Computer Weekly teamed up with internet service company
Netscalibur to find the most innovative uses of internet technology
in the UK. The response was remarkable and ranged from
anti-vandalism surveillance to nationwide Quake tournaments. Ross
Bentley reports on the best.
Newport keeps an eye on schools
Our winner, Phil Cox, is a Newport City Council IT consultant,
who told us about a project that uses the internet to deter vandals
while maximising the use of an existing broadband network.
"Traditional closed circuit TV solutions are generally
standalone systems, which are not monitored, and therefore do not
activate an integral response service. They also include a heavy
administration requirement, such as VHS tape maintenance, Data
Protection Act registration or training."
The council had installed high-capacity fixed lines as part of
its National Grid for Learning initiative, which provides schools
with broadband internet access.
"Students and staff generally only use the installed systems and
network for eight hours, so for about 16 hours a day this huge
investment in infrastructure was unused. This meant that
out-of-hours IP-based networked surveillance was possible with no
extra infrastructure cost," he says.
"The linking of dome cameras installed in more than 20 schools
was made possible through the use of IP video servers that feed
images directly into the network.
"This also made it possible for authorised staff to view images
from the cameras by accessing the IP address of each server on an
internet browser.
"The surveillance software supplier provided additional software
that enables the monitoring centre to have full control of the
cameras and images to be recorded. Motion detection in the target
areas is via passive infrared devices,which trigger alarms. Staff
at the monitoring centre can call on community safety wardens or
the police to respond. IP-based digital recordings provide easy
storage and retrieval of images held on workstations that are used
as monitoring devices.
"It has enable the council to dramatically reduce the level of
vandalism, saving £45,000 in glazing costs alone in a year. It is
also safer for teachers to work late and provides active support
for lone workers."
Judge's comment: Les Brand, Ovum "This represents a
really good cost-effective use of IP technology and bandwidth to
provide much-needed remote security of sites. The solution extends
the idea of the internet as a common resource. By using the
infrastructure already provided under National Grid for Learning
scheme, the council has created a 'double whammy'. Although a DIY
approach, it demonstrates how IP can be used to good effect without
the need for highly integrated solutions that cost a lot more to
implement."
Remote space watch
Astrophysicists at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, use
the internet to monitor and control a radio telescope in the Canary
Islands. The telescope is called the Very Small Array and is set on
Mount Teide in Tenerife.
The images it provides show the beginnings of the formation of
structure in the early universe. Computer officer David Odell
says, "From the properties of the image, scientists can obtain
vital information about what happened in the early universe and
distinguish between competing cosmological theories."
The Very Small Array telescope detects very faint variations in
the temperature of relic radiation, the radiation left over from
the Big Bang. "Today we can see this radiation in all directions on
the sky at a temperature of just 3ûC above absolute zero, giving a
picture of the universe when it was just 1/50,000th of its present
age. Because galaxies must have formed out of the primeval
fireball, astrophysicists have predicted that their seeds will have
left imprints in the radiation," says Odell.
The Very Small Array has 14 aerials, each similar to a satellite
TV dish but only 15cm across. The signals from each aerial are
combined, forming an interferometric array - a technique pioneered
by Cambridge physicists. "A webcam provides a realtime view of
the telescope aerials so that we can check on their performance,"
says Odell. "We had to have some way of monitoring things from
Cambridge and putting in a dedicated line would have been far too
expensive."
Judge's comment: Chris Poulsen, chief technology officer,
Netscalibur "This illustrates how the ubiquity of the
internet and its inter-networking capabilities extend the reach of
individuals and organisations far beyond their physical
constraints. "These capabilities sweat very expensive and remote
assets that otherwise would make projects such as these
unaffordable."
Files found with P2P
Matthew Hayhurst, a programmer at a large trading systems
company in central London, has come up with a bona fide use of the
peer to peer software Kazaa, which is usually associated with the
illegal sharing of MP3 music files across the internet.
"Having a large office over two floors and offices worldwide its
often difficult to track down a file on someone's machine or on a
file server.
