Integrated Technology Services (ITS) History Timeline

1950s

In the mid 50s, Dana Wasson (a recent UNB graduate) designed and built DANPEC – a dial activated non-programmed electronic computer. It has 250 vacuum tubes, occupied two floor-to-ceiling telephone racks, and performed four functions: add, subtract, multiply, divide.

1959

The Royal-McBee LGP-30 was purchased by the Electrical Engineering Department, costing $35,000.00. This acquisition was financed with NBEPC in a cooperative arrangement with the university. This digital computer, the first ever purchased by the university, was housed in what was the radio Amateur Room on the second floor of the old EE-building, which at one time had been the university gym.

Additional equipment was also purchased to add to the LGP-30: 300 character/second paper tape reader, several Flexowriters- an electric typewriter (10 characters per second) with an attached paper tape reader and punch for student use.

1964

The Royal-McBee LGP-30 was replaced by an IBM 1620 II, a stored program data processing system. Its memory size was 40 000 characters, and it had twenty times the internal speed of the LGP-30. Acquired in association with NBEPC, who contributed 33% of the overall cost of the machine, UNB entered into a ‘computing partnership’ to provide service to NBEPC over the life of the machine. This partnership began a 25 year period over which UNB provided mainframe computing cycles to external customers throughout the province. The initial equipment cost for this item and relevant accessories was $180,000.00.

The Computing Centre was established as a separate entity, with Dr. W. Dana Wasson as Director.

1965

A 1443 online printer for the IBM 1620 II, and two disk drives, Memory size 60 000 characters, with the secondary memory capacity of 2 million characters each, were purchased. This enabled a Disk Operating System to be installed.

UNB’s first Programmer Operator, Pat Emin, was hired.

1967

Sir Edmund Head Hall (New Engineering Building) opened, and the Computing Centre was moved to the D-level.

1968

Supported by UNB’s advanced technology, UNB established the first Department of Computer Science in Canada, offering the Master of Computer Science degree through Electrical Engineering.

The IBM 360/50G, at the time the most powerful computer in Canada east of Montreal, was installed. The memory size of the IBM 360/50 was 128Kbytes. This computer was rented from IBM at a 20% education discount for approximately $20,000.00/month. Along with the mainframe, there was 128K memory, 4 2311(28 megabyte) disk drives, a 1403 printer and 2 tape drives.

The IBM 2821, a printer control unit, was purchased for $20,000; along with this an IBM 1403, a chain printer, was purchased for $25,000.

UNB’s ‘Engineering Library Indexing and Searching Technique’ (ENLIST), a computer implementation of a traditional filecard indexing/cataloguing system was created by Albert Stevens, of UNB’s Department of Civil Engineering.

The first issue of the Computing Services Department newsletter, Compilation, was published.

Jean-Paul Tremblay, a young Faculty member in Computing Science, wrote UNB’s first payroll program. Using a computer language called PL/I, the program was put into production and computed gross pay, deductions and produced the appropriate accounting reports and cheques. This program would be used for UNB’s payroll for 30 years.

1969

Large Disk system called IBM 2314 with a memory capacity of 256K – and a secondary memory of 230 million characters was purchased to compliment the mainframe. It had 8 drives, with 29.2 megs per drive.

FABLE, a high speed batch service on a self service card reader/printer was initiated at UNB.

1970

In an innovative pilot project, UNB established the first regional ‘network’ in the country. Working in association with the New Brunswick Higher Education Commission, this pilot project became known as the New Brunswick Educational Computer Network. It operated at 2400 baud(Bd), and was connected to remote terminals at the Université de Moncton, Mount Allison University, and UNB in Saint John.

The first Computer Science courses were given at UNB in the summer of 1970. These courses included:
- C.S. 2001 – Introduction to Computer Programming
- C.S. 2002 – Computer Science Concepts

The Baylor Executive System for Teleprocessing (BEST) was selected for use at the UNB Computing Centre as a vehicle to satisfy existing interactive teleprocessing requirements.

1971

Dial in modems at UNB. 115 baud is the spped of the connections between IBM 2741 terminals and the IBM 370 mainframe running APL/360. Ken Iverson invented this quirky but lovable language, and had visited UNB the year before. The modems are acoustic couplers in fancy wood boxes with a hinged top on them. The 2741 was basically an IBM Selectric typewriter with an interchangeable ‘goof ball’ element, packaged on small table.

1972

The IBM 370-155 was installed. This model was three to four times as fast as the model 50; it initially had 1 million bytes of core storage – twice as much as the 50. A 3330 disk drive with four disks was a part of the new machine; this unit had twice the capacity of the previous 2314 disk storage. Two new 3420 tape drives replaced old ones. New drives recorded at either 800 or 1600 bytes per inch. This computer was leased for a year from IBM, at a rate of $37,000.00/month.

A considerable commitment from the mainframe was devoted to the new system of student evaluation implemented at UNB – the change was from percentages to letter grades and the GPA system.

Status lights in the hallway were installed, telling you when the computer was up or down, as well as when it was in transition. Some of these Red/yellow/greed boxes are still installed in the hallways.

A Programming Language (APL) language and time sharing system made service available via Typewriter Terminals at UNB.

1973

Computer Science became a School, administratively affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering, and began to offer an undergraduate BScCS degree.

