Joint Information Systems Committee ATHENS One Year On

Joint Information Systems Committee ATHENS One Year On Norman Wiseman JISC Head of Programmes Presentation to CNI Seattle, December 1998 Joint Information Systems Committee

Joint Information Systems Committee Programme i) Reprise ii) Current uses of ATHENS iii) Feedback iv) Lessons and challenges Joint Information Systems Committee

Joint Information Systems Committee 1. Reprise The story so far ……. . Joint Information Systems Committee

Reprise Background • JISC is the Joint Information Systems Committee • JISC receives funding from all of the UK higher education funding bodies • JISC provides network and other infrastructure services to 1. 5 million students and 200, 000 staff in UK higher education Joint Information Systems Committee

Reprise Drivers: Growth in use of electronic services • Simplify administration / increase efficiency Protection of rights: • Suppliers • Intermediaries & Customers Development of new markets: • Lifelong learning and distance learners • Government initiatives - UFI, NGFL Joint Information Systems Committee

Reprise Strategy: • • Pragmatic Flexible Quick Short term Develop existing product - ATHENS Development work done by NISS, a JISC Service Started April 1997, launched November 1997 Joint Information Systems Committee

Reprise ATHENS: An access management service controlling access to distributed resources on a network • • • Single, unique userid and password for all services WWW, Telnet and Other resources Resilient Scaleable Free to HE Recommended for all JISC Services & Projects Joint Information Systems Committee

Reprise ATHENS Administration - details Administrator Secure Authentication ATHENS d. B server API Network Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Joint Information Systems Committee Sybase RDBMS

Reprise Athens Operation WWW client Telnet client Bespoke client User Id and Password Challenge ATHENS d. B server API Sybase RDBMS Network Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Joint Information Systems Committee Secure Authentication

Joint Information Systems Committee 2. Current uses of ATHENS How it has been used since the service was launched. Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS Service Statistics: • • No. of DSP No. of registered resources No. of sites Total administrators Total accounts Number of daily accesses Peak Load : : : : Joint Information Systems Committee 7 61 237 1, 209 341, 000 30, 000 10/second

Current Uses of ATHENS Service Costs: • Annual running costs – $1000 per institution per year – about 50 c per account per year – may increase • Software development costs • Development partner for NISS Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS Resilience MAN Backbone Scottish I/connect Site link to b/bone Non-MAN site ATHENS server *UK Outline Map based on Manchester City College Web site original Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS Data Service Provider Issues: Anonymity Licensing Profiles Managing access - culture change additional functionality many possibilities variations on a theme Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS USER Profiles User Secure Authentication ATHENS d. B server API Network Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Joint Information Systems Committee Sybase RDBMS Profile

Current Uses of ATHENS Handling Sensitive Documents WWW client User Id and Password Challenge ATHENS d. B server API Sybase RDBMS Profile Network Information server ATHENS Agent Secure Authentication Unprotected Documents Protected Sensitive Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS Proxy/certificate Operation Certificate/ WWW client Cookie User Id and Password Challenge ATHENS d. B server API Sybase RDBMS Network Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Joint Information Systems Committee Secure Authentication

Current Uses of ATHENS Certificate systems Certificat e Server WWW client ATHENS d. B server API Sybase RDBMS Network Information server ATHENS Agent Unprotected Documents Protected Sensitive Joint Information Systems Committee Profile

Current Uses of ATHENS New Users: • Commercial uses – Piraeus / ISOS – International Consumer products company • Europe • Australia Joint Information Systems Committee

Current Uses of ATHENS Issues for Information Services: • • • Training and nurturing Bulk uploading Account management Progressive improvements to interface Statistics service – volume – processes Joint Information Systems Committee

Joint Information Systems Committee 3. Feedback What users and information services staff have told us about the ATHENS service. Joint Information Systems Committee

Feedback Independent Survey • JIBS Survey • Two samples – first response – second response 32 sites, 10 anonymous 39 sites, 3 anonymous • Sites represent from 50 to 25000 users • http: //www. athens. ac. uk/info/exchexp. htm Joint Information Systems Committee

Feedback Synthesis of responses: • Experience with managing accounts (personal, self registration, groups) • • Comments on loading information Agent for culture change Licence management The process - ‘no problems’ Joint Information Systems Committee

Joint Information Systems Committee 4. Lessons and Challenges The lessons that have been learnt so far, both surprising and unsurprising, and the challenges that lie ahead. Joint Information Systems Committee

Lessons and Challenges Lessons • User skills – important lessons for alternative solutions • Data Service Provider requirements – Single interface to manage multiple security models – DSP’s want and need to tailor service. • Institutional investment – significant resource commitment must be protected Joint Information Systems Committee

Lessons and Challenges JISC Proposals for ATHENS • Development of full service • Three year commitment • Functional improvements for services - new models for licensing, access, charging etc • Coordination with other JISC security initiatives Joint Information Systems Committee

Lessons and Challenges Future Input • • e. Lib Phase 3 projects (hybrid libraries) Authentication workshop Institutional demands for local implementation Working with publishers and other content providers • International work Joint Information Systems Committee

Lessons and Challenges • Managing the growing variety of systems and suppliers • Roaming across the digital landscape • Scalability • Finding an ‘Internet’ solution Joint Information Systems Committee

Lessons and Challenges Conclusions • Original goals achieved • Access management appears as important as authentication technology • ATHENS has shown that you can – manage many different security models – minimise impact on users – minimise management overhead for information services Joint Information Systems Committee

CNI, Seattle 1998 Joint Information Systems Committee Networks and Innovative Services for Higher Education Joint Information Systems Committee