At its conception, the JISC Mirror Service, based firstly at the Universities of Kent and Lancaster and latterly at Eduserv, represented an investment in innovation and an example of how a national and integrated approach to network provision could deliver significant economies of scale and direct benefits to educational organisations. However, with the massive increase in network bandwidth provision and as the education community has taken up, through the example of the national service itself, its own mirroring activities, the need for a funded national service has steadily diminished.
In addition, in accordance with its longstanding strategic objective to encourage'It is the mark of its success that it has helped create a lively, resourceful and highly successful mirroring community whose activities are now firmly embedded across the country.' and invest in innovation, JISC is required to switch funding to areas in which take-up of ICT has yet to become established, and which would benefit more directly from national investment. JISC has therefore decided to cease funding for its Mirror Service which means that the service will close on the 31st July 2007.
A JISC-commissioned review, published last year, spoke of the enormous benefits that the national mirror service had brought to the education community, benefits, it said, which were not always apparent to end users. However, it also reported that ‘the Mirror Service was established at a time when international network links were primitive and expensive, and many felt that the existence of a mirror service was justified by the reduction in the demand on the transatlantic links’. In addition, it continued, the education community had taken up mirroring in such a way that a national service was now more difficult to justify as a financial priority.
The report, written by GA Cooper, the review consultant, concluded that a careful and ordered transition programme would need to be agreed and implemented in order to mitigate any effects of closure. To this end, JISC, Eduserv, the JISC Mirror Service Steering Group and representatives from the wider mirroring community, are currently negotiating such a transition programme that will build on the gains accrued from the national service over the last eight years and bring the minimum of inconvenience to end users.
Dr Steve Kearsey, Chairman of the JISC Mirror Service Steering Group and Deputy Director of University Computing Services at Cambridge University, said: ‘The JISC Mirror Service has been an example of investment in innovation and a national approach to service provision which has delivered enormous benefits to colleges and universities in the UK. It is the mark of its success that it has helped create a lively, resourceful and highly successful mirroring community whose activities are now firmly embedded across the country and whose work will undoubtedly continue to deliver direct benefits to all users of online resources in the UK. Our thanks go out to all at the JISC funded Mirror Service, for their hard work and dedication over the last eight years.’
For users wishing to give feedback, please go to: Mirror feedback
For further information on the transition programme and future arrangements, please go to: Mirror Service