Information Services & Technology is hosting a user forum next week to outline plans to retire the Socrates and Arachne web and UNIX servers. The forum will present final solutions and migration options, which will be particularly relevant to web customers. The forum will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 21, from 11 a.m.-noon in Sibley Auditorium, and is open to all interested parties.

The forum will present web hosting alternatives for current Socrates and Arachne users, including both IST's in-house services and a new, affordable web hosting solution from an external service provider. Other topics of discussion include statistical packages, the elimination of Pine email accounts on Socrates, and UNIX support alternatives.

Socrates and Arachne are general-purpose UNIX and web hosting servers that have been operated by IST for more than a decade. Due to the servers’ aging infrastructure, IST will retire them on December 19, 2008. Working with a campuswide advisory group, IST hosted two forums earlier this year to solicit feedback from Socrates and Arachne customers.