To the Editor:
I agree with Daniel Ng's editorial, "Network Failure," (The Dartmouth, April 5) that network and computing resources are critical. However, our network is not "shoddy," and Kiewit is not "complacent." We work hard to make our networks reliable, sometimes spending entire nights on campus troubleshooting and correcting problems.
The network Ng describes would be expensive. These are hard fiscal times. Internet bandwidth costs and the potential cost of a redundant "tier 1" connection are large, due to our geographic isolation. We are not slow to replace the border router. We are trying to maximize the life of expensive equipment. The border router failed mainly due to inordinate traffic generated by Dartmouth personal computers with viruses. Another network device also failed due to viruses. The "packet shaper" prevents some peer-to-peer programs (e.g., Kazaa) from abusing Dartmouth's internet bandwidth. Much peer-to-peer traffic flows from and to Dartmouth and attracts music industry attention. Internet security and spam has become a quantum step worse. The quantity and sophistication of attacks is expanding. Unfortunately, budgets are increasingly tight. Kiewit is working to effectively array resources across all services. Months ago, Kiewit began working with senior administrators to consider how to improve network security and reliability.
Rampant viruses at Dartmouth caused many of the network and Green Print problems. Virus activity is worsening. Nearly all viruses could be prevented if everyone used the Norton Anti-Virus program and kept their operating systems updated. Norton is free and can be downloaded. Operating system updates are provided free and automatically. As the Internet becomes a riskier environment, we all must take greater responsibility and precaution.
