Better Performance In Project Management! The Almost Complete Guide

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Better Performance In Project Management! The Almost Complete Guide

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IMT Lecture Managing Telecommunication Project.MM-Biztel 09 Nov09

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IMT Lecture Managing Telecommunication Project.MM-Biztel 09 Nov09

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Networking And Telecommunications

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Networking And Telecommunications

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School Design: Be the Change...

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School Design: Be the Change...

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Siemon Z Max Catalog

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Siemon Z Max Catalog

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Agito takes a stab at killing expensive international roaming rates for iPhone, BlackBerry.

Agito Networks is mostly known for its dual-mode fixed-mobile convergence solutions, helping enterprise get their mobile phones off the cellular network and tied into a corporate PBX via Wi-Fi networks. This week Agito came out with something slightly new that is targeted at a very specific, yet pricey problem faced by many companies which do international business.

Many corporate telecom and mobility managers today probably support executives who travel internationally and need to buy a temporary international roaming plan for their smartphones while on the road. These short-term voice roaming minutes are pricey. We’re talking more than $1 per minute in many cases. If you have a lot of guys on the road, this can get out of hand fast. week Agito announced Agito Global Enterprise, a feature in the 4.0 release of its RoamAnywhere routers and clients.

This feature will automatically handover voice calls from an international cellular voice network and convert it into a VoIP call over a 3G data connection. Since most short-term international roaming plans offer relatively lower flat fees in the range of $20 or $30 for a unlimited data, this could be a huge savings for mobile employees who are traveling overseas. A $20 flat fee is a bargain compared to the $300-$400 a worker might rack up in talk time with a typical arrangement.

Late last month Pejman Roshan, founder and chief marketing officer for Agito, visited my office and gave me a demo of the cellular to VoIP handover on both a BlackBerry 9700 and an iPhone, both of which Agito also now supports as of this week. The voice quality was on par with what you might expect from either device, although there was a probably a half-second of latency in the call. Roshan attributed this to the fact that we were using a custom built demo version. The production version won’t be available until next month.

(Reference - http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/unified-communications/tag/blackberr)

3 Tier Architecture

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3 Tier Architecture

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How To Install Dual Operating Systems

How an IP PBX works and its Benefits

Wireless LAN Deployment Best Practices

Amalan terbaik rekabentuk sistem rangkaian tanpa wayar

Wireless LAN Deployment Best Practices

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Wind of Change for ICT Governance in UiTM - We Move Forward !

The ICT governance in UiTM will face new era when Dato' Prof. Madya Dr. Ir. Mohd. Salleh Md. Noh the Asst. Vice Chancellor appoint as Chief Information Officer (CIO) effected April 2010.

In my opinion, we shall accept change. Business leaders who treat change like the enemy will fail at their jobs. Change is the one constant, and successful ICT director must be able to read the ever-changing business environment. Act on reality quickly! Those who truly face reality can’t stop there. They must adapt their business strategies to reflect that reality, and they must do so quickly. Turn your business around. Stick your head in the sand, says Welch, and you will fail. Face reality, and you may turn a bad situation into a great one.

Change, before it’s too late!

Pengenalan Kepada Pendawaian Kabel Berstruktur Premis ( Introduction To Premises Cabling System)

Sewajarnya perunding ICT perlu memahami apa yang terkandung dalam slide ini untuk merekabentuk sistem ICT yang dicadangkan oleh mereka.

1 Introduction To Premises Cabling System

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Scalable wireless LAN management tools simplify work, enable growth

For some enterprises, success with a wireless local area network (LAN) doesn't depend on sophisticated engineering within the access points (APs). Instead, success depends on the wireless LAN management and scalability afforded by a vendor's controllers and management software.

For Oklahoma's second-largest school district, flexible and scalable wireless LAN management remains a critical part of its budding wireless network, which spans 96 buildings and is supported by just four networking pros.

"We can't emphasize this enough -- [the challenge] is on the administrative side for us," said Kirk Damron, director of systems architecture at Tulsa Public Schools, which serves 50,000 students and staff on its network. "[We need] the ability to [manage a growing] number of devices with a smaller amount of work and a smaller workforce."

The district's early forays into wireless networking were patchy when they began about two years ago. One school would ask for a Wi-Fi hotspot, so Damron ordered an autonomous AP from Cisco Systems. He chose Cisco by default, since he had long used the networking giant's routing and switching gear.

"We never had a true vision to go and do a whole wireless deployment for the district, so it kind of ended up being this 'onesie, twosie' kind of thing … and that's if we had control over it," Damron said. "Sometimes we didn't, and next thing you knew, you had a NetGear router somewhere that somebody bought at Office Depot."

Looking for scalable wireless LAN management

Over the years, Tulsa Public amassed 250 Cisco fat APs across various buildings -- each site needing a virtual LAN (VLAN) manually configured from within the district's Catalyst 6500 series switches to connect the devices back to the district's main network.

Damron needed a more scalable and centralized option for wireless LAN management, but with the legacy equipment he had, his only choice for centralized wireless LAN management had been Cisco's Wireless Services Module (WiSM). He was turned off by the "extraordinarily expensive real estate" it took up in a blade chassis.

After evaluating offers and testing gear from Cisco, Aruba Networks, Trapeze Networks and Motorola, the networking team narrowed the choice to Cisco and Aruba. Easy and scalable wireless LAN management became the deciding factor, Damron said.

Tulsa Public gravitated to Aruba rather than Cisco because of Aruba's ability to support 2,000 APs with one controller, he said. The comparable Cisco controller supported only 300 APs. Over the past 18 months, Tulsa Public has deployed about 450 Aruba APs and has either traded in or tossed its old Cisco gear.

The district plans to grow its WLAN with 1,800 APs over the next five years -- hoping to migrate its Aruba 802.11a/b/g network to 802.11n toward the tail end of the process -- to support its "One-to-One Computing" initiative that would provide a wireless client device to all 43,000 students.

"We were looking at having to purchase multiple controllers to do the same thing as we could've done with one Aruba controller," Damron said. "It was hard for us to move past Cisco because we are a big Cisco shop, and when I say big, I mean big. We have millions of dollars of Cisco gear here, but they really did not have the same technology Aruba did."

Wireless LAN management simplified

Instead of three network engineers having to scramble to put out fires on Tulsa Public's growing wireless network, data engineer Charlie Diebold can handle most day-to-day operations from his seat in the district's data center.

Using the Wireless Intrusion Protection module in Aruba's controller, Diebold can remotely monitor security threats as they hit the APs -- rather than at the switches, as Cisco offered. The software also enables him to remotely customize security policy and set up one VLAN pool for all wireless devices.

Diebold said he also relishes the fact that overloaded APs are becoming a distant memory with Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) software, aiding wireless LAN management by automatically load balancing APs.

"In the past, we always had to manually configure each device," he said. "Now, all I have to do is plug them in and they're on their way."

Although the upgrade has simplified wireless LAN management for Tulsa Public, some kinks remain. The district uses Microsoft Active Directory for all of its directory services, and Damron said that "the wireless network doesn't really integrate into that component as well as it should."

It's a minor quibble, though, relative to all the headaches the system has cured with simpler wireless LAN management.

"We're getting better performance out of the Aruba network. It's configured better and it's maintained better," Damron said. "I'm not saying Aruba makes a better access point than Cisco, but we're managing it much better, so we're getting a better product and a lot less complaints."