The IBM 370-158 was installed. The approximate cost of the machine was 2 million dollars.

Single Virtual System (SVS) operating system was implemented at UNB. Released by IBM in 1972, OS/VS2 replaced the Multitasking with a Fixed number of Tasks (MFT), permitting systems to function with additional virtual allocations of space beyond the computer’s physical memory.

The ECN was officially incorporated, with the title the NBECN. It soon expanded to be called the New Brunswick/PEI Educational Computer Network. Now commonly referred to as the ECN, it links UNB Fredericton and St. John with St. Thomas University, Université de Moncton, Mount Allison, University of Prince Edward Island, University of Moncton’s in Moncton, Edmunston and Shippagan, PEI’s Holland College and The Maritime College of Forest Technology in Fredericton. The network agreement has continually been renewed every 5 years since, and is the longest standing academic network in Canada.

APL was used by UNB to configure an electronic method of sharing files between computers, establishing, for all intents and purposes, the first electronic mailing system on campus.

Remote Job Entry (RJE) was developed at UNB for use with APL and involved modifications to the HASP system to support.

1974

Dr. W. Dana Wasson, also known as “Mr. Computer” retired as the first Director of the Computing Centre, to focus on his duties as a professor at the School of Computer Science. He became the first Director of the School of Computer Science.

Mr. Bart Claus takes over Dr. Wasson’s position as Director of the Computing Centre.

Computer Science conferred its first BSc (Computer Science) degree.

The Academic Data processing/Electronic Data Processing (ADP/EDP) became a separate entity. Responsible for Accounting, Student Records, and Payroll Personnel, the ADP/EDP was originally housed in the old Veehill Residence – the old Math building, which stood where Gillan Hall currently resides.

1975

A PDP 11 – a DEC computer for financial processing was purchased by the Comptroller’s office.

1976

Susan Collins, in association with Kirby Keyser, placed the first part of the library catalogue on a Serials List through Batch Processing, and placed them from computers to Microfilm for easy access on each floor of the library

Based on a system designed by Blackwell North America (Canada), an experiment in computerized library cataloguing is undertaken by the Association of Atlantic Universities at UNB. The database provided Machine Readable Cataloguing Cards (MARC) and was updated weekly on tapes. The system was designed to support simultaneously the cataloguing and book processing activities of libraries, either individually or in groups, and services were offered, from UNB as the hub, to any library within the Maritime provinces, or to any library in Canada.

1977

A major enhancement to computer hardware occurs: 1.5 million bytes of INTEL main memory (bringing main memory to 3 million bytes); two new I/O channels were installed (bringing the system to 5 channels_). This was the University’s first step beyond IBM.

1978

Dr. John Anderson, President of UNB, officially inaugurated service on the new IBM 370-3032. This installation, with associated disks and controllers, came to $2,924,190.35. This computer was capable of 2.7 to 3.3 times the performance of the IBM 370/158 for identical programs. It was purchased with 4 megabytes of memory and 32 k highspeed buffer storage, with a secondary storage of almost 4 billion characters. It had a standard six functionally independent channels integrated with the processor. This computer was able to accept three million instructions per second. The Cambex upgraded machine with a third party memory would be subsequently upgraded:– from 4 to 6 megabytes in 1980;– from 6 to 8 megabytes in 1981;– from 8 to 12 megabytes in 1982; and from 12 to 14 megabytes in 1983. The Cambex had to be engineered because IBM did not support an upgrade beyond 12 megabytes.

A Courier Controller, along with a printer, 2 operations consoles and up to 12 APL/3270-look-a-likes were purchased.

Summer of 1978 was the initializing of the mechanized student records. Saved as Batch files, student records were originally maintained through MARK IV.

1979

VSPC – Time Sharing introduced to UNB, providing interactive service with APL, Basic FORTRAN and Remote Job Entry (RJE) access to Batch services. UNB was one of the first institutions in the world to acquire it. Considered at the time to be IBM’s flagship product, VSPC was a time-sharing system, i.e. instead of using the usual punched cards and running down to the one card reader, you could sign on at a terminal and do your programming from there - even from your own office – quite a novel concept at the time!

UNB migrates from SVS to a Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) operating system.

Opening of a self-service reader/printer station in Tilley Hall for Faculty and Students of Arts. (a project of the Faculty of Arts with the co-operation of the Computing Centre.)

Bart Claus retires, and Dave Macneil takes on the position of Director of the CSD.

1980

UNB implements MVS/SE.

Harriet Irving Library’s PHOENIX system is implemented. The first online library catalogue in the country, PHOENIX was developed by UNB’s Brian Lesser, a programmer/analyst in the Computer Centre.

1981

UNB’s PHOENIX cataloguing system is highlighted in ‘Downeast Libraries’ publication in September, 1981. Beginning with a controller and 19 terminals, it eventually boasted over 250 terminals on its Fredericton campus.

UNB’s Brian Lesser wrote MERCURY, an electronic message program for mainframe users. Implemented by the UNB Computing Centre in October of of this year through the auspices of the NB/PEI ECN, on a Wide Area Network (WAN). MERCURY was based on and replaced an earlier APL electronic mailing system.

UNB started installing Canadian made COMTERM terminals in the library and at other locations on campus. These were deployed at about half the cost of IBM terminals.

