Abstract

In 2001, STF funding was alloted to the ASUW's newest entity, RainyDawg Radio, in order to purchase a large quantity of necessay equipment. Included in this allotment was money for ten Computer CPUs, purchased from a company called Multiwave. The selected computers have worn down and are not covered by any sort of warranty. They are very low-end machines and have begun a sort of self-destruction. RainyDawg Radio is requesting a new purchase of high-quality, campus-standard computer CPUs that can meed the demanding needs of a radio station, and last for the expected 4-year time frame.

Background

The computers currently in question have been in use for approximately 16 months as of December 2003. The computers are low-end machines that were most likely purchased by awarding the contract to the lowest bidder. The result of this approach has been a computing system that is quite unreliable. Since the beginning of summer quarter, 2003, RainyDawg's computers have suffered a number of techincal setbacks including:

- malfunctioning audio cards, rendering the systems useless in an environment that thrives on audio
- Failed ventilation. The fans have either broken or simply stopped funtioning causing the computer to overheat.
-Malfunctioning power supplies. The computer experiences a brief surge of energy before losing power completely, efectively frying certain componants of the motherboard.

Problems like these can shut down a computer entirely, rather easily. If it occurs on one of the radio station's 2 mission critical computers, it can paralyze the radio station for days at a time. Other computers, if affected, can disable all online in-studio communication, or shut down RainyDawg's audio production capabilities.

These computers have proved to be terribly unreliable. While the average computer is expected to perform for four years, these computers will most likely not make it to two years.

Upon assesment by RainyDawg's Technical Managers, as well as two ASUW-appointed evaluators, RainyDawg has been advised to replace these computers with high-quality computers, the standard which is used throughout the rest of campus.

There is currently no money budgeted for such a purchase in either ASUW's fund, or RainyDawg's annual budget. RainyDawg requires the assistance of STF to successfully transition to a new computer system.

Benefits

The new computer systems will provide RainyDawg listeners and staff with reliability. The broadcast computers can be relied upon to continue throughout the night and long weekends.

Having all computers fully functional also puts RainyDawg in a position to maximize efficiency. More student volunteers will have work stations, and RainyDawg's staff will have reliable access to their files, the internet, and other programs on their computers.

The purchase will also benefit the ASUW and therefore students in general, by allowing money spent on replacement parts and service to be freed up or saved for future ASUW projects and student events.

Student Access

Access to all computers is limited to RainyDawg staff and volunteers in order to preserve the integrity of music files, network connections, etc.

Indirectly, however, all students have access to these resources, as the quality and reliabilty of RainyDawg's Programming will drastically increase.

Available Resources

RainyDawg Radio is currently budgeted an annual amount of just over 58,000. A great majority of this goes to pay salaried employees. RainyDawg was also given a one-time allowance of $14,250 for 2003-04 to purchase the final pieces of equipment and make the final modifications to the radio station as it finalizes its establishment. This allotment does not take into consideration new computer systems, however, as the computers were not expected to break down only in their second year. Because of the urgency of this matter, RainyDawg has budgeted to purchase two of these systems out of its own budget, to be used in the 2 mission critical computing areas. This leaves $2400 in the RainyDawg budget for the remainder of the year, which must be set aside for licensing fees.

Installation Timeline

December 2003: Replace mission critical systems

The remainder of the systems would be replaced immediately upon allocation of the money and would be expected to be fully operational and functioning within a month of the original purchase.

Departmental Endorsement

Coming soon

Student Endorsement

Coming soon

Items

Below are the items making up the current proposal. The asterisk (*) beside items signify that they were approved by the committee. This however was not implemented correctly for our database before 2005, so earlier years may not show this.

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