(source - Scalable wireless LAN management tools simplify work, enable growth)

Kumpulan Kreatif dan Inovatif (KIK) Mahasiswa UiTM - Sempena Tahun Kreatif dan Inovatif UiTM 2010

Kumpulan Ideas Kolej Delima akan bertanding di peringkat antara UiTM di seluruh negara dalam pertanding KIK Kategori pelajar yang bermula pada hari ini 03-4-2010 sehingga 04-4-2010. Saya terlibat sebagai fasilitator kumpulan Ideas. Dalam masa yang sama, pada hari ini saya terpaksa menghadiri hari keluarga Pejabat Pembangunan di Melaka. Hari yang terlalu sibuk.

Sinar Harian :: Suara Cakna Komuniti Anda

SHAH ALAM – Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) semalam, disaman RM32.4 juta kerana didakwa melanggar perjanjian berkaitan penggunaan sistem aplikasi elektronik.

Trius Computers Sdn Bhd memfailkan saman itu pada jam 12.30 tengah hari di Pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi Sivil di sini, menerusi peguam Yusman Che Aman.

Turut hadir ialah pengurus besar syarikat itu, Azinor Abdul Aziz.

Berdasarkan penyataan tuntutan, syarikat itu selaku plaintif mendakwa UiTM yang dinamakan defendan melanggar perjanjian bertarikh 15 Januari 2004.

Perjanjian itu melantik plaintif untuk membangunkan sistem perisian komputer iaitu Aplikasi Elektronik UiTM bertujuan memproses sistem permohonan kemasukan penuntut defendan.

Plaintif mendakwa perjanjian itu akan berjalan selama 15 tahun bermula 21 Ogos 2001 dan tamat 20 Ogos 2016.

Bagaimanapun, plaintif mendakwa defendan telah melanggar perjanjian itu selepas mengiklankan permohonan kemasukan pelajar baru sesi Julai 2010 melalui alamat web/URL http://www.online.uitm.edu.my pada 7 Mac lalu.

Ini kerana, plaintif mendakwa, alamat laman web/URL yang dijalankan plaintif ialah www.uitmonline.edu.my.

Plaintif seterusnya mendakwa, tindakan defendan mengiklankan alamat web itu secara tersiratnya menunjukkan defendan telah menamatkan perjanjian.

Plaintif juga mendakwa, telah mendapatkan penjelasan defendan pada 8 Mac lalu, tetapi tidak menerima sebarang tindak balas.

Justeru itu, plaintif mendakwa kerugian RM32.4 juta seperti dalam bentuk kos pembangunan perisian, kehilangan pendapatan untuk tujuh tahun dan menaik taraf pelbagai perisian.

Oleh itu, plaintif menuntut deklarasi bahawa penamatan perjanjian dan tindakan defendan tidak menggunakan khidmat plaintif adalah salah dan tidak sah serta bertentangan dengan perjanjian itu. :

Selain itu, plaintif memohon perintah supaya defendan dihalang menggunakan perkhidmatan sistem permohonan kemasukan selain daripada yang dikendalikan plaintif.

Plaintif juga memohon defendan dihalang daripada melantik pihak ketiga untuk mengendalikan sistem itu dan plaintif dibenarkan untuk meneruskan perkhidmatan.

Plaintif turut memohon, defendan menarik semula arahan pengiklanan itu dan mengemukakan jumlah angka penuh permohonan yang diterima bagi sesi Julai 2010.

Plaintif memohon ganti rugi, kos dan relif yang difikirkan sesuai.

(Sumber - Sinar Harian :: Suara Cakna Komuniti Anda)

Cisco supply chain problems persist, prompting even longer backorders

Two words of advice for enterprises planning to refresh their network hardware -- order early! There seems to be no end in sight to the string of backorders Cisco Systems has issued over the past year for some of its most popular networking gear, apparently caused by ongoing problems in the Cisco supply chain.

"Customers are asking us, 'Hey, what's the deal with the product? When can we expect delivery?' The distributors don't really tell us anything [either]," said Chris Church, technical services manager for a Cisco partner in the Midwest, which he declined to identify. "You finally reach a point where you want to stop giving people dates because you're concerned about whether or not [they're] going to be met."

Since January, Church has seen long lead times for most of Cisco's Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) firewalls. Four- to six-week shipping estimates issued earlier this year have since jumped to six or seven months. His usual contacts at Cisco have been vague as to the cause of, or remedy for, the delays.

"For pretty much every model except the very top-end one, which is the 5580, we were seeing very long lead times on them, and it hasn't gotten any better. If anything, it's gotten worse," said Church, who recently wrote about his Cisco supply chain woes on his blog, Layer 3, eliciting similar gripes from readers, one of whom reported a nine-month delay for ASAs.

"At first, they were saying March or April, and now they're saying June or July," he added. "Now, I'm starting to see some backorders on some of the [ISR] 2900 series routers that you might use to fill the role that a medium-range ASA might fill. It's starting to be a little bit of a ripple effect."

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one network engineer at a large U.S. enterprise that is a devout Cisco customer said he has experienced backlogs as long as 150 days for Catalyst 2960 switches from direct Cisco purchases, as well as used equipment from various resellers.

Customers have turned to used networking gear vendors like Network Hardware Resale for some of Cisco's most high-volume products, complaining of "notorious" wait times reaching up to five or six months for new ASA firewalls and 2960s, according to Chris Stone, NHR's mergers and acquisitions manager.

Although the reseller gets its supply from enterprises unloading surplus networking equipment, the massive shortages throughout the Cisco supply chain are eating away at NHR's inventory, Stone said. In some rare cases, he said, the flood of demand is forcing NHR to reduce its large, hallmark discounts as supply dwindles.

"[The difference is] we're shipping in 24 hours for the most difficult products to find," Stone said. "It's either six months [from Cisco] or 'I can have this tomorrow.'"

Meanwhile, some networking pros are taking things into their own hands. Matt Simmons, IT infrastructure manager at Golf Savings Bank in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., balked at what now seems like a comparatively short three- to four-week shipping delay on three ISR 2600 routers. Cisco told him the problem was a software issue, he said.

"I thought it was really bizarre, so we bought these routers from [reseller] CDW and said, 'Why don't we buy the one that'll get here in a week? And I'll install the images myself,'" Simmons said.

Component shortages may not abate soon in Cisco supply chain

Although Cisco representatives declined to comment for this story, the networking giant cautioned investors about the problem in its fourth-quarter report for 2009.

"We have experienced component shortages in the past," the company stated. "We may in the future experience a shortage of certain component parts as a result of our own manufacturing issues, manufacturing issues at our suppliers or contract manufacturers, capacity problems experienced by our suppliers or contract manufacturers, or strong demand in the industry for those parts."

Citing an improving economy, Cisco attributed shipping delays in the first and second fiscal quarters of 2010 to increased demand as well as labor "constraints" in the Cisco supply chain.

"There can be no assurance that we will not encounter these problems in the future," Cisco stated. "Although in many cases we use standard parts and components for our products, certain components are presently available only from a single source or limited sources, and a global economic downturn and related market uncertainty could negatively impact [their] availability."

It will probably take "a couple quarters" for suppliers to catch up, according to Zeus Kerravala, distinguished research fellow at Yankee Group. Even the gray market, such as eBay, is drying up as demand floods it, he said. Smaller value-added resellers (VARs) are also hurting.

"If you're dealing with a small local VAR who's your buddy, he's not going to have the purchasing power of a [reseller like] CDW," Kerravala said. "Even if Cisco does have product, they're going to prioritize."