1982

UNB’s Computing Centre Data Entry Group converted from IBM 029 keypunches to the IBM 5280 data entry system, whereby operators key onto diskettes, making the user dataaccessible in machine readable form as an OS dataset instead of punched cards, providing a 25% increase in turnaround efficiency.

UNB is highlighted as housing the most powerful single computer in Atlantic Canada – the IBM 3032, and as being the one of the largest concentrations of computer technology in Atlantic Canada, in the Data Processor publication, Vol.12 No.1.

UNB upgraded the IBM 3032 from 8MB of Memory to 14MB at a cost of $55k, extending the life of the mainfraime by one year.

1983

The IBM 3081D, a dyadic processor, was installed, featuring 24 megabytes of memory, 16 integrated channels for concurrent input and output to attached devices, extensive use of microcode and advanced new technology for processor unit logic, a dedicated service support console for concurrent interaction with diagnostic and support functions and a significant reduction in power, space and cooling requirements. Its instruction execution rate (about 10 million instructions per second) is approximately 3.7 times that of its predecessor, the 3032. The cost of purchase of the 3081D, with its 3083 process controller, the 3087 coolant distribution unit and the 3278 display console came to $3,139,847.71.

UNB has the 2 nd broadband cluster in Canada. Broadband, similar to TV cable, functions as biaxial with 15 return channels. UNB hired a company to do the design and to train and install the cabling. This system even had a channel with video on it, with a satellite, and could broadcast a ‘show’ to campus.

UNB has 168 microcomputers (Personal computers) on campus.

Online access to student records first occurred, initially through Time Sharing Operating System (TSO), and subsequently through Customer Information Computer System (CICS); CICS was an expensive program, costing at the time circa $20,000/month.

A UNB contingent of Laurie Mersereau, Brian Kaye, Dave Fellows and Brian Cassidy travel to Waterloo to look for a replacement for Keypunches. A couple of Local Area Network solutions were available at the time: Ports and JANET. UNB decides to adopt JANET. JANET was a network consisting of a group of IBM PCs. As many as 30 workstations could be connected; these were called ‘clusters’. One of the workstations contained both a hard and a floppy disk, a network card, and a printer; this computer acted as the controller PC.

1984

The Mercurion Page Printer, connected to the mainframe, went into production at UNB. UNB was one of the first institutions in Canada to purchase the Mercurion, which used 8 x 11 three-hole drilled, cut sheets of paper, as opposed to the traditional continuous feed paper. The Mercurion printed 60 pages per minute. With very few screens/terminals on campus, most departments still relied on printed reports. In 1985, a second Mercurion was added. Between the two, they printed more paper than ALL the photocopiers on campus combined – 250 000 pages/week (10 cases of paper per day), making that well over 12 million pages/year.

Local Area Networks (LANs) began on the Fredericton Campus. This network simplified and reduced the cost of the interconnection of terminals, micro-computers, minicomputers and word processors throughout the campus. Previously the technology used was a point to point wiring for all computer connections. The Local Area Network provided a common ‘buss’ through the campus. PCs had access to 2Mbps of bandwidth.

The introduction of “JANET” to UNB. The workstations were required to have at least 64K of memory and a network card, but had no disk drives. The workstations had the capacity to have colour displays. The two10 Mbps harddrives for the controller cost $3000.00 each.

NetNorth link to Bitnet joins Guelph and Cornell University in US. NetNorth Organizes as three “regional nets” one in Central Canada, one in Atlantic, one in the West.

UNB was the first university in Canada to provide students with an email address. Though technically available since the creation of the APL electronic sharing service first initiated in 1972, critical awareness of the functionality of such a system delayed its being overtly understood and accepted by the campus population until the mid eighties.

1985

MERCURY was modified to generate ‘Bitnet’ compatible messages.

NetNorth link to Atlantic Canada established at UNB. NetNorth allowed university faculty and administrators in the Atlantic Provinces (through the NB/PEI ECN) who had access to UNB’s MERCURY mail system to communicate quickly, easily, and at no cost, with colleagues in universities and research centres as far away as Israel and Japan. IBM granted $180,000 over three years to the establishment of this project in Atlantic Canada.

The MPHEC, through the NB/PEI ECN and the Computing Centre at UNB, substantially upgraded the Network Facility. Over $200,000 was spent to double the capacity of network links and extend additional services to remote network sites. This meant that 9600bps was upped to 19,200bps.

The Computing Centre sets up a User Help Desk. The Help Desk provided a single point of contact for users to report problems, and was established to improve response time.

The Computing Centre, with the support of the School of Computer Science and research contract funds, installed a ‘state of the art’ Data Base Management system. This would be used in research and teaching as well as to meet internal administrative needs.

UNB boasted over 515 terminals on its Fredericton campus. Including those established off campus, over 750 terminals were connected to UNB’s central system.

IBM 3480 Magnetic Tape Subsystem, using a cartridge enclosed magnetic tapes, was installed.

The Microcomputer File Transfter package (FTP), enabling the transfer of files to or from a linked microcomputer, is introduced at UNB.

UNB has 395 microcomputers (Personal computers) on campus.

1986

The IBM 3090-180 mainframe was installed. For general computing, this computer was about 1.5 times faster than its predecessor. It had 32 million bytes (MB) of central storage (expandable to 64 MB) and 16 channels (expandable to 32). IBM designed the 3090 series specifically to address the computing requirements of engineers and scientists. This was achieved by improving scalar performance, and adding optional parallel and vector processing capabilities.

