Students from two Ball State University colleges were recognized by Computerworld recently for designing a system to efficiently secure and back up a computer network.
Associate professor of management Fred Kitchens said eight students from Information Systems and Operations Management and six from the Center for Information and Communication Sciences worked on a project for Delaware County Information Services. The students addressed problems in network security and recovering information in the event of a disaster.
Director of CICS Steve Jones said the team of Ball State students were one of about 100 honored in Computerworld's Laureate Class of 2008. Teams were honored in 10 categories.
"There were submissions from 1-800-flowers.com to Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, so it's a diverse group," he said.
According to its Web site, Computerworld is a leading source of technology news and information for information technology influencers worldwide.
CICS has done similar projects before, Jones said. In the past 10 years the center has done projects for about three-fourths of the United Way organizations, he said.
Jim Flook, Delaware County director of information services, said he proposed the project. He approached Jones for outside input into the county's information network and ways it could improve.
Kitchens said the project lasted two semesters. Students were divided into two teams of four during the first semester and added the six CICS students during the second semester. Each team addressed one aspect of the project.
One part of the project was to secure the network and make it more adaptive to the internet, he said. The other part was to insure that all the information was accessible if the main server was destroyed.
The students presented the project to Flook when they completed it after the 2007 Spring Semester, Kitchens said. The students impressed Flook enough to ask them to present it again to then Muncie Mayor Dan Canan and more than a dozen city officials, he said.
"The presentation was very, very good," Flook said. "Both groups acted very professional and presented themselves as a company. They put some hours into it."
Kitchens said it was one of his policies to not grade projects unless the client accepted it.
Flook said he took some of the ideas from the finished project and tailored them based on cost. Lack of funding is forcing him to be selective in what parts of the project to use, he said, and the ideas will be implemented in stages.
Kitchens said he and ISOM were proud of its students for gaining national recognition.
"I was thrilled," Kitchens said, "it was fantastic. It's a testament to the quality of the entire education these kids are getting."
Jones said it was nothing new that the students on the project received the honor. CICS has been a "fairly proficient group that is often recognized nationally," he said.
Computerworld
For more information about Computerworld visit computerworld.com
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