Cisco's supply chain appears to be hit harder than competitors'

Networking vendors across the market have been singing the supply chain blues for the past year -- at the mercy of component manufacturers, Kerravala said. But the Cisco supply chain seems to be suffering most, he added, and is more noticeable because of its large installed base.

"I'm not sure where exactly in the supply chain the problem is, but it looks like some of the components used to make some of the high-performance interfaces -- gig and 10-gig connectors -- are where the delay is," Kerravala said. "From what I understand, it is a supply problem. It's not really from demand."

Compounding the problem is that some of the components that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) rely on for networking gear are also being used in some consumer electronics, Kerravala said. Although Cisco leads in enterprise networking, the supply chain gets better volume from consumer deals.

"If [a manufacturer's] choice is Cisco routers or mobile phones, the volume of mobile phones would be a hundred times what the volume would be for Cisco routers," Kerravala said, adding that he had heard of Juniper Networks experiencing supply chain backups. Juniper did not reply to a request for comment.

Parts shortages began for a host of OEMs for network equipment vendors in the second quarter of 2009, when component manufacturers had begun to scale down output, according to Loren Shalinsky, senior analyst at Dell'Oro Group Inc.

By fall, a wireless LAN (WLAN) chipset shortage left a number of vendors in limbo, including Cisco and Trapeze Networks. At the time, Aruba Networks attributed a shortage to increased demand and had delayed an announcement because of it. Aruba executives said the problem has since been resolved.

In January, Channel Insider reported that Cisco was still struggling to fill orders for core networking products owing to a shortage of the raw material used to manufacture semiconductors and other basic components of its switches and routers.

(Source - Cisco supply chain problems persist, prompting even longer backorders)

Perancangan Strategik Pejabat Pembangunan - Che Izam Abu Noh

Dalam ceramah beliau pagi tadi, Pengarah Pejabat Pembangunan menekankan konsep 3P iaitu Place, People dan Process, Prinsip 5W + 2H dan Plan Do Check Action. Semua staf Pejabat Pembangunan di semua peringkat perlu memahami konsep ini dan menghayati 100% konsep tersebut untuk membolehkan kita maju kehadapan.

Akta Keselamatan & Kesihatan Pekerja 1994 (Akta 514) - En. Syafie Jamian

Semua pihak bertanggungjawab terhadap keselamatan dan kesihatan, ia adalah tangungjawab bersama, pihak majikan dan pekerja perlu bersama-sama menjaga keselamatan dan kesihatan. Pihak majikan dan pekerja mempunyai obligasi masing-masing terhadap keselamatan dan kesihatan.

Projek pembangunan yang kosnya lebih daripada 20 Juta ke atas perlu mempunyai SHO(Safety Health Officer). Setiap majikan perlu menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Keselamatan dan Kesihatan di tempat kerja, UiTM telah menubuhkan Jawatankuasa ini di semua Bahagian,Fakulti,Jabatan, Unit dan sebagainya untuk memastikan hal-hal berkaitan keselamatan dan kesihatan terpelihara. Menjadi tanggungjawab bagi S.O (Site Officer) sesuatu projek membuat teguran kepada kontraktor jika pekerjaa kontraktor tersebut tidak menggunakan peralatan pelindungan peribadi seperti kasut keselamatan, topi keselamatan dan sebagainya.

Keperluan Pengursan Fail & Rekod - Bahagian Arkib

Keperluan Pengurusan Fail dan Rekod

1. Buku daftar surat masuk
2. Buku daftar surat keluar
3. Buku daftar masuk surat terperingkat - 4 jenis (a) Terhad (b) Sulit (c) Rahsia (d) Rahsia besar
4. Memo ketua jabataan - hanya digunakan oleh Ketua Jabatan Sahaja
5. Borang daftar pengkelasan surat terperingkat
6. Borang daftar pengkelasan semua surat terperingkat
7. Senarai fail jabatan
8. buku panduan pelaksanaan fail klasifikasi perkara
9. Buku panduan pengurusan rekod UiTM
10. Panduan pengurusan rekod UiTM
11. Pek. Pkh Bil. 5 Tahun 2007 - Panduan Pengurusan Pejabat
12. Surat Pekeliling Am Sulit Bil. 1/93
13. Bilik Fail
14. Kabinet fail terbuka
15. Kabinet fail terperingkat (Peti besi keluli)
16. Kerani fail/rekod
17. Borang pemisah rekod
18. Borang penilaian rekod
19. Borang pelupusan rekod (homogeneous)
20. Senarai pemindahan rekod
21. Kertas minit
22. Kad keluar fail
23. Penggunaan kulit fail (a) Rahsia Besar (Kuning palang merah) (b) Rahsia (Merah Jambu berpalang merah) (c) Sulit (hijau) (d) Terhad (Putih bertulis TERHAD) (e) Terbuka (Putih)

Semua surat perlu dimasukan dalam RQM(rekod qualiti masuk). Surat tersebut perlu dikumpulkan dalam fail timbul. Sama juga untuk surat keluar.

Introduction to Computer Networks

Something basic about network

Introduction to Computer Networks

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DOTmed.com - Tapping In: Wi-Fi Company Aruba Networks Helps Hospitals Go Wireless

Hospital networks have long been operating under the preconceived notion that "the bigger the tether, the higher the performance," but new wireless network technologies have the ability to provide health care organizations more freedom at even greater speeds and in a smaller footprint than wired Ethernet networks. For this digital feature, DOTmed met up with Aruba Networks, a major provider of wireless infrastructure in the health care industry, to find out what happens when hospitals cut the cord.

There is a growing urgency within the health care informatics community to get electronic health records (EHR) online and upgraded as the Obama administration's guidelines for health IT funding begin to gel. While EHR may be driving the next generation of patient care and health care interoperability, these and other important applications fall flat without the proper network infrastructure -- a foundational technology also earmarked for federal stimulus money in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).

(Source - DOTmed.com - Tapping In: Wi-Fi Company Aruba Networks Helps Hospitals Go Wireless)

Secure wireless LAN for large UK university campus (Aruba Networks)

Aruba Networks has been selected by The University of Manchester to upgrade its campus wireless network with a high-speed 802.11n solution. The University of Manchester is the UK’s largest single-site university, and depends heavily upon IT infrastructure to support its 35,000 students, 11,400 faculty and staff, and world-class research, innovation, and learning initiatives. To address wireless usage that outstripped the capability of its legacy Cisco ‘Fat’ AP network, meet demanding future video and virtual learning needs, and provide pervasive coverage that may ultimately require in excess of 4,000 access points, the university conducted an extensive technical review of single, multi-channel, and adaptive wireless LANs. Aruba was selected after the university determined that Aruba’s adaptive wireless LANs were more scalable, Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) easier to deploy, and overall the network was more easily managed than competing systems. The network will be supplied by authorised platinum Aruba partner, Pervasive Networks.

“We looked for a solution that could scale to deliver a pervasive wireless network on campus, yet would be cost effective and both easy to deploy and easy to manage,” said Darren Hankinson of The University of Manchester’s IT Services. “Aruba won on all points: its ARM technology makes deployment simple and automates a lot of the management; it’s easy to build and manage all the different user communities we need to support; and the scalability of the solution is exemplary.”

Aruba’s massively scalable centralised architecture delivers switch-like performance while lowering IT operating expenses by simplifying network set-up, expansion, and updates. A master-local design allows master Mobility Controllers in the data centre to manage and update dispersed controllers supporting local 802.11n access points. This field-proven architecture minimises IT overhead while delivering visibility into, and fine-grained control of, the entire network.