The VECTOR facility, a processor, was added to the mainframe in August of ’86. It was the first installed at a Canadian University and the world’s first on a 3090-180. The Vector was an extension of the central processor’s instruction and execution elements that allows the CPU to execute vector arithmetic and logical operations on up to 128 sets of operands with a single instruction. Also added was an IBM 7171 protocol converter.

KERMIT was made available for use at UNB. KERMIT was a protocol for transferring files from one computer to another over ordinary asynchronous terminal connections.

UNB hosts Net 86 Conference. IBM is a sponsor.

1987

The Computer Science Ph.D. program was approved.

UNB joined the Apple University Consortium.

The VSPC electronic mail replaces the MERCURY mail system.

UNB’s Electronic Mail Environments (NETNORTH, BITNET, CSNET,USENET, CENNET) were given, through the VSPC email, a single point entry, enabling faculty and staff to communicate without having to deal with different ‘front ends’.

In October of 1987, the Computing Centre closed down the last piece of “card handling” equipment, ending UNB’s era of computer punch cards.

1988

The second Canadian Networking Conference was held in Fredericton, New Brunswick at UNB. Over one-hundred people attended.

IBM Canada established, in association with several Canadian Universities, a Regional Academic Supercomputing Centre at UNBF. UNB’s regional centre developed expertise in the areas of Computational Chemistry, Computer Science, and Engineering. (At this time UNBF had graduate and undergraduate courses in Supercomputing).

The Computing Centre begins to offer Laser Printing Services for general use.

Multi-User System for Interactive Computing (MUSIC), an interactive terminal system, replaced the VSPC as the primary interactive service on UNB’s mainframes. MUSIC ran on an IBM 9370, and was accessible from most mainframe terminals on campus, from the campus Local Area Network (LAN); it also had dialup access.

Unix (an industry standard operating system initially for small to moderate sized computers, widely used in scientific and engineering workstations) was introduced in 1988, and became widely available at UNB and included 6 public networked machines by 1990.

UNB’s administrative applications and on-line users began its upward hike. In 1988, UNB had about 170 clients in 10 application areas, including libraries. By the end of 1996, CSD was supporting 845 users in approximately 25 systems.

UNB’s Computer Services Director, David Macneil, is placed on the first Board of Directors for CA*Net – Canada’s Research Network.

ECN installed its first TCP/IP routers to allow full ‘internet’ traffic between universities.

UNB’s Computer Services employee Brian Kaye is chosen to be New Brunswick’s representative on the committee to organize the Canadian Domain Name system.

With the building of the Gillan Hall Wing, a major renovation takes place in the Computer Services Department, with an expansion between April and August, enabling the smaller computer room to be extensively enlarged. 112

1989

PHOENIX, the library database, moved to the Customer Information Control System (CICS) system of transaction, increasing efficiency in computer communications, and became accessible through MUSIC.

UNB Libraries installs one of the first CD-ROM networks in university libraries. The hardware allowed users at multiple locations to access data stored on CD-ROMs on a central server. The technology was highlighted in a couple of articles published in 1990.

UNB has over 800 microcomputers (Personal computers) on campus.

UNB enters into agreement with the NRC, University of Toronto, IBM and INSIC (a communications supplier) to set up the regional component of a national high-speed research network called CA*net. This network was referred to as “the internet”. The stated purpose of the network was to: collaborate, share ideas, and to have access to databases, computing resources and libraries throughout North America using a common system. UNB’s contribution was act as the NODE for the province.

NB*Net, a telecommunications consortium, had its first meeting in October of this year. UNB, through Computing Services, was a founding member in partnership with Datacor, ACOA, the Government of NB’s departments of Supply and Services and Economic Development and Tourism, and CADMI. NB*Net linked New Brunswick Industrial and government users with businesses and academic institutions in a high speed digital network.

The Micro Repair shop was set up at UNB. The first employee who was hired to run the shop was Doreen Hartely. The first Technical Assistant was Greg Rowan.

1990

In February of 1990, UNB/the ECN began the deployment of TCP/IP routers with the purchase of Proteon P4200 and P4100 Routers. These routers were allocated 2400 and 4800bps synchronous ports on the various ECN 19.2000 Stat modems.

In June of this year, UNB’s routers for the NB/PEI Educational Computer Network were connected to CA*net. CA*net fostered and facilitated research and development, education, and technology transfer among industry, government and educational institutions. CA*net was used for all computer network applications including electronic mail, conferencing, network news, file transfer, and remote login.

PHOENIX was the first library catalogue in Canada to become publicly available to off-campus users, over the internet.

The indexing and abstracting service of the Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC) was added to the PHOENIX system. This database gave more than 600,000 citations to journal articles and research reports.

UNB introduced the SUN servers to its Fredericton Campus, and acquired a site licence on the SUN operating system and software to enable a blanket distribution to departments at no charge.

Computer Science conferred its first PhD in 1990.

UNB Campus Wide Information System on the internet.

CSD stopped deploying broadband.

1991

UNB lays its first fibre optic cables.

The university aggressively moved to a distributed computing environment involving all university departments, both academic and non-academic. By this time, UNB had over 1700 microcomputers (Personal computers) on campus. In that academic year, more than a computer a day was purchased at a cost exceeding 2.5 million dollars. Both local area and wide area networks were expanded.

