General:
- This was an institutional interviewee
- Was part of the Box decision making process and remains a strong advocate
- Manages institutional storage primarily for administrative and academic purposes (note: Cornell has been restructuring its computer-related organizations)
- Characterized himself as having limited support for research-related computing
Backup vs. Sync
- Focused on enterprise backup methods mostly using Tivoli
- Three levels: (1) institutional, (2) departmental and (3) workstation/desktop
Sync (Box):
- Cornell one of eight pilot schools
- Cornell is paying for Box as a NET+ service but did not know relative rates (i.e. is it discounted)
- Augments a Cornell internal provided service
- Seems primarily a collaboration service not backup (see more on backup elsewhere in the interview note)
- Cornell permits connections between private accounts (from anyone) to university-provided accounts
- Seems more used via browser than by platform sync service (according to traffic monitors) but both are used
- Platform sync requires download of software directly from Box and installation by the user (though it may become part of managed desktops)
- Participated in Box contract negotiations which lead to discussions of "trust"
Backup:
- Most institutional servers and many departmental servers are backed up using Tivoli
- Offsite backups are kept (at the Weill Medical Center in NYC) and transferred by network
- Cornell is moving also have a remote backup site outside NY since NYC is still close enough to cause concern
- Participation of researchers in the Tivoli backup voluntary
Managed Desktops:
- Cornell has about 1/3 of all desktops under management
- This is similar to a corporate managed desktop scheme where the licensed software is installed and managed by a central organization
- Almost all managed desktops are used by administrative or service staff
- Managed desktops are backed up using Tivoli backup tooling
Researchers:
- Like to own the equipment because it cannot easily be taken away
- Administration of researcher-owned equipment is spotty especially for backup
- Institutions (and departments) have a hard time requiring solutions be applied to smaller research infrastructures
- Data management plans have no teeth yet to create a demand from researchers
- No one has any idea where the money will come from to finance archival data in higher ed
Major Learning Points:
- Resonated with notion of combining backup, sync, collaboration and provisioning appropriate applications
- Wants open "standards"
- "Trust" is a big factor
- Control is a factor but it is not part of the customers thought process yet (outside trust)
Additional Potential Contacts:
- Dave Vernon / TED
- Wendy Kaslowski - Lead of RDMSG (Research Data Management Study Group) Cornell Library
- Dave Lifga (CSNF) - Likely closer to researcher provisioning
- Pete Basanka (CSHF) - Likely closer to researcher provisioning
- Ted Dodds - Likely made the final decision
