Workshops

Room key: (1st Floor, level with the plenary room, the Quadrangle Suite, except where noted)

QS: Quadrangle Suite
CC: Christ Church (2nd floor)
HS: Heritage Suite
ME: Maurice Evans Lounge
ML: Manor Lounge
BR: Boardroom (2nd floor)

The exhibition area is on the ground floor, connected to the main level by a large staircase near the entrance.

Workshop Session A 11:55–12:35
A1 Tightening Information Security Sean Duffy, Director of IT Services, University of Birmingham PDF
11:55
QS		 With ever more new technologies and services for communicating and collaborating, coupled with the growing critical reliance on information for universities, companies, and governments, our approach to managing information security needs to keep pace. The legislative environment for information management also continues to evolve. This talk will outline some of the approaches and measures being adopted at Birmingham to address these issues, and the balance of risk between openness, security and usability.
A2 Moonshot Dr Rhys Smith, Cardiff University and Janet  
11:55
CC		 Moonshot is a unifying technology that can provide secure federated access to almost any kind of network application or cloud-based service: from SSH to resources, Exchange in the cloud and even federated desktop sign-in. It helps bridge the gap between current federated access solutions, enabling access to non-web applications, and uses existing infrastructure, to save on deployment costs. This briefing will introduce Moonshot technology to those new to the concept and provide more detailed information on its deployment, use cases and our impending pilot service.
A3 The Cambridge Falcon content management service Helen Sargan, CUCS PDF
11:55
HS		 Three years ago we set up a Plone-based content management service to provide templates websites with in-built functionality on which the site and content are self-managed. We are just going through a re-templating exercise and now have over 80 live sites and over 60 in development. How do we manage the service and keep our users happy?
A4 Oracle Financials Release 12 Project: Update Pete Jones and Nikolas Sharkey, IT Services PDF
11:55
ME		 The next version of Oracle Financials, version 12, will be implemented in November 2013. The Release 12 Project represents by far the most significant development of the University’s finance systems since Oracle was first introduced in 2004. The move to R12 provides opportunities in terms of improved functionality and user experience, particularly in the area of research grants, reporting and purchase to pay (including moving across to an Oracle Financials hosted online store for procurement). It will also give the University the opportunity to cleanse the Oracle Financials database of redundant data and review all of the existing processes, interfaces and configuration setups.
In this session, Pete Jones, Technical Lead, and Nikolas Sharkey, Data Conversion Workstream Lead will provide an update on the R12 Project timeline, key milestones, training and support provisions for users as well as a technical update and impact assessment for the IT community. More information on the R12 Project can be found at: https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/finance/financialssupport/r12/.
A5 What is this Integrated Communications Project all about? Alan Hillyer, Telecoms, IT Services  
11:55
BR		 This workshop will give you a very brief update on what, why, when and how the project is going to affect you, your department or your college. We will then provide a live, more in-depth, demo of the new facilities that will become available mid 2014 and then migrated out to the wider collegiate university each month until late 2017. This will involve soft-phones, presence and instant messaging.
A6 Getting the Maximum Benefit from Free and Open Source Software Scott Wilson, OSSwatch Service Manager and
Mark Johnson, OSSwatch Development Manager		 PDF
11:55
ML		 Free and open source software is now widespread and well-used, but are we getting the maximum benefit from it? This talk covers the basic of free and open source software, recent developments in the FOSS world and recommends the best ways to utilise it in your IT and procurement strategies.
Workshop Session B 13:45–14:25
B1 Raspberry Pi Recipes Greg Jennings, Hertford College  
13:45
QS		 So you have bought the Raspberry Pi and have it now sitting there gathering dust. How about putting it to use in a quick and easy way? Greg describes a number of projects at Hertford College and home using the Raspberry Pi and how he's created a library of turn-key appliances.
B2 WebRTC - Unifying all Communication directly in the Browser? Ronald Haynes, CUCS PDF
13:45
CC		 Web Real Time Communications is a new standard emerging from the W3C, along with HTML5 and initially backed by Google and Mozilla, which permits live and direct audio and video communications between browsers. With the potential to either unseat Skype and the like, or to be the natural evolution of such synchronous communications, this will be an overview and demonstration of the technology, along with some solutions to mix and match communications between WebRTC-enabled browsers and Skype, traditional videoconferencing (H.323) and a range of other live comms.