Consortium formed to operate NBNet. NetNorth strategic plan paves the way for CA*net to replace NetNorth. Activated in April, 1991, the Network equalled the internet for New Brunswick.

Valid Logic Systems of San Jose, California, award the Electrical Engineering Department a major grant of electronic design automation software tools. Valued at over $7,250,000.00, the grant signifycantly increased computer resources for Electrical Engineering students.

CSD includes ‘the internet’ in their faculty oriented class on the instructional use of computers.

CSD, in a joint venture with the Geology department, purchased a site license for the Ingres database system on the SUN Unix platforms. This was upgraded during the 1993-94, and again during the 1994-95 years, adding among other things development tools for clients.

1992

Consortium of 5 partners, one of which was UNB, operate NBNet. NetNorth strategic plan paves the way for CA*net to replace NetNorth. In April of this year, 2 Wellfleet routers are installed between New Brunswick cities and interconnected with fiber optic cable, at rates of 56Kbps, up from the 19.2Kbps of the ECN.

The ASAP online service has more than 20 systems, supporting about 500 users.

The IBM 9121-320 was installed with Vector processor.

The 9370 upgrade – 2 mainframes and a smaller 150 installed; the maching ran VM, MUSIC system. 144 – double check this information...

By 1992, with 1200 full time employees at the university, there were about 1200 PC’s on campus.

UNB sets up a Task Force on Information Technology.

UNB Operates NBNet dial-up service and NBNet HelpDesk.

Two Wellfleet Campus Routers are installed and interconnected with Fibre Optic Cable.

UNB installs CAT5 UTP (unshielded twisted pair) wire to Business Admin Faculty and deploys its first 10basenet (Ethernet over twisted pair) using XYPLEX hubs. Over the next 5 years, major campus infrastructure work was done to install CAT 5 UTP cable in all departments.

1993

25th anniversary of the Compilation.

UNB Libraries was awarded a Futures Fund grant to purchase its first UNIX computer (a SUN SPARC Classic). This machine, eventually called DeGaulle, would become the University's first Web Server.

UNB was the first university in Canada to officially host a ‘comprehensive’ university website: www.unb.ca. Of the eight university websites functioning at the time, the other 7 concentrated on a specific department (or, for Carleton University, three separate sites for three departments), with research, database of accounts, peer reviewed journals or conference information being housed. The UNB site housed “information on UNB Chairs, Centres, and Institutes; information about business opportunities in New Brunswick (eg. Information about: quality of life, recreation, research and development); searchable papers of Lord Beaverbrook; information about UNB libraries; information about UNB athletics; information for alumni”

In Septemeber of 1993, Steve Sloan and Kirby Keyser host UNB’s first seminar/workshop on the World Wide Web (WWW), by invitation, for select members of UNB’s faculty and staff.

UNB provides mail and access to their gopher and news servers.

Tandem donates a non stop computer and is connected to UNB via a CISCO router (cobra) and a T1 line.

1994

The Wellfleet routers speeds were upgraded twice this year, first in April to 6 x 56Kpbs and again in the Fall to the T1 speed of 1.54Mbps.

JD69 was renovated and is UNB’s ‘Multimedia Lab’. It contained six computers (2 PCs, 2 MACs and 2 SUNs). These have hardware and software for authoring multimedia presentations, lectures and course material. There are accessories such as scanners and colour printers. It was financed by a combination of CSD operating, Alteration and Renovation and Non- space funds as well as a donation from Sun Canada. It also housed a Xerox colour printer, a TV and a VCR and replaced the Apple QuickTake digital camera.

The needs for multimedia classrooms provoked, in 1994, D-8 of Head Hall to be equipped with 30 multimedia machines, Pentium PCs with Cd-Rom drives, it was a student cluster with an ‘instructor’s machine’ and an overboard projector, which quickly proved insufficient for the multimedia learning needs at hand, since the space was not designed for teaching. This would, in 1996, lead to the Instructional Technology Learning Centre.

UNB joined forces with Mount Allison and U de M to negotiate with NBTel and Fundy Cable for a package of services for students and staff to use in their homes. Campus computing committees were consulted as the talks progressed. A one year trial was engaged. The trial was evaluated in 1995 and the overwhelming response was to continue it. By 1996, over 1000 students, faculty and staff were enrolled in this service.

CampusNet was started to act as a dial-in Internet Service Provider (ISP) for NB/PEI ECN, including UNB’s students, faculty, and staff. UNB does its own mail and help desk support. UNB also continues a free dialup service for telnet and AppleTalk. 165

1995

David Macneil negotiated pricing with NBTel for Campusnet access for ECN members. Rather than the customary $6/hour dialup, the NB/PEI ECN members could have access for $1/hour in through the university instead. The services not offered for the deal were no email account, no setup support, and no phone support. Until this point, UNB’s modem pool had been the doorway for ALL of New Brunswick, commercial as well as educational users.

On-line registration introduced for returning students at UNB.

PHOENIX and other related circulation, serials and order processing applications are retired, and a new system, called QUEST is introduced at UNB’s Libraries. QUEST uses a commercial product called Unicorn, from SIRSI. QUEST is a client/server application. It uses open systems such as UNIX, WWW, and TCP/IP. QUEST was placed on a Sun Sparc 1000 machine.

