UIS Staff and IT Community Engagement 2021
(Wed 27 Jan 2021 - Tue 9 Jul 2024)
January 2021
Wed 27 |
Since cloud-based services do not always guarantee long-term retention for all data, and like all systems are not immune to outages and downtime, backup is still a requirement to reduce risks of data loss. This session will review backing-up one cloud to a different cloud system, and/or to a local storage system, for disaster recovery or business continuity. |
February 2021
Tue 23 |
TechLink Community: MWS-Mythic Beasts web hosting options & COGEnT-CompTIA Cloud training pilot
Finished
Given the plan to decommission the Managed Web Service (MWS) later this calendar year, we will hear from and can engage with the Cambridge-based Mythic Beasts who have extensive understanding of our University systems and challenges, and local/international hosting options. In addition, following the successful Network+ training pilot, the four Universities comprising the COGEnT (Cambridge, Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh) consortium have agreed with CompTIA to follow up with some Cloud training. CompTIA will introduce their Cloud Essentials and Cloud+ courses, and next steps for a mixed cloud training pilot (with a few sponsored places, and favourable academic pricing). |
March 2021
Wed 3 |
This session will provide updates about the service migration from Hermes to Exchange Online. There will also be an update about a paper being sent to the Email Scrutiny Committee on 30 March concerning: 1. the deprecation of TLSv1.0 and TLSv1.1 in PPSW 2. hosts using PPSW to send email from the CUDN 3. SPF and DKIM. The presentation will be followed by time for questions and discussion. |
Tue 16 |
TechLink Community: Perl Compatible Regular Expressions & Deloitte - Robotic Process Automation
Finished
Presentations from Dr. Philip Hazel on Perl Compatible Regular Expressions PCRE & Deloitte - Robotic process automation RPA Philip Hazel (retired UCS staff, developer of exim) will provide an overview of the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) library, used by many high-profile open source (e.g. Apache, exim, KDE, PHP, Postfix, Nmap) and commercial (e.g. Apple Safari) projects. Deloitte presenters will introduce and share examples of their use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Matthew Spaul (Robotics and Intelligent Automation Consultant) and David Adams (Risk Advisory) will show evolving use cases for RPA "to capture and interpret existing IT applications to enable transaction processing, data manipulation and communication across multiple IT systems." |
Wed 24 |
Presentations from representatives of Amazon Web Services Agenda:
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May 2021
Wed 26 |
Dr. Paul Seabright (Deputy Director) and Matt Whiting (CTO) of Cambridge Enterprise <http://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk> will share some of the ups and downs of their transition from on-premise to the cloud, which has been more rapid and radical than many of our institutions. As the University's knowledge transfer organisation, Cambridge Enterprise uses commercial avenues to develop the outputs of University research into successful products and services that benefit society. Their lessons and caveats may help others consider the practicalities when implementing a 'cloud first' strategy.
The new SLRA, available via SUPC <https://www.supc.ac.uk/frameworks> and other University purchasing consortia <https://www.ukupc.ac.uk>, provides multiple pre-negotiated agreements (lots) for software and services, working with a range of suppliers to help save institutions time and money. Academia, key supplier for lots such as with Adobe and VMware licensing <https://edu.academia.co.uk/software-slra>, will provide an overview and practical introduction how to make use of the new SLRA. |
June 2021
Wed 16 |
Web accessibility has become essential for better and more inclusive interaction, helping address barriers to effective communication.
UIS' TLS Certificate Service is changing, to offer a more comprehensive range at no cost, a faster self-service model, in many cases automatic renewal. |
Wed 30 |
A more advanced look at options and use of the Azure cloud, including discounts via a framework agreement. Presenters from Microsoft and Phoenix Software, Cambridge's key Microsoft partner, will explore options for using the Azure cloud for office, teaching and research purposes, with particular reference to:
Along with this overview, there will be an opportunity for Q&A, and options for individual follow-ups for anyone wishing to explore the possibilities further. |
October 2021
Wed 20 |
TechLink Community: Relationship and Portfolio Management: Updates on Priorities and Developments
Finished
Updates on UIS's Relationship Management and Portfolio Management
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November 2021
Tue 9 |
Customised Clouds?
Please note that there is a UIS AWS framework agreement - https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/network-services/hosting-services/AWS
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Wed 24 |
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December 2021
Wed 8 |
Customised Clouds? - Google Cloud presenters will provide an overview of:
For reference: Hands on guide to Google Cloud - https://techdesign.uis.cam.ac.uk/en/latest/guidance/hands-on-google-cloud |
February 2022
Wed 23 |
TechLink Community: Identity and Access Management (IAM) - Community Needs and Strategic Planning
Finished
We are undertaking a short exploratory research project on Identity and Access Management (six weeks). Reporting recommendations and findings from interviews with SMEs from the wider Cambridge communities, to understand the broad range of topics, issues and needs in the organisation. This will be submitted to the UIS Technical Design Authority and associated groups for consideration. The aim is to evidence the need for a more robust Discovery and Requirements phase to inform and design the right solution for the future of IAM. Also to help shape the roadmap of how we move from our current situation to a far more robust and modern future. During this project we will be capturing & understanding a broad range topics including but not exclusively:
We would like to share the project process with you and would like to have an initial discussion about your burgeoning issues, concerns and topics. |
May 2022
Wed 11 |
An open discussion:
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Tue 17 |
Phoenix are happy to follow up and engage individually as well, to discuss specific requirements as appropriate. |
December 2022
Wed 7 |
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January 2023
Wed 25 |
The Next Generation of IP Register at Cambridge This seminar kicks off the consultation on the future of DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) at the University of Cambridge. You'll learn how these services currently work, and how they are managed. Then we'll describe the challenges we're facing with the current systems, and some of the opportunities we have to make improvements. Finally, we'll introduce our proposal for future development of these services. Presented by Rob Bricheno of the UIS Network Systems group |
April 2023
Wed 26 |
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May 2023
Wed 24 |
TechLink Community: Elastic Data Search/Analytics/Reporting & Getech Lego, IoT, AI in Education
Finished
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December 2023
Tue 5 |
TechLink Community: Virtualising IT - Software-defined storage and networking, with Phoenix Software
Finished
Phoenix Software are University partners for Microsoft and also work with a portfolio of other vendors, including in the Security Data Protection fields. Phoenix will provide a brief overview of the areas and vendors they cover. They also are partners for Microsoft and other providers of options for virtualising more of the IT environment, whether locally or in private and public cloud systems. Among the areas of increasing significance is the flexibility of software-defined storage (SDS) and software-defined networking (SDN), both of which are key aspects of working with virtual machines and cloud-based systems - and an overview of these will be included.
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July 2024
Tue 2 |
Phoenix Software are University partners for VMware, as well as Microsoft and other systems and licensing. Since Broadcom took over VMware, there have been many reports and experiences of changes to required modules, available options, and resulting pricing - with a renewed demand to find ways to update and optimise solutions and spend. Phoenix will provide a brief overview of the new VMware landscape and licensing options, drawing on some local experiences, along with their VMware specialists. Agenda (TBC)
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Tue 9 |
TechLink Community: Lego Education (inc. AI/ML/IoT options) & Lenovo XR (AR/VR) tech, with Getech
Finished
Getech are bringing their partners from Lenovo and Lego Education for a hybrid event:
Agenda (draft)
Hope you will join us! |