"By running Kazaa on our local intranet and using its powerful
search and index feature, finding something like January's sales
report on the network is easy and painless," Hayhurst says. Users
can also search for files created on a certain date or with certain
metadata keywords.
"It is a simple and easy-to-set-up service on any Windows
machine. By firewalling the right ports we can restrict Kazaa to
our intranet and index only the files we want so there are no
security issues. And it reduces the time taken to find files."
Inter-office bandwidth is also saved when a file is mirrored on
someone's machine within the office, instead of having to download
it from New York. Hayhurst says the use of Kazaa in his company
has grown organically and is not something that is used
company-wide.
"It is mostly just something we toy with, but we are trying to
push this as a company policy - although if someone was to write a
similar application with a company-specific focus, we might have
more luck. It is probably best to think of it as a super advanced
version of the Windows file search," he says.
Judge's comment: Chris Drake, senior research analyst,
IDC "Speeding up the way in which employees are able to use
the company intranet will always bring direct benefits to a
business. The simplification of search and indexing features makes
the process of finding the relevant data faster and more efficient.
The process is also made quicker by the use of file duplication or
file 'caching' on computers that are nearer to the end-user."
Consultant's idea wins £10,000 of services for the
people of Newport
Netscalibur is a UK provider of managed internet services. The
company supports more than 10,000 businesses, including blue-chip
clients such as Harvey Nichols, IG Index and Lycos.
Netscalibur offers a range of services:
Connectivity Offering a scalable service,
Netscalibur's portfolio includes dial-up connections, ISDN,
broadband and leased lines, with both managed and unmanaged options
available.
These services are both resilient and cost effective and can
evolve with a business' needs
Web hosting A broad range of services from
shared web and co-location to dedicated and managed servers, all
with an emphasis on offering clients access to the most appropriate
technology at a reduced total cost of ownership
Messaging Helping to provide messaging and
collaboration functionality throughout a business, Netscalibur
offers a range of services from Webmail to Managed Microsoft
Exchange 2000
Network security and VPN A range of managed
services to protect corporate networks against external security
threats and enable disparate sites and remote users to securely
exchange information across the corporate network. '
www.netscalibur.co.uk/ipchallenge
The close, but not quite winning, entries also showed a lot of
imagination
Football focus
George Simitsis, a senior analyst and programmer at a large IT
supplier, says, "Last year, our company decided to treat us all to
some live World Cup football at our desks. It had a PC with a TV
card installed that was tuned to the channel showing the England
and Eire games.
This PC was shared to the network and an e-mail explained where
to point our browsers. Some staff viewed it full screen, while
others kept it in a corner of their desktop. It was very well
received."
Portrait of a website
Michael Ward at BT paints a picture of IP innovation at work.
"The Tate website displays more than 50,000 images of art online.
As part of Tate Britain's centenary development, BT and Tate
developed a parallel virtual method of navigating the collection
online called Explore Tate Britain. This enables visitors to
interact with the permanent displays via the gallery floorplan and
a chronological timeline."
Testing the line with Quake G
aming enthusiast Eddie Summer says, "At a previous employer, we
techies could often be found playing Network Quake out of hours.
One person would be the server and colleagues from three offices
around London and one in Glasgow would battle it out. You would be
surprised at the number of managers who believed us when we said we
were 'only testing a network connection'."
Drinking up the perks
James Masson, from Holsten UK, sent this thirst-quenching idea.
"Our nationwide salesforce now has access to the full range of
office IT services, thanks to VPN and broadband. These include
being able to order their personal 'beer allowance' faster than
ever and watching videos of themselves at recent conferences, plus
e-mail, network storage, ERP, financials, stock planning, instant
messaging and business intelligence."
Culinary competition
Karen Morris at Interserve says, "The management decided to
provide a free buffet for staff one day a month to encourage
communication with other teams. Webcams were set up in the Bristol
and London offices and hosted over a general IP address so all
staff could view London and Bristol at the same time in different
Internet Explorer windows. Rivalry between the offices was rife;
champagne flowed at Bristol while London had a pot of tea. The
event was so successful our West Bromwich office is considering
getting a webcam as well. It brought out a whole new side to
networking."