September 2002 — Features
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The NEW DIGITAL CAMPUS
After substantial evaluation, the ITS team decided that if Plymouth State was to advance through the application of technology, its core competencies would have to shift from code management to strategic application development. This became the factor that led us to make an evolutionary decision. We could either continue to update and maintain coding for MySILAS, or we could partner with a third-party technology vendor to create the enterprisewide infrastructure.
The ITS team determined that purchasing a vendor-developed infrastructure would allow them tofocus their talents on building custom service applications, which enhance the reach and influence of the digital campus. With unanimous support for the project, Plymouth State's decision makers and technology leaders evaluated their needs. They then set out to find a technology partner who could speak to their mission as well as provide intuitive Web-based services for campus constituents. Plymouth State set basic criteria the technology solution would have to meet. It would need to:
Selecting the Right Solution
The ITS team monitored the evolving landscape of various portal solutions and models. The Java in Administration Special Interest Group's (JA-SIG) uPortal initially became the solution of choice based on its ability to offer proven open source software. However, the team soon realized that JA-SIG did not offer the support structure to ensure a smooth implementation and ongoing maintenance. The team also began identifying other costs and issues associated with the consortium's software model that were not consistent with the college's overall technology objectives.
It became apparent as we experimented with the software that there would be significant overhead in maintaining the uPortal code. We recognized there would eventually be so many variants of the application base among JA-SIG participants that compatibility, upgrading and code management would become burdensome. As a result, we looked to another solution that could provide the same strict adherence to standards-based technology with the capacity to offer extensive implementation and maintenance support.
At EDUCAUSE 2001, JA-SIG and Campus Pipeline announced a relationship that enabled colleges and universities to integrate with standards-based applications developed and shared by other higher education institutions. The collaboration gave institutions the ability to benefit from a larger developmental community focused on creating and sharing portal channels compatible with the uPortal specification, while having a solid foundation on which to build a campuswide infrastructure. Campus Pipeline's strict adherence to open standards meant that Plymouth State would be able to customize, organize and distribute Web-based content to its constituents without being limited to proprietary software.