B3 Two approaches to disaster recovery in virtualised environments: comparing the solutions of three Colleges and the University Cloud Ben Bridle, Lady Margaret Hall & St Hughs
and Adrian Parks, IT Services		  
13:45
HS		 In this session, Ben Bridle (Lady Margaret Hall and St Hughs) and Adrian Parks (IT Services) will present two solutions to the tricky problem of disaster recovery of VMware vSphere environments. Both budget and the technology can be limiting factors in a DR implementation, and this talk will look at the pitfalls and complications of providing business continuity to both a college vSphere environment and the University private cloud.
B4 Python: 2 or 3? Bruce Beckles, CUCS PDF
13:45
ME		 Python is a scripting language that is being used more and more in both IT and academia. At present, there are two main versions of Python in use, Python 2 and Python 3. Python 2 is no longer being developed, but as Python 3 is not backwardly compatible with Python 2, migrating from Python 2 to Python 3 is not always straightforward. In this talk I'll discuss the main differences between Python 2 and Python 3, some of the pitfalls in migrating from one to the other, and why you might choose one version over the other for current programming projects. Please note that this talk is not a tutorial on the Python scripting language.
B5 Big Data and Storage as a Service: Help shape and prepare for the future Andrew Richards, OeRC and Jon Hutchings, IT Services  
13:45
BR		 The term Big Data is increasingly being used to describe a broad range of large data storing and large data processing activities and Storage as a Service is becoming pervasive with the advent of services like Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive and BT Cloud. The true value of Big Data is often in the creation of new areas of understanding, cross linking data sets and analysing real time data streams to produce a new understanding of a subject. As service providers our challenge is understanding not only the different types of Big Data being talked about but to understand what we can practically do to support these activities. This includes understanding what current technologies exist that can support the growing volumes of digital data, how to manage that data and what we can develop to not only make supporting these activities easier but to enable new future areas of research. This workshop, being delivered jointly with the IT Services Infrastructure Group, aims to look at what we can do collectively as a research computing support community to build federated data silos to empower the big data generation. Discussion will include gathering requirements from the audience and current outline plans for a multi-tier Storage-as-a-Service offering, including the possibilities of a university Dropbox-like service, will be presented
B6 Why Universities and Colleges need to implement IPv6 Stephen Kirk, Cisco Systems PDF
13:45
ML		 In this talk , Stephen Kirk, an engineer at Cisco Systems will explain why the IPv6 protocol should be a top of mind for all IT organisations due to the exhaustion of the global IPv4 pool and the risks associated with not having a transition plan in place. He will further talk about the impact that IPv6 will have on the topical subject of the Internet of Everything.
Workshop Session C 14:35–15:15
C1 Data management and process improvement - a pragmatic approach Mark Dyson, Lady Margaret Hall  
14:35
QS		 An introduction to the approach taken to improve the processes surrounding data management. The introduction and subsequent discussion will be aimed at how: A “Process Improvement” project can be managed, Data management issues can be identified, Processes and data flows can be mapped, Data ownership and personal responsibility can be introduced and maintained and Better integration of systems can be evaluated, implemented and what can be achieved
An initial presentation will be given showing how these points were addressed in projects carried out at Lady Margaret Hall and New College, Oxford.
C2 Sophos: global threat detection Fraser Howard, Sophos  
14:35
CC		 This presentation will provide an overview of the current threat landscape for malware, with a deep dive into some of the techniques used for distribution and infection of users’ machines. There will be specific focus on the how web servers have proven to be easy targets for hackers, which enables them to be abused for the purpose of driving malware installations. With reference to real examples, we will describe some of the structure behind today’s malware “industry” and reveal how users get infected.
C3 Windows 8.1: A Help Desk view Richard Carpenter, IT Services —
14:35
HS		 This workshop is an overview of the new features and changes to the Windows OS that Windows 8 has brought in. The talk focuses on the new "modern" user interface as well as new features of the OS. Also covered is how Windows 8 works with some centrally provided services such as wireless networking and Nexus. Richard will also talk about the changes which will be implemented in the OS by the recent Windows 8.1 update
C4 Evidence based security James Davis, Janet  
14:35
ME		 A call to action for us to go back and rethink some of the assumptions we've made on how to defend our assets. Looking at, and measuring, what impact controls we place on our network actually have on the outcomes we're looking for rather than relying upon dogma.
