COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TECHNOLOGICAL UNIT
COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TECHNOLOGICAL UNIT
COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TECHNOLOGICAL UNIT
The unit deals with the design, implementation, management and maintenance of the shared infrastructures of the telematic network of the Pisa Research Area, with over 4 thousand networked nodes, which houses 13 institutes, the Pisan headquarters of ENEA and the Toscana G. Monasterio Foundation.
The common infrastructures of the telematic network include fiber optic and copper cabling, routers for external connections, access and backbone switches, firewalls for controlling the types of traffic (intrusion prevention, limiting the bandwidth available to particular applications, etc.), the Wi-Fi devices and the servers on which the networking services are hosted.
The unit manages the wireless network infrastructure for Wi-Fi coverage of the indoor and outdoor spaces of the Pisa Research Area.
The infrastructure has also been federated with Eduroam and IDEM GARR to simplify access for visitors to the Area, using the same credentials provided by their organization.
Eduroam (education roaming) is an international service that offers secure wireless access to users belonging to universities and research institutions.
IDEM is the Italian Federation of Universities and Research Bodies for Authentication and Authorization, which enables access to numerous federated services using one’s institutional digital identity.
With this activity, the unit provides the telephone service for all institutions belonging to the Area. In addition, the unit experiments with innovative solutions based on VoIP technologies and promotes the use of Internet telephony.
The experience gained in this area has enabled the introduction of new advanced telephone services and in this way integrate the operation of the traditional telephone exchange with VoIP systems.
To effectively carry out its activities, the group has software tools that are particularly suited to diagnosing problems and identifying sources of disturbance. Most of the software tools used are either open source or internally developed products.
The unit deals with the design, management and maintenance of the equipment necessary for web streaming events and videoconferencing. The streaming infrastructure is based on open source software while video conferencing support is offered through cloud-based software and through the on-premises Vidyo infrastructure.
A further part of the activity is the management of hardware equipment and multimedia software provided in Room 40 “Franco Denoth”.