Voices Magazine Vol2-Issue-6

27 February - March 2019 | VOICES Bi-Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica Donation from Electrical Engineering Class of 1966 SCIT Receives Second Donation of Network Servers and Switches From The Palisadoes Foundation On January 14, 2019, the UTech, Jamaica received a significant donation from the Electrical Engineering Diploma Class of 1966 at CAST. Professor Hibbert “Oats” Duncan (left) and Mr Donald “Pinchie” Campbell (right) presented a copy of the book “Fundamentals of Physics: Halliday & Resnick”, 10th Edition, Volume II, to the University, President Professor Stephen Vasciannie. The Class has also shipped 122 other books, mainly on Engineering, to the University. When those books arrive, they will be presented to the Library for use by students, as has been the case with the “Halliday & Resnick. We thank the members of the Class of 1966 comprising the following alumni for their generous donation: Donald ‘Pinchie’ Campbell Clifford Chin Hibbert ‘Oats’ Duncan Lowel ‘Joe Kelly’ Hall Hon Pin Li Conrad ‘Saggy’ Sage Donovan Spence Errol Wright T The School of Computing and Information Technology (SCIT) has received a second donation of Network switches and servers provided by the Palisadoes Foundation, valued at estimated current market value of just over a JMD$ 3 million dollars. The Palisadoes Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Cupertino, California, USA founded in 2016 by members of the Jamaican Diaspora and The Jamaica Diaspora Technology Taskforce to promote the use of information technology in Jamaica. In January 2018, the University signed a Memorandum of understanding for a partnership to provide reconditioned two to five year old computing devices that could be used to assist the school develop a fleet of technical infrastructure resources to support Big Data projects both internal and external to the school’s operation. Dr Thorpe Head of SCIT notes that “these new computer network switches and servers are more than welcome and will assist significantly with the ongoing teaching and learning, curriculum development, and research objectives of the school.” He shared that with these resources now in hand, the SCIT has started to reposition itself to design a student-centered research computing network. CEO of the Palisadoes foundation Mr. Peter Harrison noted that he has been happy with the UTECH –FENC SCIT utilization of the donated resources and hopes to share more in the near future that can assist the School to fulfill the objectives under the current MOU. Pictured from left are Mr. O’Neil Pinnock, System Administrator, Mr. Peter Harrison, CEO Palisadoes Foundation, Mr Rohan Mallet, System Administrator, Mr Gary Harrison, Lab Technologist –Network Administration, Dr. Sean Thorpe, Head, School of Computing and Information Technology.