IT Strategic Plan | 28 Action Item 6:4 The University must evaluate and address the need for data center/cyberinfrastructure facilities that are properly cooled, sized, and powered to meet the needs of current and future demand. The generation of new knowledge via computing tools continues to increase greatly, opening up new possibilities for top tier research universities to invest in necessary computing infrastructure. While cloud resources will become increasingly popular, this will not remove the need to house resources in secure and reliable virtual and traditional server environments within UK’s confines. Specialized computational resources like supercomputers may continue to reside on campus and require extensive infrastructure. By many measures and in comparison with our peers, UK does not have purpose-built and sustainable facilities for housing IT resources (e.g., a data center). The absence of such a facility encourages a less effective and cost inefficient model of distributed data center facilities in buildings across the University – in locations neither secured nor properly powered and cooled. The lack of an appropriate facility impedes centralization of resources and the opportunity to leverage virtualized technologies. As a result, this increases the difficulty in holistically assessing and implementing cloud computing strategies. This is one of the fundamental IT issues facing UK. Action Item 6:5 Review and acquire a new, modern identity management solution with the appropriate capabilities to address the needs of the University community moving forward. A unified and federated University-wide identity management framework, as well as the ability to grant limited, secure access to partners outside of UK, is the foundation of collaboration and security. UK currently lacks a modern, robust identity management system. The University must verify an individual’s credentials (login/ password identity) before access can be granted to systems. Effective and efficient processes and systems for identity management must be continually improved and sustained to accommodate the nuances in roles of individuals within UK and for integration with new systems.