Recent problems with email and computer processing speed derive from the College’s data storage systems, according to Chief Information Officer Mitch Davis.
Davis alerted students and faculty to the problem by email last Friday and explained that addi- tional storage would be added to solve the issue.
The new storage systems have been installed and the data transfer process began on Wednesday night. The process is expected to be completed by Monday, though Davis believes that the alleviation of the problem should begin im- mediately.
The current problems students and faculty have been having with speed are due to increased data storage campus-wide.
Over the past few years, data storage has been increasing “almost exponentially” according to Director of Networking and Telecommunications Jason Lavoie.
Data storage has jumped overall but especially for individuals.
“We noticed some failure in individual accounts rather than just in a general group of people,” Davis said. “We found some people that were using 50 per cent of the processor on a server to run their email.”
Davis recommends that students and faculty delete emails from their inboxes and trash folders to help alleviate part of this problem.
While some simple solutions can solve individual problems, there are other more complex issues at work.
“I don’t feel as though any one thing is the source of strain,” Adam Lord, director of systems and enterprise architecture said. “We’re growing as an organization and with that comes growing pains.”
“Technology is more integrated into the curriculum that means we provide more services to support that,” Lord said.
One of those new services is activEcho, a cloud-based storage system available to anyone with a Bowdoin email account. activEcho can be accessed from on and off campus. By storing data in the cloud, this service helps to relieve the strain on the College’s data storage system.
“We’re trying to test how we can utilize the cloud better,” Davis said.
The College also plans to implement new technologies for deleting duplicate files and compressing existing files.
“A lot of these services exist today but we want to create an environment which is seamless to the consumer,” Lord said. “There’s a great complexity in some of this stuff that we’re trying to simplify.”
In July, the current data system in the basement of Hubbard will be moved to Oxford Networks at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
“We’ll have it fixed soon and this fall it won’t be a problem,” Davis said.