An ICSA-certified policy-enforcement firewall provides identity-based security, Quality of Service control, and traffic management capabilities. The firewall classifies traffic on the basis of user identity, device type, location, and time of day, and provides differentiated access for different classes of users. Guest access to applications and resources, and even bandwidth consumed, are tightly controlled by the firewall and an integrated captive portal.

Aruba’s Mobility Controllers authenticate users through Active Directory, RADIUS, LDAP and other commonly employed databases. Until such time as they are decommissioned, traffic from the 400 legacy Cisco ‘Fat’ APs will be passed through the Aruba controllers for authentication to deliver a uniform end-user experience.

To optimise Wi-Fi performance in real-time, ARM technology uses infrastructure-based controls to manage how Wi-Fi clients interact, and ensure that 802.11n data, voice, and video applications have sufficient network resources to operate properly. Acting on their own, Wi-Fi clients do not always work cooperatively with other clients, or select the optimal band, channel, and access point. These issues are exacerbated in environments like lecture halls and dormitories with high-bandwidth applications and densely-packed clients. ARM has been demonstrated to increase 802.11n throughput by more than 200%, enabling more than 100 laptops to reliably display multi-media lectures delivered from a single access point.

“Scaling a wireless LAN to support thousands of high-speed 802.11n access points is no mean feat,” said Bob Vickers, sales director of Aruba UK and Ireland. “It requires high throughput controllers, automatic management of the ever-changing RF environment, and centralised management. The University of Manchester validated that the robustness and scalability of Aruba’s adaptive wireless LANs make them a best-in-class solution for the rigors of a large university deployment.”

(Source - Secure wireless LAN for large UK university campus (Aruba Networks)

Structure Cabling System Design

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4 Structure Cabling System Design

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Network Design

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Network Design

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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) using Asterisk

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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) using Asterisk

View more presentations from Sameer Verma.

VLAN-What is all about?

VLAN

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Unified Communication

Unified Communications in Healthcare

I will suggest to faculty of medicine to deploy Unified Communication

healthcamp:nash - Unified Communications in Healthcare

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Pusat Latihan Kampung Gajah - Kenangan Lalu Terungkap Kembali

Pada hari ini sehingga khamis ini saya berkursus di Pusat Latihan UiTM Kampung Gajah Perak. Kami sampai kira-kira jam 12.30 tengah hari dengan menaiki bas UiTM. Kali terakhir saya sampai di sini kira-kira 5 tahun yang lalu, masa itu, Pusat Latihan Kampung Gajah tidak secantik macam sekarang. Secara keseluruhan kemudahan yang terdapat di Pusat Latihan Kampung Gajah ini boleh dikelaskan sebagai 3 bintang.

Semasa menyampaikan ucapan perasmian Tuan Haji Junaidi Muslim, Timbalan Pengarah, Pejabat Pembangunan menekankan betapa ilmu penting untuk menjadi membina kewibawaan. Kursus asas Pengurusan Projek ini bertujuan untuk mendedahkan semua peserta selok belok dalam mengendalikan projek pembangunan. Justeru, beliau menyarankan supaya peluang berkursus ini perlu digarapi sepenuhnya sebagai peluang untuk menimba ilmu dalam bidang pengurusan projek.

SIP Phone, IP Phone, USB Phone, USB VoIP Phone, SIP ATA, Skype phone

Huntsville, Ala., and Xiamen, Fujian—[27^th Feb,2010]—Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, and Yealink, a professional IP voice and video phone designer and manufacturer for broadband networks,today announced they have completed interoperability test in Asterisk Business Edition and Yealink SIP-T2x series. Yealink SIP-T2x series is high performance and affordable SIP telephones that help businesses leverage the increasing benefits of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system. Yealink SIP phone provides the high quality audio, a brand range of voice codec, security protection for privacy, and rich telephone features. Yealink enterprise HD IP phones now are compliance-tested by Digium for compatibility.Digium is the creator, sponsor and driving force behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software.

The company’s product lines include a wide range of software and hardware that enable businesses to implement turnkey unified communications solutions or to design their own VoIP systems. Resellers, telecom professionals and software developers choose Digium’s products because only Digium delivers the technical superiority, security and flexibility associated with Asterisk.“The combination of Digium and Yealink enterprise HD IP phone gives businesses a powerful and yet cost-effective choice in VoIP solution market” commented David Chen, the CEO of Yealink Network, “We believe we are providing the best price-performance benchmark in the industry, Digium and Yealink combination offers a very compelling value to SMB”

About Yealink Network Technology

Yealink Network Technology Ltd. is a professional designer and manufacturer of innovative, affordable, and high quality IP voice and video products for the world-wide broadband telephony market. The company's products such as SIP-T2x series enterprise HD IP Phones, equipped with the TI chipset and TI Voice Engine, offer high definition voice, are fully compatible with the SIP industry standard, field proven with large and rapidly growing deployed base, and have broad interoperability with the major IP-PBX, IMS, NGN, soft-switch and other 3rd party SIP products on the market today. The extraordinary performance of our products and professional R&D team ensure us a strategic partner to Digium. For more information, please visit www.yealink.com

About Digium

Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, created, owns and is the innovative force behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software. Since its founding in 1999, Digium has become the open source alternative to proprietary communication providers, with offerings that cost as much as 80 percent less. Digium offers Asterisk software free to the open source community and offers Asterisk Business Edition and Switchvox IP PBX software to power a broad family of products for small, medium and large businesses. The company’s product line includes a wide range of hardware and software to enable resellers and customers to implement turnkey VoIP systems or to design their own custom telephony solutions. More information is available at http://www.digium.com.

(Source - SIP Phone, IP Phone, USB Phone, USB VoIP Phone, SIP ATA, Skype phone)

Introduction to Unified Communications: Concepts and Opportunities

Open platform of Unified Communication. My vision and mission to be completed in UiTM

Introduction to Unified Communications: Concepts and Opportunities

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Pengumuman Kursus di OSCC (Mac - April 2010)

Sukacita ingin dimaklumkan bahawa berikut adalah kursus yang dibuka untuk sesi pendaftaran di OSCC :

1. PHP Programming & MySQL Database (Basic) (22 - 24 Mac 2010)
2. Using MyMeeting (30 Mac 2010)
3. Linux Fundamental (30 - 31 Mac 2010)
4. Using MySpamGuard (1 April 2010)
5. Linux System Administration (12 - 14 April 2010)
6. Using MyMeeting (13 April 2010)
7. Introduction to CMS with Joomla! (19 - 21 April 2010)
8. Using MySurfGuard (19 April 2010)
9. Certified Linux Administration 01 (26 - 30 April 2010)

Sila rujuk laman web OSCC (http://www.oscc.org.my) untuk pendaftaran dan maklumat selanjutnya. Keutamaan diberikan kepada kakitangan kerajaan bergred F dan mempunyai asas sistem linux. Sekiranya anda berminat untuk menerima pengumuman kursus dari masa ke semasa sila daftar melalui oscc-training@lists.oscc.org.my di laman web
http://lists.oscc.org.my. Sekian.

Mariatul Shima Abu Hassan Asari
Penyelaras Latihan
OSCC MAMPU
3rd Floor, Enterprise Building 3,
Persiaran APEC
63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8319 1200
Fax : 03-8319 3206

http://opensource.mampu.gov.my/

Unified Communication Solution On Open Platform

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Unified Communication Solution On Open Platform

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Cisco and Tandberg reveal details on integration - FierceVoIP

Cisco and Tandberg are expecting the final regulatory thumbs-up during the first half of 2010 for the $3.4 billion acquisition deal and when that happens it will be full speed ahead on getting their systems to interoperate.