Significant work was done to install and tailor the new ESA operating system to replace the MVS/XA for production use on the MVS mainframe. The move to ESA allowed CSD to continue to run current and supported operating systems and provided a better online system performance with a more current version of CICS.

Individual student marks, transcripts, class timetables, exam schedules, library books on loan, student ledger balance and degree audit results were made available to each student over the World Wide Web as well as from UNIX, NOVELL and MUSIC.

The NB/PEI ECN celebrated its 25 th anniversary.

1996

UNB’s administrative applications and on-line users began its upward hike. In 1988, UNB had about 170 clients in 10 application areas, including libraries. By the end of 1995, CSD was supporting 845 users in approximately 25 systems. 1996 saw another 145 on-line clients added to this figure.

The “Level one approach” was established, formalizing what was previously called the ‘Local Expert’ for each department. Having Level 1 personnel enabled the Computing Services Department to leverage its resources by streamlining their help through the Level 1s who knew their departmental clients and their problems.

UNB wires their residences to enable campus network access from their residence rooms. The first to be wired were Jones and Aitken Houses. From this, the “Residential Network” at UNB was established. Students subscribing to ResNet were provided withthe same network speed and access as students working in the public lab clusters around campus.

UNB Libraries began three prototype Web publishing projects in June 1996, one of them being the Electronic Text Centre.

The Library’s QUEST system was upgraded to an UltraSparc machine.

With funding from the Venture campaign, the Instructional Technology Learning Centre (ITLC) was formally established. Originally housed in D-8 of Head Hall, the ITLC was transferred to the HIL, and equipped with..............,

Higher speed equipment was introduced through CSD. Ethernet switching, which reduced the contention on the networks (certain segments of the network which are heavily loaded had this technology installed). Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) was introduced on campus.

During 1996, CSD advised, configured, ordered, installed or otherwise participated in the installation of 722 personal computer systems. Orders worth $4,015,000 were processed, which was an average of $77,000 per week.

UNB’s Presentation System for Courses (PsyCo) goes live. A Web application to facilitate instruction, PsyCo enabled many of UNB’s faculty to increase the usage of the web in their classroom environments, and even to teach a course online.

In March of 1996 the five year consortium agreement for NB*Net ended and full control of the commercial portion of the service was transferred to NBTel. UNB and ECN members were contracted to continue to provide DNS and mail services for more than a year.

1997

The MP 2003-115 was installed. This was the last mainframe to be installed at UNB. Compared to the IBM 1620 purchased in 1964, the MP2003-115 was 3000 times faster (expandable to 20,000 times), had 4000 times more memory (expandable to 64,000 times), and had 18 gigabytes of fully mirrored internal DASD (the 1620 had none).

Electronic Text Centre opened. The Centre’s mandate included Web publishing to both SGML and Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) standards a variety of texts. The Centre developed its first SGML prototype project, a transcription of the UNB Archives' Marston diaries (1776-1787) with images. The Centre has won a national innovative award sponsored by the Canadian Association of University and College Libraries. It was also awarded a contract by SchoolNet to build four SGML projects.

NBTel provided the first Transfer Mode (ATM) Network to the ECN. Fundy Telecom followed and donated and installed an Asynchronous ATM network link between the two campus networks, at a cost of $250,000.00. Paid for by MPHEC and Canarie, the system was meant to provide a high speed link. ECN moved from their previous ‘frame-relay network’ to this ATM. The price also included two video conference classrooms. This system, however, was to last only from 1997 to 2003, and would be replaced by the gigabyte Ethernet.

The first open lab (Gillin D108) was converted to switched 100 Base TXEthernet to the computer cluster desktop.

Began installation of laser printers in the student clusters, 18 high quality, fast, black and white printers were made available to students, Students were charged 10 cents per page for all printing. The older generation ‘impact’ printing was charged at 10 cents per job. The ‘impact’ printers were retired as they wore out. Surprisingly, the cost of the laser printer did not deter students from printing, in fact, printing output almost doubled.

ZIP drives – removable floppies with 100 Mbytes of storage, nearly 100 times the capacity of a standard floppy – were added to the student clusters, enabling students to backup their work more easily, and transfer files form the university to their home machines.

DATATEL, a suite of administrative applications, was introduced at UNB to replace the 30 year old accounting/payroll system at use in UNB. The program would take a few years to be fully implemented.

A major administrative reorganization took place within the CSD Help Desk services, combining the drop-in and phone-in services.

The commodity internet services were moved from UNB (Head Hall D10) to NBTel in Saint John.

With the building of ITC Wing of Head Hall, the building was fitted with ‘100BaseT’ Ethernet to the desktop for the student cluster.

1998

Distance Education (via the Open Access Learning Program), had more then 350 students enrolled. 12 courses were offered in 1998, and 17 were on offer in 1999, increasing the CSD and Help Desk support requirements considerably.

On-line learning comes to UNB. 11 courses are offered fully over the internet, and made available to anyone online. Marketed through Atlantic Canada, the credits were transferable between institutions. Most used, at this time, the PsyCo framework.

The Computing Services Department operations were converted to the Computing Help Desk, which has a walk-up counter, website, and phone service.

UNB was the first university in Canada to offer students the first year of their degree program online.

