Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

1. Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, Nigeria OAUNET An Overview BY Engr. Professor. L. O. Kehinde

2. CATALOGUE OF EVENTS •Mid-1995 Feasibility studies on existing infrastructure in some selected Nigerian Universities. • 3rd Quarter 1995: Choice of OAU as location of pilot center for Nigeria University Network (NUnet) • November 1995: MoU between OAU and ICTP. • October 1995-January 1996: Training of OAU staff in Networking principles by ICTP instructors. • April 1996 : Installation of university network tagged “OAUnet” • June 1996 : Commencement of operation.

3. CATALOGUE OF EVENTS • 1996 Digital telephone line polling of ICTP • 1997 Triangular polling through Lagos. • 1998 Decentralized mail distribution system • 1999 VSAT connectivity (64kbps up/down) with cisco 2600 router • 2004 Fibre LAN backbone introduced. Locally hosted web, mail, DNS and Proxy server. • 2004 E-portal development. • 2006 More Development of content, manpower and infrastructure

4. COORDINATION OF IT ON CAMPUS • By a unit called information Technology & Communications Unit (INTECU). • Responsibility of INTECU includes - Regulates the policies and procedures for ICT use and deployment in the University. - Responsible for designing, installing, and managing the information network within the university, including associated research centres as well as connecting these sites. - Establishment of hardware & software infrastructure - Assemblage of computers. - Manpower Training in ICT.

5. BRIEF NETWORK DESCRIPTION. • Mainly TCP/IP Protocol based • Servers run on Linux Operating System • 3 Subnets initially, now 18 Subnets and 8 cybercafés • 2 GB fibre backbone capacity • 3 Mbps Spread Spectrum wireless radio linking subnets to main centre, now hybrid of DS and FH systems. • Full Internet facilities available on campus. • VSAT connectivity with 3.8m, and 2.4m dishes operating at 4.2 GHz and 6.2 GHz in the C band.

6. ICT CONNECTIVITY ♣ Mode of ICT Connectivity Two VSAT with 3.8.m and 2.4 m dishes operating at frequencies in the range of 4.2GHz and 6.2 GHz in the C band. ♣ Internet Bandwidth -512kbps down/256 kbps up on one VSAT -256/128 kbps on the backup VSAT. -Grossly inadequate -Cost of bandwidth is about $100,000 per year at present capacity. -Projected bandwidth within next 1 year is 5mbps down/1mbps up . ♣ Estimated up time is over 95%.

7. NETWORK ARCHTECTURE • PHYSICALLY, Hybrid of Star and Bus topology. Functionally, server/client model. • 70% coverage of central academic area. • 10% coverage of students hostels. • 1 % coverage of staff quarters.

8. WEBSITE ♣ URL iswww.oauife.edu.ng: Locally hosted and developed ♣ Both web based and client/server supported e-mail connection.

9. CAMPUS NETWORK • one network control center (NCC). • 18 subnets including one site outside the university. • Eight cyber cafés. • Staff quarters. • Mostly fibre optics and radio connection to N.C.C. • Dial-up and hotspots in the pipeline. • Locally available services at the N.C.C include • Firewall • Proxy/cache • Mail • Web • Backup

10. OPTICAL FIBRE ROUTE

11. OAUNET - Main Network Diagram(Apart from 8 Cybercafes) VSAT Earth Station 512/256 Kbps, 256/128 Kbps Mostly FOC, few wireless Main HUB Key sc - Sciences tech - Technology cs - Computer Science usb - Secretariat chs - Health Science agric- Agriculture NC - NACTEM OA - OAU Teaching Hospital HOL – H. O. Library law – law/soc sc/admin hum –Humanities edu – Education biol – Biological Sciences phar – Pharmacy util – Utilities SQ – Staff Quarters Chem-Chemical Engrg. First Generation sc tech cs Second Generation usb chs agric Third Generation rectas HOL NC cerd law hum edu biol chem phar util Planned OA SQ

