be under unattended operation. In addition, the User Area at Pi-Chiu Building and Wong Foo Yuan Building will be closed accordingly.

Details of these times can be read on-line at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/announce/chinese99.html

Happy Chinese New Year!