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

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

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

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

23. 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 Feedback Synthesis of responses:

24. 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

25. 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 Lessons

26. 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 JISC Proposals for ATHENS

27. eLib 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 Future Input

28. 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 Challenges

29. 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 Lessons and Challenges Conclusions

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