IT Exchange Group in the works

Brian Haymore, senior IT architect for UIT’s Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC), is seeking input on a proposal to create a new group at the U – an IT Exchange Group (ITX).

As envisioned, ITX would bring technology experts and enthusiasts together to:

• Share a wealth of knowledge, perspectives and experiences
• Explore diverse applications of new technologies
• Discuss best practices, policies and procedures
• Build relationships across and beyond the UIT community

“This is something we've been wanting to do for some time, something I’m passionate about and something that has been tried in different contexts and failed,” Haymore said. “In light of some changes, like those recommended in the Deloitte (IT Assessment), it’s a perfect time to talk about how we operate as a community and what improvements we can make.”

The ITX group would facilitate face-to-face communication among people who work in IT, and Haymore invites anyone with IT interests and a desire to discuss, share and learn.

“Our campus has a tremendous range of experience and capabilities, and if we all work together and pool our expertise, ideally we all can become stronger, together,” he said.

Doug Ressler, IT Professionals Board President, sees the ITX Group as a natural extension of the IT Professionals Forum, and enthusiastically endorses the effort.

“This new group goes beyond information flow,” Ressler said. “It’s a place where people interested in various technologies can go into a much deeper level. It may not always be the same people or the same topics, but that’s what makes it uniquely poised to identify and fill in knowledge gaps as needed.”

Rather than a standards-forming committee or decision-making body, ITX is meant to be an informal roundtable discussion, which Haymore imagines starting with a short “lightning talk” on a particular subject.

Topics may include:

• OS/system tuning, performance monitoring, and troubleshooting
• Object and cloud storage
• Campus AD/LDAP integration for non-standard systems
• Openstack and other cloud stacks
• Security, including the support of protected/regulated content
• Expanding container capabilities for high performance computing (Docker, Shifter, etc.)
• Data management and curation
• Effective data movement techniques
• New, emerging, relevant, or interesting technologies

Haymore loosely models the group after the Rocky Mountain Advance Computing Consortium (RMACC), a 14-member intermountain collective of academic and research institutions that includes the University of Utah.

Next steps are to solicit comments and ideas, find a few other people to help steer the effort, define a brief charter, set a meeting schedule and select a primary means of communication.

If you’d like to be involved, please email Haymore or CHPC Director Tom Cheatham.

 

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