Once the acquisition goes through, Cisco plans to create the Cisco TelePresence Technology Group which will include both Cisco and Tandberg's products. The group will focus on open integrated architecture standards to make interoperability between the group's products and third party UC systems easier. The new TelePresence group will include a number of product lines: immersive TelePresence, multipurpose room systems, personal systems, platform portfolio, infrastructure and TelePresence as a service.

Back in January, Cisco released TelePresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) into the wild in hopes to spur more interoperability with third parties. According to eWeek, some competitors like Polycom believe that while the new protocol may help interoperability along, the creation of protocols should be left up to third-party standards bodies rather than dominant players in the industry.

(Source - Cisco and Tandberg reveal details on integration - FierceVoIP)

MLabs targets 50% video conferencing market share

KUALA LUMPUR: ACE Market-listed MLABS SYSTEMS BHD is targeting to increase its share of the local video conferencing market to 50% in the next five years from 30% at present.

The company, which manufactures both the hardware and software for video conferencing TECHNOLOGY , said it would use proceeds from its latest rights issuance for sales and marketing of its video conferencing system, hardware purchases and for the "expansion" of personnel. MLabs shareholders approved yesterday the company's proposed renounceable rights issue of 51.48 million shares together with 77.22 million free detachable warrants on the basis of two rights shares and three warrants for every four existing shares. The rights shares are priced at 10 sen apiece while the indicative price of the warrants is also 10 sen each.

MLabs executive director Ismail Ahmad said the company would focus its marketing efforts on government agencies as well as the business community. "We are in talks with some of these parties. We are confident in sealing more deals, especially with the government agencies," Ismail told The Edge Financial Daily today.

He added that the company had in previous months sealed deals with some government agencies like the Prisons Department to install such systems.

MLabs partners Universiti Sains Malaysia for the research and development (R&D) of its video conferencing products.

"We are currently developing high-definition and telepresence video conferencing technology. We hope to introduce it at half the price — below RM50,000 — offered by well-known competitors," MLabs R&D chief Prof R Sureswaran said.

"We actually have a prototype unit — the software portion of it. And we're trying to get hardware to support the software now. We expect to be able to release working units by the end of the year."

The company said its biggest competitive advantage was its lower set-up costs.

According to a Bursa Malaysia filing, MLabs' net loss narrowed to RM791,000 in the year ended Dec 31, 2009 from a net loss of RM6.88 million in 2008. Revenue increased to RM2.87 million from RM1.41 million.

(Source - MLabs targets 50% video conferencing market share)

VLAN guide for networking professionals

For years, virtual LANs have played an important role in basic enterprise networking, enabling engineers to segment portions of their networks for security, management and scalability. The emergence of virtualization and cloud computing networks only makes understanding VLAN implementation more important. VLANs are key to providing management in a world of virtualization, even where virtual machines are constantly migrating, challenging the very basics of network management. In this guide, learn about old and new uses of VLANs in everything from wireless LANs to data center networks.

What is a VLAN?

Before implementing or managing a VLAN, one must understand what a VLAN is. A VLAN, or virtual (logical) LAN, is a local area network with definitions that map workstations based on anything except geographic location. For example, a VLAN might have a definition that maps workstations by department, type of user, and so on. The benefits of VLANs include easier management of workstations, load balancing, bandwidth allocation and tighter security.

VLANs become even more efficient when coupled with server virtualization. In a virtualized data center environment, the VLAN strings the physical servers together and creates a route. By allowing virtual machines to move across physical servers in the same VLAN, administrators can keep tabs on the virtual machines and manage them more efficiently.

What's the best way to configure a VLAN?

There are three ways of configuring a VLAN: static, dynamic and port-centric. The configuration will be based on the needs of the VLAN. For example, for more security, administrators opt for a static VLAN, which assigns the VLAN membership to a switch's port; whereas a dynamic VLAN assigns the VLAN membership to the MAC address of the host or device. Switches that support VLANs establish the VLAN by either frame-tagging or filtering, both of which look at the frame and decide where it should be sent. Frame tagging "tags" a frame to keep track of it as it travels through the switch's fabric. Frame filtering examines specific information from each frame through a filtering table that is developed for the switch, allowing for examination of many different frame attributes. But frame filtering is less scalable than frame tagging because each frame needs to be referenced to a filter table. Frame tagging is considered the most efficient way to go, according to IEEE 802.1q.

For futher reading, please refer to VLAN guide for networking professionals.

WAN video conferencing network design requirements for QoS

Video conferencing is a real-time communications technology, like VoIP, which requires special treatment on the IP network. The wide area network (WAN) is a critical component of the infrastructure supporting video conferencing and must be properly configured in order to ensure high-quality video conferencing service delivery.

The critical requirements of the WAN video conferencing network design are as follows:

* To ensure that the WAN has adequate bandwidth.
* To properly classify traffic and support that traffic in a dedicated class.
* To support call admission control for bandwidth management.
* To properly locate the multipoint conferencing unit or bridge.
* To measure and monitor the WAN vendor.

Let's take a look at each of these requirements in turn.

# Determining adequate bandwidth for WAN video conferencing

Video conferencing sessions can consume significant amounts of bandwidth. Video conferencing can operate with as little as 400 Kbps of network traffic but may operate as high as 4 Mbps or even 6 Mbps of network traffic per call. The network designer must first determine the bandwidth of each video call by comparing the different resolution and frame rates available and determining which settings are best for the business application. The network designer must then determine the number of concurrent calls from each WAN-connected location. The call rate multiplied by the number of concurrent calls will determine the bandwidth requirement on each network access link. Remember to add IP overhead. Traditional video conferencing bandwidths are given as the transport bandwidth (e.g., 512 Kbps) where what the network actually experiences is about 20% higher (e.g., 615 Kbps). This is because video conferencing bandwidth values date from the days when it was all being carried on IDSN, which does not have any overhead. Signaling is out of band, but in an IP network we need overhead to create the packet headers that get the data from one computer to the next. This 20% is the overhead of the wrappers that let the IP network know how to handle the data (addressing, timing, protocol encapsulation, etc.).

# WAN traffic classification

The voice and video streams from a video conferencing endpoint must be given priority treatment in the network (overlay and converged) to maintain audio and video quality. A network class should be dedicated to video, and this class should be of a higher priority than all other application traffic except VoIP. The correct marking for this class will be provided by the WAN vendor. This marking should be put on the IP packets by the endpoint itself through proper configuration of the video endpoint. The network should be designed to trust the endpoint based on its IP address, subnet or port range.

# Video conferencing CAC

Once the bandwidths for the network have been calculated and put in place, the video conferencing application must stay within the design constraints. As additional systems are deployed, it becomes possible for video to overdrive the network, which will create packet loss and thus poor-quality video. The video conferencing infrastructure must have a call admission control (CAC) mechanism in place so that when the bandwidth for a specific network link is fully utilized, subsequent call requests which use that link will be denied.

# Locating the WAN video conferencing bridge

The video conferencing bridge is a bandwidth hotspot because all video conferencing calls participating in multipoint conferences must directly connect to the bridge. Thus, the bandwidth demand of the bridge connection can be significant. The best location for the bridge is in a collocation facility directly connected to the WAN core. This location provides inexpensive high-bandwidth connectivity and ensures that the design will scale as additional video conferencing endpoints are added to the enterprise.