The Information Technology Centre was established, through the generous support of the the University of New Brunswick and the Canada/ New Brunswick Regional Economic Development Agreement.

A new initiative, called CA*net II, worked to provide a network across Canada at 155Mbps and higher. UNB hosted this new high speed connection point for New Brunswick.

The Publicaton Compilation is retired and “replaced” by the CSD webpages online.

The Harriet Irving library invests in 50 PCs, to replace their terminals for their stacks. This moved the traffic from the older broadband network to the Ethernet based LAN.

High performance Ethernet switches and a 622Mbps ATM backbone in Head Hall and the IUC Forestry Fibre were installed, the first step in integrating various campus networks.

1999

The Instructional Technology Unit of CSD was formed. The focus of this unit was to consolidate instructional technology support for faculty, staff and students at all of UNB’s campuses. Rik Hall became the Manager.

As of January, 1999, 358 sections (239 courses) were using th PsyCo application to facilitate instruction.

In January of 1999, the web interface that allowed students to check the results of their fall term exams saw an explosive growth in its usage. What had been an adequate configuration broke down under the load and the web server became unresponsive. The problem was so sever that it was reported in the CBC news. The problem was resolved when a default option in the server software was discovered and changed to reflect the situation at UNB.

UNB’s primary Novell servers were upgraded to high capacity rack-mounted servers during the summer of 1999; this allowed faster swapping of servers and drives for upgrades and repairs.

Acquired and implemented the ‘unb.edu’ domain to be equivalent to ‘unb.ca’.

UNB implemented IMP Webmail (IMP), a web based email program, which permitted faculty, staff and students to view their email from an location with a standard web browser.

UNB was one of the first Canadian universities to connect to CA*net3. CA*net3 was the world’s fastest national research network at this time.

The Eaton Multimedia Learning Centre opened, providing state-of-the-art information technology equipment, classrooms, and laboratories to students and professors; it was created as the converging point between distance education, multimedia enhanced on-site instruction and research in multimedia technology. At this time the Eaton Multimedia Learning Centre was under the control of Audio Visual Services, and was not part of ITS.

UNB was the first site in the world to successfully run WebAdvisor for student registration.

A major project to migrate the campus to a higher speed switched networks was begun. The switched networks, much more secure and less susceptible to oustide monitoring than the previous shared hub technology, ensured continued progress in online service provision. On December 20 th , UNB staff installed a Nortel Versalar 25000 Switch Router that was to serve as New Brunswick’s interface to CA*Net3. The initial link speed was 622Mpbs, but was to be upgraded to full OC-48 speed of 2.4 Gpbs. (this is one million times faster than our initial internet connection of 2400bps.)

2000

The year 2000 brought UNB’s mainframe era to an end. Mainframe computers (10 in all) were run continuously at UNB for over 40 years. The shut-down of the University’s mainframe system finalized a shift from centralized service to distributed information.

UNB offered “eMail-For-Life” to all UNB alumni.

UNB’s wireless access is deployed on campus, with test locations such as the Student Union Building, the Wu Conference Centre, the Harriet Irving Library and Head Hall.

UNB joins the City of Fredericton’s Phase I of their Fredericton Community Network initiative, laying high speed data path fibre from Knowledge Park to City Hall. This enabled UNB to include the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Complex and Renaissance College in the main campus connection.

In May of this year, Nortel pulled the plug on the Versalar 25000 and directed UNB to return the one in Fredericton. Nortel indicated at the time that they would send a Juniper router to replace the 25000.

The Enterprise Systems Services (ESS) was formed to provide enterprise level services to the university community.

PSyCo, UNB’s own presentation system for courses, was retired, and the widely used, web-based course delivery and management tool – WebCT- was adopted.

The Fluency in Information Technology program (FITness) was initiated. This program, delivered via the web, was designed to improve the information and communications technology (ICT) skills of the entire multi-campus community.

Software Engineering (BScSwE) established as a separate discipline.

To increase the Campus backbone Ethernet speed, remove UNB’s dependency on IBM’s ATM switches (which IBM chose to phase out), and make IP Telephony and Videoconferencing over IP available on campus, Nortel Gigabit Ethernet was chosen as the next network upgrade, and purchased in September of this year.

UNB initiates plans to build a new fibre ring around the campus to reduce the dependency on a single fibre wiring closet.

2001

Dave Macneil retires and Mr. Greg Sprague became the director of the newly formed ITS.

Integrated Technology Services (ITS) was formed – an amalgamation of Computing Services, Audio Visual Services, Graphic Services, and the Web Development Team.

Continuing from the purchase of the Nortel 8600 switches from the year before, major improvements were made to the reliability and performance of the campus LAN by implementing the Nortel 8600 switches, Gigabit backbone as well as increasing redundancy with the east-side fibre. Also added UPS to 10 of the 35 wiring closets, and GigE between 3 core switches. With the addition of 40 new 24 port Ethernet switches, the total number of ports available on campus rises to 5000.

Software Engineering (BScSwE) offers their first semester of courses.

Student E-Services portal was developed, and network security was increased. A Privacy Policy was also implemented.

Web Advisory Committee is established.

2002

Student Technology Fee announced at UNB.

Installed Communigate Mail Server.

The NB NRC IIT Centre connected to the NB GigPOP and the ECN network connection. At this time the ECN funded an upgrade of the Internet link from 30 to 40Mbps, which was combined with the NRC purchase (4Mbps) and the UNB residence system purchase of 1Mbps. As a result, on October 1, the internet link increased from 30Mbps to 45Mbps.

