New ITS charges for dial-up access
In an effort
to stay within budget, Caltech’s Information Technology Services
group will begin to charge users for services considered not essential
to overall operations, including certain software site licenses and dial-up
network access for ITS account holders.
Dan Meiron,
associate provost for information and information technology, wrote in
a January 24 memo to the Caltech community, “The Institute is committed
to providing those information services necessary to support our research
and educational efforts. To that end, we have provided substantial new
funds this year to upgrade the campus high-speed network, which will allow
ITS to improve network reliability and increase the bandwidth available
in
selected areas.
“However,
even with this additional funding, the need to control the overall budget
requires that the Institute begin charging for some of the less essential
information services that it provides.”
He said that, after consulting with the Institute’s Computing Advisory
Committee, the decision was made to implement the new charges.
Users of
AutoCAD, PTC Pro/Engineer, Pro/Mechanica, PV-WAVE, and Scientific Workplace
software will pay to renew their site licenses after the current ones
expire. ITS will determine a per-license charge for continuing the licenses
for these programs, based on the number of interested users, and users
must provide PTA account numbers to pay for their shares. Site licensing
typically includes free software updates and technical support; users
who choose not to renew their licenses will be able to continue using
the current version but will not receive updates or support.
Users of
dial-up modem access to the Internet and the Caltech network, which has
been free for ITS account holders, will pay a nominal quarterly fee, charged
to a PTA or credit card number. The rate, as yet undetermined, will be
less than that of many major Internet service providers. (This new policy
does not affect network access through Charter Communications cable modems
in the Pasadena area.) For Caltech community members traveling in the
continental United States, ITS will be implementing a toll-free number
for dial-up modem access, and users will be billed monthly.
Details of
these changes will be available in the near future on the ITS Web site,
www.its.caltech.edu. Meiron also
invites any questions or concerns to be directed to him at ext. 8157 or
dim@its.caltech.edu.
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