UBC’s e-Strategy: uPortal and Open Source Applications Presented to McGill University Portal...
-
Upload
erika-johnson -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of UBC’s e-Strategy: uPortal and Open Source Applications Presented to McGill University Portal...
UBC’s e-Strategy: uPortal and Open Source Applications
Presented to
McGill University Portal Executive Committee
October 24, 2003
Ted Dodds, CIO, University of British Columbia
eResearcheLearning
People
eCommunity
eBusiness Connectivity
Sustaining Operations
The Framework
uPortal at UBC
Very early adopter
– Partly defensive to “free” portal vendors of the day– uPortal has outlasted initial competition
Collaborative development
– Contracted with IBS in early 2000– Development and (Java) skills transfer– Rebuild application development capacity in ITServices– Regular multi-institution developers meetings ongoing
uPortal at UBC
“myUBC” in production September 2000
– uPortal “0.9” – Main channels: web-mail, SIS, calendar– Adoption targeted at incoming cohort (~5,000)– Use grew rapidly to 34,000 users, primarily students
First mover benefits
– UBC was early contributor to JA-SIG clearinghouse– Continue to contribute– Also seek to leverage contributions of others– Upgraded to uPortal 2.0 rather recently
uPortal International Adoption
Adoption continues to increase
– Based on informal survey– More than doubled in past year– 50% outside USA
Multilingual support
– French, Japanese, Swedish– US-based interest in Spanish– Both framework and channels
Mellon Foundation funding
– US$750,000 over 3 years
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2002 2003
uPortal Current and Future
InfoWorld Nov 7/2003
– Nominated for Top 100 software products
Development plans for 3.0
– JSR 168 enabled (standard portlets)– WSRP Remote Portlet Consumer (remote producer)– Delivery date TBA, possible mid-2004
JSR 168 “portlets”
– Pluggable user interface components that provide a presentation layer to Information Systems
uPortal and the “Portal Business”Turning from portal software to
– Adapters and connectors– Implementation expertise and services
Portal frameworks becoming standard/commodity
– Applications becoming focus, hence JSR 168
Risk of implementation failure
– Primary cause: lack of content (“empty” portal)– Gartner: 20% is shelfware– Meta: 30% failure rate (better than IT average!)
1
Source: Jim Farmer’s report on Enterprise Portals Conference, Chicago, Sept. 30/2003
uPortal and the “Portal Business”uPortal continues to compete favourably
– User base, technology, open standards– SAKAI would augment uPortal’s position in Higher Ed.
Open Source can complement commercial
– Luminous product based on uPortal– Unicon (formerly IBS) continued engagement and
commitment– Open really means open
SAKAI Project
Five member consortium
– Michigan– MIT– Indiana– uPortal– OKI
Purpose
– “Code mobility” through open source– Overcome technical and timing challenges– Portal and CMS – Fall 2004– Existing IP integrated – Fall 2005
Related Open Source Projects
SAKAI institutions offer extensive code base
– Institutional level commitment to open source– Belief that sharing provides greater value than
individual attempts to commercialize local innovation
Appications sampler
– Course management (CHEF, Michigan)– Content management (CUCMS, Columbia)– Workflow (EDEN, Indiana)– Personal information (Chandler, OSAF)– Portal (uPortal, JA-SIG)– Identity management (CAS, Yale)
Institutional Collaboration
SAKAI Model
– More examples of collaboration in US than Canada– Networking a possible exception– UBC and UCB
Actively discussing joint projects
Canadian Collaboration
– McGill and UBC appear to have similar vision– Focusing on end-user (productivity, effectiveness,
service)– Opportunity to explore common needs and
collaboration possibilities