Novell version 6 is installed.

UNB received a large Microsoft donation for Windows XP and Office XP.

2003

By this year, UNB’s Fredericton campus provided service for over 5400 computers:
- Faculty/Staff Network: 2428
- Student Network: 1581 in 56 labs environments throughout campus.
Privately Owned:
- ResNet 1179
- Carrels 282

Stephen Rosenfeld takes on the position of Interim Director of ITS.

NB ECN sites move from 30 Mbps ATM service to Gigabit service provided by GroupTelecom. UNBSJ and Nursing campuses in Moncton and Bathurst are linked at ‘LAN’ speeds.

Began using Remote Deployment Manager of IBM Director product for lab refreshes.

A NOVELL server failure in Moncton causes UNB to eliminate remote servers and simply connect Nursing students to Fredericton Resources over the new Gigabit Network. This was the beginning of the disbanding of local services in favour of a centralized service.

The site licence for Word Perfect was terminated, with support being phased out after an additional 3 years.

2004

A contract signed between UNB and Aliant more than doubled the Internet connection speed for the New Brunswick members of the NB/PEI Educational Computer Network (ECN) of which UNB is a prominent member. Aliant has been the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the New Brunswick portion of the ECN since 1996. Before becoming the ISP for New Brunswick in the early 1990s, UNB and NBTel partnered to introduce the Internet to New Brunswick. The ECN went to tender in March and three ISPs responded. Aliant was selected based on a number of criteria, including the quality of service and price. This contract increased the speed to the commercial internet from 45 MB per second to 100 MB per second.

ITS implemented NetStorage as an alternate means of accessing files stored on their Novell Netware home account directories (i.e. personal H: drives). Because NetStorage does not require the Novell Netware client to be installed, it is being targeted for use on non-UNB-owned computers or computers from which Netware access is only occasionally required.

The Centre for Enhanced Teaching and Learning (CETL) was established.

2005

Lori MacMullen takes over the directorship of ITS.

The eLUCIdator, (LUCI), an open source, Unix-based program intended to make web sites more accessible to individuals with specific disabilities was developed for UNB’s website. When used, LUCI strips out all the images, all the inaccessible JAVA script, and any other elements that make it difficult to access the required information. Based on Betsie, or BBC’s Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer, a program created by BBC Online in the late 1990s, LUCI enabled the secure side of UNB’s website to also be made accessible.

ITS was reorganized to reflect the three core functions: services, solutions and strategies.

Development of an RFP for a strategic review of the University web. A service provider has been selected with the review scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2006.

2006

UNBF provided network access to over 4000 student owned computers.

An initiative was undertaken to define a strategy for the deployment, operation and on-going management of wireless networking across UNB. The acquisition of the core infrastructure and limited implementation began in 2006.

A major upgrade to the learning management system for use on both campuses (i.e. WebCT CE4 to Blackboard CE6) (UNBF and UNBSJ): Implementation of the latest version of the online learning system has added value to the learning experience for instructors and students by providing enhanced collaboration and delivery features. 254The laptop support service realized an increase in use of 33% over 2005 (this service has expanded each year since its inception).

Investments were made to acquire and implement an enterprise backup solution to replace the existing multiple solutions. In addition to addressing the issues for the Fredericton campus, the enterprise backup strategy and supporting solution were developed in conjunction with the Saint John campus.

2007

ITS tripled the amount of student e-mail storage from 50MB to 150MB.

In conjunction with the business units, a major release of the Datatel suite (integrated administrative and financial systems used at UNB) of products was implemented in December. This update included a significant change to the underlying technical architecture of the product.

Undergraduate domestic online application process – in 2007 the undergraduate domestic application process was transformed from an automated form online to a more robust interactive “online” application process.

Implementation of an enterprise level firewall. Services requiring a higher level of “security” began to be moved “behind the firewall”. This process will continue through 2009.

The Communications and Network Services group (service provider to the NB – PEI Education Computer Network (NB – PEI ECN)), undertook a project to review and implement a redesign of the NB portion NB – PEI ECN to take advantage of new technologies as well as to provided increased stability and operation.

Virtualization:It was noted that the Servers (CPUs) were not always busy, and their power was just sitting there; withVirtualization, resources are divided up (that is CPU power/memory). UNB now has 12 production applications virtualized. The value of this is that it is more efficient use of equipment, and reduces the computational green footprint of UNB’s computing.

2008

At UNBF, the Student Union, ITS, and Financial Aid have given away over 300 computers to students through the “Great Computer Giveaway” since 2005.

The Student Technology Fee committee at UNBF provided over $230,000 to upgrade student computer labs for 2008-09 academic year through the purchase of new computers, monitors, printers, desks, and chairs.

UNB currently has over 100 servers.

UNB is currently working on an initiative to provide wireless access in all academic and administrative buildings at UNBF, UNBSJ, and remote campuses.

The Faculty of Computer Science celebrated 40 years of computer science at UNB. It was in 1968 that the faculty, then know as the department of computer science, was established.

2009

Lori MacMullen resigns to follow a career as Executive Director of the Canadian University Council of CIO (Chief Information Officers). Dr. Jane M. Fritz becomes interim Director.