# Trust and verify WAN video conferencing QoS

Network monitoring is a critical component of maintaining a high-quality video conferencing service. A path-based measurement tool should be used to measure the behavior of the network. The statistics gathered by traditional data network tools are not sufficient for monitoring the behavior of networks for voice and video conferencing. The voice and video monitoring tool should be an operational tool that collects information on a 24/7 basis and stores this information in a database. The tool will allow forensic analysis, trending, triggers based on thresholds, and real-time views of the behavior of the network in support of video conferencing. Currently, no video vendors have this kind of tool, but other vendors sell video network management tools.

# WAN video conferencing network design takeaways

These critical steps are all needed to ensure consistent, high-quality video service delivery across the WAN. Work with your WAN vendor to ensure that it has the right capabilities and that your network design meshes with the WAN service provided. Spending the time to get a good scalable design in place will pay off as video conferencing becomes an integral communications tool for the enterprise.

(Source : http://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com)

UiTM MOOT TEAM WON LEGAL BATTLE

For the first time in the history of UiTM, the Faculty of Law’s moot team has won the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Championship, which was held at national level from 26th to 28th February at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Defeating other three universities known for their strength in the field, the team will be representing Malaysia in the same competition at international level in Washington DC, United States of America this 21st March.

The intervarsity ‘legal battle’ is organised annually by the International Law Students Association, a profit-oriented body with members consist of law students and practitioners world wide dedicated to research and promotion of international law, which is based in Chicago. The scenario of the contest is similar to that of a real trial, showcasing the participants’ oratory and debating prowess.

Congratulations and good luck for the next battle!

(Source - UiTM MOOT TEAM WON LEGAL BATTLE)

UiTM kaji genome Melayu guna profil DNA

UNIVERSITI Teknologi Mara (UiTM) bakal membawa pembaharuan dalam bidang perubatan dunia menerusi projek penyelidikan genome Melayu pertama di dunia yang kini dilaksanakan penyelidik Fakulti Perubatan universiti itu.

Naib Canselornya, Prof Datuk Ir Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, berkata kajian itu membolehkan penyelidik mencirikan pelbagai struktur genetik genome untuk diguna pakai dalam penyelidikan perubatan dan genetik pada masa depan. Dalam konteks masyarakat Melayu, katanya, kajian itu juga dapat meningkatkan kefahaman masyarakat mengenai genome orang Melayu menerusi kehadiran gen.

“Selain itu, dapatan kajian itu juga mampu mencirikan asal usul orang Melayu berdasarkan profil DNA yang diperoleh.

“Malah secara tidak langsung, ia dapat membantu pakar farmasi menyediakan ubat-ubatan bersesuaian dengan penyakit yang biasa dikaitkan dengan genome Melayu ini,” katanya pada majlis perasmian kampus UiTM Puncak Alam, baru-baru ini.

Penyelidikan genome merujuk kepada penyelidikan berkaitan set asas haploid kromosom sesuatu organisma pada manusia.

Prof. Dato Dr. Sahol berkata, projek penyelidikan itu dilaksanakan di Kampus Puncak Alam yang kini menjadi tapak penyelidikan dalam bidang sains dan perubatan berkonsepkan genome Melayu.

Katanya, kampus itu dipilih sebagai tapak penyelidikan yang turut menempatkan Fakulti Perubatan bersesuaian dengan keunikan dan kelestarian ruang serta alam semula jadinya yang menghijau.

“Kita merancang untuk memiliki hospital pengajar sendiri bagi menjamin kualiti program dan penyelidikan perubatan yang lebih sistematik selain menempatkan pusat penyelidikan berkaitan khususnya Centre for Translational Research bagi memantapkan penyelidikan klinikal.

“Justeru, kita berharap agar pihak kerajaan dapat memberi kelulusan dan peruntukan segera bagi merealisasikan cadangan penubuhan hospital di Kampus Puncak Alam sebagai kemudahan latihan klinikal kepada pelajar dan pensyarah,” katanya.

Dengan adanya kemudahan itu dan kurikulum mantap dan terkini, beliau yakin dapat mengeluarkan 2,000 doktor Melayu dalam tempoh lima tahun lagi.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, katanya, Fakulti Perubatan UiTM bekerjasama dengan Lembaga Bersama Perubatan menawarkan kursus pasca siswazah profesional dalam bidang perubatan, mulai Julai ini.

Katanya, kejayaan penawaran program itu adalah satu pengiktirafan kepada fakulti terbabit hasil peningkatan inovasi menerusi kurikulum mantap dan terkini.

“Walaupun baru berusia lima tahun, pencapaian itu membuktikan penekanan kita kepada aspek kualiti selain sokongan barisan tenaga akademik kanan berpengalaman dari dalam dan luar negara yang turut dilantik sebagai Profesor Adjung,” katanya.

(Sumber - Berita Harian Online)

UPMC Again Named to U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals for the 10th Time – UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

PITTSBURGH, July 16 – UPMC is once again the region’s only medical center named on the annual U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals. UPMC is ranked 13th of only 21 hospitals nationwide that made the Honor Roll of the “nation’s best” in the 2009 survey.

UPMC was ranked in 13 of 16 specialty areas, including seven specialties for which UPMC is in the top 10. Once again, UPMC is the region’s only medical center to be ranked in any specialty. Only 174 hospitals of the more than 4,800 eligible hospitals nationally were ranked in any specialty area. This year marks UPMC’s 10th appearance on the Honor Roll, with UPMC advancing to 13th place, up from 14th place on the 2008 list.

“This well-deserved recognition is due to our superb physicians, nurses and staff and is a clear reflection of their commitment to providing exceptional patient care,” said Elizabeth Concordia, executive vice president of UPMC and president of the Hospital and Community Services Division.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the Honor Roll lists those institutions that demonstrate excellence and breadth of expertise by ranking at or near the top in at least six specialties.

UPMC’s ranked specialties are: Ear, nose and throat – ranked 4th; gynecology, 7th; respiratory disorders, 7th; geriatric care, 8th; psychiatry, 8th; orthopaedics, 10th; rheumatology, 10th; kidney disorders, 12th; rehabilitation, 14th; neurology and neurosurgery, 17th; digestive disorders, 18th; heart and heart surgery, 32nd; and cancer, 41st.

The 2009-10 publication of America’s Best Hospitals is accessible online now at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and on sale at newsstands beginning Tuesday, July 21.

(Source - UPMC Again Named to U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals for the 10th Time – UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA)

Security of healthcare Information Systems - Mandatory to comply!

Talking about security in Healthcare Information System, the HIPAA security rule and out line provide framework for establishing a viable health security program. Its include (a) Administrative safeguard (b) Physical safeguard and (c) Technical safeguard.

The threat to HIS fall into one of these three categories (a) Human threats, which can result from intentional or unintentional human tampering (b) Natural and enviromental threat, such as flood, fires, and power outages (c) Technology malfunctions, such as a drive that fails and has no back up.

The IT Department Functions - Becoming Increasingly Important!

I thinks in my opinion the IT department has several responsibilities such as:

(a) Ensuring that an IT Plan and strategy have been developed for the university and that the plan and strategy are kept current as the university evolves.

(b) Working with university to acquire or develop and implement needed new applications

(c) Provide day-to-day support of users: for example, fixing broken PC,fixing broken network connectivity, responding to questions about applications use,training new users etc.

(d) Managing the IT infrastructures ( performing backup of databases, installing network connections etc).

(e) Examining the role and relevance of emerging information technologies.

