October 14, 2015 at 1:00 PM - Technology Committee Meeting

Discussion:  Call to order at 1:00 PM.

Discussion:  Staff: David Ludwig, Deb Hericks, Rhonda Eis, Beth Kabes Visitors: Andy Boell, Ron Cone, Jamen Hall

Discussion:  NITC work on security issues is a little behind schedule. Working toward keeping or system secure.

Discussion:  Tech Plan has been updated with more clarity: ie: legend, etc. Looking at infrastructure for SRS. Continue to working on streaming solutions for the Nebraska media. Continue to strategize of shared data centers. Working to form groups on areas of concerns. Portal implementation continue to work on putting in staging environment.

Discussion:  Seven district and one ESU connected to the staging single sign on environment. ESU 3 will continue to help add people to the environment. Have a webinar demo of process to connect schools to dashboard. Canvas and Powerschool are working on syncing issues with dates for assignments.

Discussion:  ANGEL continues to have about 19,000 active accounts and will continue to work with schools to work towards another LMS as ANGEL sunsets in August.

Discussion:  As a result of the NDE MOU, contract to purchase hardware needed for Dashboard project. Some equipment is as old as ten years. Replace two drives on SRS hardware.

Discussion:  Technology Director reviewed the proposal for hardware equipment (power strips, switch, servers, etc) Parts of proposal of bid (switch, storage, etc) are not the lowest bid as recommended by Network Nebraska. Sent RFP out to seven companies and only six responded.

Discussion:  BlendEd Director reviewed the contract with ESU 10 for work to be done on NVIS. Changes to be done for virtual field trips and other tweaks to needed on the system.

Discussion:  Need from multiple ESUs and the ESUCC's own backup to pilot a statewide COOP backup service by placing a storage and backup server in Omaha at ESU 3 that is open to all ESUs and their school districts. ESUCC would provide the base system, and implement a cost recovery model for the storage used by the ESUs and districts. One option is to contract for the equipment with IlliniCloud, who would provide the base system for $15,000. Usage under this plan would be $2/GB/year for full backup agent services with the CommVault software. We will provide an analysis of alternative options and a recommended action at the November meeting.

Discussion:  Kriag Lofquist discussed Brightbytes across the state. School districts in the state that have used in the state (71%) and 11 of 17 ESUs also took part in BrightBytes. This incorporates pre and post assessments. Contract will come due in February. Continue to discuss the interest for our ESUs. We have a new BrightBytes representative.

Discussion:  Updated action plan attached and will carry over to November for discussion.

Discussion:  BlendEd Director reviewed the attached report.

Discussion:  NITC Action Plans Storage System