After
blowing millions, millions more needed to put rez on cyber hwy
by
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
SHIPROCK — Bureaucratic "computer turf battles" cost
the Navajo Nation $3 million a year. And It will cost millions of
dollars more
to hook together the divergent computer systems spread across the vast
27,000 square-miles of the Navajo Nation.
This was the shocking news the Navajo Nation Council's Public Safety Committee
received at its meeting in the new BIA complex Monday. The panel voted 5-0 to
accept the report from Harold Skow, Information Management Systems Department
director.
Skow estimated enterprise license agreements would cost less than a quarter million
dollars a year compared to the approximately $3 million a year now spent by various
branches, divisions and departments to license each terminal individually.
He also revealed why the tribe's Internet address, www.navajo.org, frustrates
users it is used about seven times its capacity.
With only a single "T-1" line, the address was designed to handle up
to 300 users. Yet there often are 2,000 users logged on to the location at one
time, he explained. Even now, with a second "T-1" line to help out,
there are 3.5 times as many users as capacity, he added.
He told the committee he would like to install a "DS-3" line which
would be equal to 20 of the "T-1" lines. Such a move also would allow
all 110 chapter houses to connect to the department's server, he added.
Skow also reviewed his three-year plan.
For the current fiscal year, it includes installing a wireless system for instant
mobile access to data in the Window Rock metropolitan area, upgrade the department's
equipment to add backup redundancy, add the DS-3, connect most of the government
offices in the main capital complex via a fiber optic cable while extending the
cable to the Karigan complex in St. Michaels, hold an information technology
summit, and shift the voter registration and scholarship systems to new equipment.
For FY '05, his goals are to complete the fiber optic connections and extend
them to more offices in the main capital, develop and "IT" road map
and standard policies, initiate a Point Of Presence" (POP) as a gateway
to the Internet, put into effect the enterprise licensing agreement, hire more
staff and write the disaster recovery plan.
For the 2006 fiscal year his goals are to finish the "POP," acquire
more training money, hire more staff, increase the capacities of the data center,
establish a technology czar ("Chief Information Officer" ) or elevate
the department to division status.
With others echoing his words, Skow noted that each time the administration changes,
the direction changes, despite a 1992 council order for everyone to work together.
Law Enforcement Department Chief Dorothy Fulton described the situation as going
on different tangents.
Delegate Harry Clark (Chinle Chapter) wholeheartedly agreed, also describing
it as "going our own directions" instead of the united effort specified
in the council resolution.
The council's July 1992 resolution agrees" that through the use of modern
management techniques and computer technology it is possible to promote the sharing
of data and information throughout the Navajo Nation government, including the
chapter level."
In April 2002, the council also ordered the same sort of cooperation to implement
an integrated criminal justice information system.
Skow explained to the committee several successful and anticipated efforts to
save the tribe money, such as obtaining training so his staff can fix problems
rather than spending excessive money on consultants.
|
April
16, 2004
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family shocked at photo of son in Iraq
Yah-Ta-Hey
man held in death of Zuni man
City
to board of convention, vistors center: You're fired!
All
over but the shouting for Smith Lake Elementary
After
blowing millions, millions more
needed to put rez on cyber hwy
Living in the valley of death: Grandson
of Paddy Martinez recalls uranium days
Activists
upset that boys who tortured dogs are not charged
Deaths |