Within these 5 responsibilities , there are several sub-function

(i) Data center management - make sure the data center up-time 99.98% per year

(ii) Network management - make sure the connectivity of the network up-time 99.98% per year

(iii) Server management - manage server inside data center in top condition

(iv) Database management - manage database integrity and reliability

(v) Security - active directory, firewall, audit trail,ssh-vpn ,

(vi) Help desk - Support user all the time

(vii) Deployment - install new workstation, printers, new network point, wireless etc.

(viii) Training - train new user to use the application installed etc.

Once all of these function and sub function fulfilled, then then only the IT department will gain the credibility and respect from users.

UiTM bina enam kampus baru - kaedah PFI

PUTRAJAYA 2 Mac - Pembinaan enam buah kampus baru Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) di enam lokasi akan dibuat menerusi kaedah inisiatif pembiayaan swasta bagi memenuhi sasaran penempatan 200,000 pelajar.Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin berkata, enam lokasi itu ialah di Pasir Gudang, Johor, Jasin (Melaka), Seremban 3 (Negeri Sembilan) Samarahan (Sarawak), Puncak Alam (Selangor) dan Tapah (Perak).

"Setiap satu kampus itu membabitkan kos sebanyak RM300 juta dan mampu menempatkan 5,000 pelajar. Kesemua projek itu dijangka dapat beroperasi dalam tempoh setahun setengah,” katanya kepada pemberita di sini hari ini.

Terdahulu, Mohamed Khaled menyaksikan majlis menandatangani perjanjian Konsesi Asrama Secara Penswastaan antara Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) dengan Pengurusan Konsesi Asrama Sdn Bhd (Peka). - Bernama

(Sumber - Utusan Malaysia Online - Terkini)

Life as a Healthcare CIO: The Interim Final Rule on Standards

I come across blog "Life as a healthcare CIO " by John D. Halamka MD . His point on Health Informatics standard very interesting and i want to share with other reader.

Yesterday at 4:15pm, HHS/ONC released the Interim Final Rule (IFR) - Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology.

Pages 79-81 contain the content and vocabulary standards

Page 85 contains the privacy standards.

Let's examine the major recommendations.
The standards selected leverage the hard work done by HITSP, Consolidated Health Informatics, Federal Health Architecture, NCVHS, and government agency efforts . The IFR notes that unless marked with the following superscripts, all of the adopted standards are from the ONC process that took place prior to the enactment of the HITECH Act or are required by other HHS regulations.

A number sign “#” indicates that the HIT Standards Committee recommended this standard to the National Coordinator but it was not part of the prior ONC process.

An asterisk “*” indicates that the standard was neither recommended by the HIT Standards Committee nor part of the prior ONC process.

A plus sign “+” as mentioned above indicates a standard that is not a voluntary consensus standard.

The content and vocabulary standards selected includes Adopted Standard(s) to Support Meaningful Use Stage 1 (2011) and Candidate Standard(s) to Support Meaningful Use Stage 2 (2013).

1. Patient Summary Record
The adopted content standard is HL7 CDA R2 CCD Level 2 or ASTM CCR. The candidate content standard is the hope that this will be converged to a single standard based on HIT Standards Committee recommendations. As I said in my Genius of the AND blog, I truly believe that CCD and CCR is the most parsimonious set of content standards for the summary record in 2009. I'm hopeful that HL7 and ASTM will continue their work together, simplifying the XML of CCD so that CCD and CCR can converge into a single approach which makes implementation easier for all.

Of interest, page 66 of the IFR notes that CCR must be parsed by all EHRs even if CCD is used. Per the IFR - "A final example would be, if an eligible professional uses Certified EHR Technology that has implemented the continuity of care document (CCD) standard for the exchange of a patient summary record and receives a patient summary record formatted in the continuity of care record (CCR) standard, their Certified EHR Technology must be capable of interpreting the information within the CCR message and displaying it in human readable format. We do not expressly state how this should be accomplished or in what format human readable information should be displayed (e.g., information in a CCR message could be converted to a text file or PDF). We only require that Certified EHR Technology must be capable of performing this function. We believe this requirement is critical and have included it to allow flexibility in the marketplace during meaningful use Stage 1 and to prevent good faith efforts to exchange information from going to waste (i.e., information is exchanged, but is unreadable to both Certified EHR Technology (machine readable) and humans)."

The adopted vocabulary standards for problem lists are the applicable HIPAA code set required by law (i.e.,ICD-9-CM) or SNOMED CT. The candidate standards are the applicable HIPAA code set required by law (e.g.,ICD-10-CM) or SNOMED CT. My hope is that SNOMED CT adoption is accelerated and that ICD-10's role will be limited to a back office function. Widespread implementation of ICD-10 will be costly and brings little added value to clinicians, while SNOMED CT captures clinical observations very well, enabling decision support and better quality measurement.

The adopted vocabulary standards for medications are any code set from an RxNorm drug data source provider that is identified by the United States National Library of Medicine as being a complete data set integrated within RxNorm+ (note the + indicating RxNorm is not a consensus standard from an SDO, it's a product of the National Library of Medicine). For a complete list of the allowable vocabularies, see the NLM list which includes:

GS - 10/01/2009 (Gold Standard Alchemy); MDDB - 10/07/2009 (Master Drug Data Base. Medi-Span, a division of Wolters Kluwer Health); MMSL - 10/01/2009 (Multum MediSource Lexicon); MMX - 09/28/2009 (Micromedex DRUGDEX); MSH - 08/17/2009 (Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)); MTHFDA - 8/28/2009 (FDA National Drug Code Directory); MTHSPL - 10/28/2009 (FDA Structured Product Labels); NDDF - 10/02/2009 (First DataBank NDDF Plus Source Vocabulary); SNOMED CT - 07/31/2009 (SNOMED Clinical Terms (drug information) SNOMED International); VANDF - 10/07/2009 (Veterans Health Administration National Drug File). Also, FDA Unique Ingredient Identifiers (UNII) are a component of RxNorm.

The candidate vocabulary standard is RxNorm. I believe that the EHRs will continue to use proprietary standards internally for many years to come, but will need to map to RxNorm for all data exchanged.

The adopted vocabulary standard for allergies is not specified at this time i.e. free text or local vocabularies are fine. The candidate vocabulary standard is the Unique Ingredient Identifier (UNII). This makes great sense, since it will take vendors and self built system operators several years to implement controlled allergy vocabularies throughout their products.

The adopted vocabulary standards for procedures are the applicable HIPAA code set required by law (i.e.,ICD-9-CM) or CPT-4. The candidate standards are the applicable HIPAA code set required by law (e.g.,ICD-10-CM) or CPT-4. Of all the vocabulary standards mentioned in the Interim Final Rule, only one, CPT-4, requires payment for its use. I hope that HHS licenses CPT-4 for general use just as it has licensed SNOMED-CT. This will significantly reduce the implementation burden.

The adopted vocabulary standard for Vital signs is not specified at this time i.e. free text or local vocabularies are fine. The candidate vocabulary is a CDA template. This makes sense. I'm a fan of CDA templates to make CDA easier to implement.

The adopted vocabulary standard for units of measure is not specified at this time i.e. free text or local vocabularies are fine. The candidate vocabulary is UCUM. This is a very reasonable approach, giving commercial and hospital labs the time they need to implement a controlled unit of measure vocabulary standard.

2. Drug Formulary Check
The adopted content standard for Drug Formulary Check is the Applicable Part D standard required by law (i.e., NCPDP Formulary & Benefits Standard 1.0). The candidate vocabulary standard will also be whatever is required by Part D. This standard is widely deployed and there are no credible alternatives.

