This award is to Marist College to support the activity described below for 36 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF-04556).
Partners The partners include Marist College (Lead Institution), Monroe College, Distributed Systems Laboratory of Argonne National Laboratories, Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board, AFCOM, IBM Corporation, Open Source Development Labs, Fiserv, and Cisco Systems.
The primary objectives are to - Promote Institute for Data Center Professionals (IDCP), its courses and programs, and its potential to create new and secure data center models by using the combined resources and ideas of IDCP and its partners
- Create a permanent support, outreach, and networking infrastructure for the data center workforce
- Build recognition for IDCP's vendor-neutral data center technology certifications
- Diversify the data center workforce
- Transfer the benefits of ingenuity and invention gained through open source systems and collaborative, on-demand, utility and autonomic computing to industry.
Commercializing a test-bed for open source applications that is accessible to students in Marist's distinctive e-education environment will enable the achievement of the above goals and fuel data center innovation.
Potential Economic Impact IDCP is the first and only institute of its kind. Its mission is to provide individuals and companies with vendor-neutral skills-based training and credentialing that will support and diversify the data center of the future and thereby strengthen the national economy and national security in the area of information technology.
The intellectual merit of the project follows: 1) A network of Marist programs (Linux Research Lab, z/OS and Linux zSeries Lab and Learning Center, Center for Applied Technology, Center for e-Business, Marist Institute for Public Opinion); 2) IDCP technology partners (IBM, Cisco Systems, Distributed Systems Laboratory of the Argonne National Laboratories, Open Source Development Labs -- OSDL); 3) Marist's nationally-recognized virtual laboratory resources; 4) Research with on-demand virtual Linux servers to be used by IDCP students through Marist's end-to-end e-education environment and IDCP portal with Rich Media Distribution Utility; 5) The expertise of Marist College faculty in shaping the IDCP curriculum. The IDCP curriculum to be developed by Marist faculty will focus on Java, open source platforms and technologies, and large-scale enterprise and grid computing, areas where there is a shortage of expertise in the national workforce. The curriculum advances new knowledge within each of six IDCP data center fields and Associate certifications (systems and software, security, networking, facilities management, operations and process management, product development and financial planning). Organizational, leadership, and other soft skills are infused into IDCP certification requirements and courses. An industrial advisory board will be created to help Marist College gain recognition for IDCP certification.
The broader impacts of the activity follow. The partnerships with Cisco, IBM and WIB are clearly designed to have a powerful impact on the regional workforce. The link to IBM's Project View program shows a strong commitment to the development of underrepresented minority students in this field. The choice of partnering with Monroe College will clearly help in this regard. The educational experiences seek to combine emerging technologies, access to current research initiatives, sound management principles and a framework that enables the professional to keep their knowledge and skills current once they complete the IDCP certification.
