In The News

As the UW become increasingly more reliant on computer and networking, the stress on servers in any single department’s network can become problematic, even more so as their use of technology evolves. Depending on the size of a department and the type of work they do, a department can have anything ranging from a few office computers and possibly a web server, to hundreds of computers and multiple servers.

Mark Emmert announced in October that they had obtained funds for the creation of a centralized data center that would allow UW departments to better organize and expand their computing capacity. According to Colleen Pike, the director of UW’s Capital and Space Planning Office, the board of regents approved a plan in July that would would renovate one of the three smaller office buildings that are part of the UW Tower complex, which was acquired from Safeco during the last school year.

This data center will service the entire campus and will be managed by UW’s Computing and Communications department.  When this center is operational there will be many opportunities for departments and students to utilize this expanded capacity and this will presumably take the stress off the existing communications infrastructure.

While Pike said that the project is still in the design phase, it is apparent from this plan that they are allocating about $5 million of the project’s $32 million budget, or roughly 15 percent, for improvements to the communications infrastructure. Construction is scheduled to begin in June.

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Data Center Plan (PDF)

Following a snowy weekend, the Puget Sound region was drenched with torrential rains, causing major flooding, road closures, re-routing buses and mudslides throughout Seattle.

“This is the kind of rain that pushes all of our systems and resources to their limits,” said Mayor Greg Nickels Monday in a press release . “Hundreds of City of Seattle workers have responded, working hard to keep people safe, protect property and keep the city moving. We’ll keep our emergency center open and crews out in the field as long as needed.”

According Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, the storm dumped about 6 billion gallons into the city’s drainage system, or roughly six times the volume of Green-lake; constituting what he called the “Second-Wettest Day in City History”. He later admitted that drainage system that the city was built around simply wasn’t designed to handle that much water.

The UW also experienced the effects of the storm on campus as streams of rainwater ran through the streets and walkways on campus. Many students with classes in Condon Hall, including myself, were forced to relocate to dryer locations as storm waters flooded the basement. However, crews had already started pumping out the lower floor of the building by mid-afternoon and according to the UW Office of the Registrar, classes will be meeting back in their usual classrooms tomorrow.

For more updates on this and other campus emergencies, visit http://depts.washington.edu/registra/emergency/