12. POWER (ELECTRICITY) SUPPLY ♠ Public power supply not too reliable. ♠ Backup available : - 9.2 KVA battery backed inverter (Can backup for 10 hours) -Three 1.5MVA Generator University wide. - 12.5KVA diesel generator at NCC - 6.4 KVA petrol generator at NCC

13. INCOME, SUPPORTS AND FUNDING OF ICT ♥ Mainly University through government funding. ♥ Special Library vote through government funding. ♥ Grant from External bodies e.g. Carnegie Corporation. ♥ Sponsorship of manpower training by ICTP. ♥ Subsidized monthly subscription by staff users. ♥ Income from Cybercafés ♥ Technical support, Equipment donations, book gifts from bodies such as NSRC, University of Oregon

14. EXPENDITURE ♥ Hardware & Software purchases based on advice from INTECU. ♥ Recurrent cost of bandwidth up to $125,000 per annum! ♥ Maintenance /upgrade of telephone exchange, VSAT maintenance at about $60,000 per annum. ♥ maintenance of subnets through upgrading , repairs and maintenance of network devices

15. ICT PROJECTS PRESENTLY UNDERTAKEN ♦ Subnet expansion to cover all staff quarters. ♦ Increment of bandwidth. ♦ Virtual/Distance learning projects. ♦ Multi-site teaching. ♦ Staff training and development in ICT. ♦ Full connectivity between all Administrative and Academic Departments. ♦ Establishment of Cyber cafés in all student’s hostels. ♦ Fully automated Library, Bursary and Administrative procedure. ♦ Optical Fiber backbone. ♦ Move towards paperless environment. ♦ Further collaboration with other institutions abroad. ♦ Development of ICT-based “Town and Gown” activities.

16. PROPOSED DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT

17. OAU ICT EXPERTISE • Network Management. • Software Development. • Web Development. • Multimedia Communication. • Networked Data base Management.

18. STAFF • 4 I.T/Network Engineers. • 5 Administrative staff • 9 part-time Associate staff from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. • 1 chief technologist. • 3 basic technicians

19. HUMAN RESOURCES NEED ◘ More Engineers & Network Administrators needed. ◘ Present staffing grossly inadequate. • There are two graduate students and 4 undergraduate students on work-study basis. ◘ Need more women. There are at present 4 women; 1 graduate and 3 undergraduate IT students.

20. CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS. • More technical training at OAU. • Awareness Seminars for users. • Critical mass of trained technical staff developed for training others in government and private sectors. • Ability to maintain, design and expand the network.

21. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE NEEDS ◘ PCs. ◘ Expanded Optical Fiber backbone. ◘ Switches ◘ Original software ◘ Solar power back-up

22. TRAINING NEEDS • LAN/WAN Management. • Fibre deployment and maintenance • Network securities. • Unix administration. • TCP/IP optimization and QOS

23. SERVICE AND APPLICATION NEEDS BY USERS • VOIP. • Videoconferencing. • Hotspots • Access to original softwares (O.S, Antivirus, Educational softwares etc ) at subsidized cost. • Better On-line research capabilities

24. MAJOR OBSTACLES AND BARRIERS TO NETWORK EXTENSION • Finance. • Inadequate Infrastructure matching. • Inadequate training and expertise • Low computer access

25. MAJOR CHALLENGES AHEAD * Cost of Upgrading Bandwidth & Network. * Funding Bandwidth cost. • Setting up multi-site teaching and distance learning hardware and software infrastructure. • Completion of optical fibre backbone. • Faster response to users’ needs and complaints. • Adequate training for technical staff. * Problems with recruiting and keeping staff. Big problem because of - Poor remuneration. - Long working hours. - Difficult shift duties.

26. THANK YOU Contact us at: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, (INTECU) COMPUTER BUILDINGS, OAU, ILE-IFE E-mail: intecu@oauife.edu.ng Phone: 234 806 004 0003 Fax: 036-231733 Professor L. O. Kehinde (Director) 23408033298567