3. e-Prescribing
The adopted content standard for e-Prescribing is NCPDP script 8.1 or NCPDP script 10.6. The candidate standard is NCPDP Script 10.6. We debated this at the HIT Standards Committee, hoping that NCPDP 10.6 could be accelerated, but it is a reasonable compromise to offer some transition time. The adopted vocabulary standards are the same as for the Patient Summary Record above.

4. Administrative Transactions
The adopted and candidate standards for Administrative Transactions are those required by HIPAA i.e. 4010 now and 5010 in 2013. This is expected.

5. Quality Reporting
The adopted content standard for quality reporting is the CMS PQRI 2008 Registry XML Specification#,+ (note that this means it was suggested by the HIT Standards Committee and not by HITSP, it's not an SDO product but was produced by CMS). The candidate standards are those to be suggested by the HIT Standards Committee. We debated this at the HIT Standards Committee because QRDA is an emerging standard for quality reporting but not a widely implemented one. This glide path is reasonable, but does require implementers to change course - implementing PQRI XML now and possibly QRDA or other standards later. It will be interesting to follow the comments on this one - maybe PQRI and QRDA should be allowed now to prevent this rework.

6. Submission of Lab Results to Public Health Agencies
The adopted content standard for lab reporting is HL7 2.5.1. The candidate standards are potential newer versions to be recommended by the HIT Standards Committee such as CDA documents. This is very reasonable given that all lab transactions in the country currently use HL7 2.x approaches.

The adopted vocabulary standard is LOINC when LOINC codes have been received from a laboratory. The candidate vocabulary standards are LOINC, UCUM, and SNOMED CT or Applicable Public Health Agency Requirements.

What does this mean? Per the IFR "We do not require Certified EHR Technology to be capable of mapping all laboratory orders or tests to LOINC codes. Rather, we require that Certified EHR Technology be capable of using LOINC codes that are received and retained to populate a patient summary record. Moreover, having LOINC codes used internally for meaningful use Stage 1 will prepare Certified EHR Technology for any future potential meaningful use Stage 2 requirements. We believe the use of LOINC, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), and other vocabulary standards will accelerate the adoption and use of clinical decision support. Requiring LOINC as a vocabulary standard that Certified EHR Technology must have the capability to support for meaningful use Stage 1 provides an incremental approach to achieving these future goals." This is a very reasonable glide path to accelerating adoption of LOINC.

7. Submission to Public Health Agencies for Surveillance
The adopted content standards are HL7 2.3.1 or HL7 2.5.1. The candidate content standards are potentially newer version(s) or standards based on HIT Standards Committee Input, such as CDA documents. Of interest, Geocoded Interoperable Population Summary Exchange (GIPSE), a summary format for surveillance data submission, is listed as a vocabulary standard. I believe it should be moved to the candidate content standards area, as it is a great way to report summary surveillance data content.

The adopted vocabulary standard is listed as According to Applicable Public Health Agency Requirements. The candidate vocabulary standard is listed as GIPSE or According to Applicable Public Health Agency Requirements.

8. Submission to Immunization Registries
The adopted content standards are HL7 2.3.1 or HL7 2.5.1. The candidate content standards are potentially newer version(s) of standards based on HIT Standards Committee Recommendations such as CDA documents. The HIT Standards Committee discussed this, since HL7 2.3.1 is the currently accepted standard for immunization exchange, but HL7 2.5.1 is now ready. Allowing both for now makes sense.

The adopted vocabulary standard is CVX*,+, the CDC's National Center of Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) maintained HL7 code set. Note that this recommendation is marked as not made by either HITSP or the HIT Standards Committee, but actually it was made by both via the HITSP Interoperability Specification for Public Health Case Reporting
The Privacy and Security adopted standards represent the simplest set of technologies and policies that protect confidentiality and ensure data integrity. They are:

1. General Encryption and Decryption of Electronic Health Information - A symmetric 128 bit fixed-block cipher algorithm capable of using a 128, 192, or 256 bit encryption key must be used (e.g., FIPS 197 Advanced Encryption Standard, (AES), Nov 2001).+. This was recommended by the HIT Standards Committee.

2. Encryption and Decryption of Electronic Health Information for Exchange - An encrypted and integrity protected link must be implemented (e.g., TLS, IPv6, IPv4 with IPsec).+ This is a very reasonable recommendation that represents the best thinking of the HIT Standards Committee, HITSP and industry experts. We all recognize that TLS is great for point to point connections, while IPv6 and IPv4 with IPSec are better for organization to organization secure connections. It's a very wise approach.

3. Record Actions Related to Electronic Health Information (i.e., audit log) - The date, time, patient identification (name or number), and user identification (name or number) must be recorded when electronic health information is created, modified, deleted, or printed. An indication of which action(s) occurred must also be recorded (e.g., modification).+ Rather than require ATNA or CT profiles, this recommendation leaves the audit trail to policy - what data to record. This is a reasonable compromise distilled from many hours of expert testimony.

4. Verification that Electronic Health Information has not been Altered in Transit - A secure hashing algorithm must be used to verify that electronic health information has not been altered in transit. The secure hash algorithm used must be SHA- 1 or higher (e.g., Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication (PUB) Secure Hash Standard (SHS) FIPS PUB 180-3).+ This was recommended by the HIT Standards Committee.

5. Cross-Enterprise Authentication - Use of a cross-enterprise secure transaction that contains sufficient identity information such that the receiver can make access control decisions and produce detailed and accurate security audit trails (e.g., IHE Cross Enterprise User Assertion (XUA) with SAML identity assertions).+ Just as with auditing, this is left to policy and does not require a single specific standard/profile such as XUA. The use of SAML approaches does make great sense and will be widely adopted in healthcare, since it is already widely used in other industries.

6. Record Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations Disclosures - The date, time, patient identification (name or number), user identification (name or number), and a description of the disclosure must be recorded.+ This too is left to policy, which is a great choice, since the industry has yet to figure out how disclosures will be tracked operationally.

These recommendations are consistent with the work of thousands of experts over the past decade. They do not include all the detailed recommendations from HITSP or implementation profile writers such as IHE but they do include all the highly mature constructs that are deployable in 2011 without over burdening the industry. From what I know about standards harmonization, the state of standards adoption, and the unresolved controversies/debates, the rule is the right mixture of harmonization and compromise. Not every stakeholder will be happy with it, but it is good enough. It moves us all forward toward the goal of less optionality, more constraints, and vocabulary controlled semantic interoperability.

Well done!

(Source - Life as a Healthcare CIO: The Interim Final Rule on Standards)

Health Informatics Journals - Health Informatics Forum

Here's a list of Health Informatics journals.

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
Bioinformatics
Bioinformation Journal
BioMed Central Health Geo-informatics Journal
British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management:...
Cancer Informatics
Clinical Informatics and Telemedicine Journal of the Ukrainian Asso...
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine
Computers in Biology and Medicine
electronic Journal of Health Informatics
Health Data Management
Health Informatics Journal
Health Information Management
Healthcare Informatics
Informatics in Primary Care
Informatics Review
International Journal of Medical Informatics
ITIN Official journal of the British Computer Society Nursing Speci...
JAMIA: The Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
JBI - Journal of Biomedical Informatics
JHIDC Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine
Medical Technology Business Europe developments in electronic medic...
Methods of Information in Medicine
Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI)
Perspectives In Health Information Management
Printernet a German Nursing Sciences/Informatics journal
Telemedicine Today


Sources: HIWW, HI Europe, Informatics Review
Health Informatics Journals - Health Informatics Forum