C5 Moving to the Shared Data Centre Ross Wackett, Linacre College PDF
14:35
BR		 Linacre College had a poorly located server room, with cooling issues and power supply problems. This talk will detail the experience of moving Linacre's server infrastructure to the USDC and also explore the options available to those interested in the USDC.
C6 Syndicated content on Web Pages - doing it right Jon Warbrick, CUCS PDF
14:35
ML		 It's often useful to include dynamic content from elsewhere in web pages that you manage - alerts, adverts, contents of RSS feeds, twitter streams, etc. But it's not easy to do this efficiently, robustly, or in a way that doesn't compromise the security of of the page in question or the entire site. This talk will identify some of the pitfalls and point out some possible solutions.
Workshop Session D 15:45–16:25
D1 It Just Works: The Managed Mac Platform at Oxford Alan Williamson and Robin Miller, NSMS, IT Services  
15:45
QS		 As Macs continue to proliferate in higher education, providing efficient and effective Mac management presents a growing challenge for IT staff. Join some of the NSMS Mac Team for an overview of the Managed Mac Platform at Oxford. Learn how and why it was developed, some lessons learned, ways in which it is evolving to meet Mac support needs within the University, and how your department can benefit from the service.
D2 Managing IT Risk Tom Anstey, Institute of Molecular Medicine PDF
15:45
CC		 Much of the data that moves around our systems will contain information that is in one way or another sensitive. In order to know how to handle this, we need to have an idea of what the sensitivities of that data are and to whom; what we MUST do something about, and what we SHOULD do something about in order to minimise the risks to the University, our colleagues, friends,families and to our own lives. This session looks at possible ways of assessing and then mitigating risk so that we know what sort of appetite for risk we have.
D3 Beyond the Help Desk - Implementing a new IT support management system Mihaela Damian and Dan Sexton, Clinical Schools Computing Service, Cambridge PDF
15:45
HS		 The Clinical Schools Computing Service at Cambridge recently reviewed their business needs and processes, and selected and implemented a LANDesk system as a closest fit to their requirements, customising it to meet the business needs and achieve their targeted benefits. The system is process-centred, ITIL-based, and modular, and so far they have launched: Incident Management, Service Request Management, asset repository, analyst workload management, automated billing management. Having cleaned and transferred existing data, they also retired three obsolete software applications and a series of smaller afferent software tools. There are more plans in the pipeline, including integration with central financial systems, team calendars and asset management, as well as developing a self-service and web-based approach.
D4 Focus on the user experience - how an ICT Strategy is born Chris Bamber, Somerville College PDF
15:45
ME		 What happens after the IT function of a College is reviewed? This talk will look at how Somerville College moved forward to increase the internal and external perceptions of users and to improve the experience for both ICT Staff, College staff and students. An IT review is just the start of things, embracing its recommendations can improve the experience all round.
D5 Webapps or Native apps? A museum perspective Anjanesh Babu, Ashmolean Museum PDF
15:45
BR		 With increasing number of organisations that are presenting app offerings, the app space is indeed getting crowded along with blurring lines of differentiation for the users. How does one make a call for balancing native device capacity with restrictions by platform and what impact does this hold for creativity as well skill sets in the developer community? We intend to provide an insight gained during our journey, comparing and contrasting the vastly underrated area of web app development and the increasingly deeper hooks they are providing to native apps within our goals of engaging those already in the museum and more importantly ;bringing the museum to visitors who are on the outside.
D6 The Drama of Kerberos Pod's Players, IT Services —
15:45
ML		 At the ITSS conference circa 2004 Chris Cooper (pod) and Ray Miller presented a talk involving mathematical proofs, cash boxes, keys and the audience to explain the complexities of Kerberos, which underpins Oxford Single Sign on. Here we re-enact the Drama of Kerberos in honour of our friend and colleague pod. This is a tech talk with a difference, so, if you have ever wondered what Kerberos is, how it works, how it was designed and why it was chosen please come along and find out.