Information Technology Services activities
Information Technology Services (ITS) continued to work on projects of all sizes for campus customers, making upgrades to the campus infrastructure, as well as working to provide access to new technological resources for the campus community.
New resources for campus
eduroam was launched on campus at the beginning of December with support from the Operations and Infrastructure area within ITS. eduroam is a secure, worldwide wireless Internet access service developed specifically for the international research and education communities. Students, researchers, faculty and staff can all connect to this network with their home institution credentials while visiting other participating campuses across the country and around the world. There are 232 colleges and universities across the United States participating with eduroam, with an additional 72 in the process of launching the service at their institutions.
Another technological resource made available to campus this past quarter is access to various products from VMWare, which provides access to virtual environments. Binghamton University has joined the SUNY-wide Enterprise License Agreement that will provide access to various software products as well as discounts for other products often used in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Management and the Decker School of Nursing. ITS will provide the funding for Binghamton’s access to these resources for five years, providing licenses to the software for faculty and staff for both departmental and individual use.
Finally, a contract with Microsoft was confirmed and agreed upon for the campus that provides access to Microsoft Office 365 for all current students, faculty and staff for their personal computers and devices. All will have access to the latest version of the full Office Productivity Suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and more. An active Binghamton e-mail address provides access to the software at no cost.
Updates to campus infrastructure
ITS continues to upgrade the campus infrastructure to provide more reliable service, as well as to reduce operating costs and the University’s carbon footprint. This past quarter, over 20 physical servers were retired, helping to provide more reliable service and reduce electrical and HVAC demands. Across campus, phase one of two network upgrades was completed, including the installation of 62 switches and 114 new wireless access points with an investment of nearly $300,000. Phase two of the comprehensive network upgrades is now in progress.
Campus e-waste recycling continues to grow. From Jan. 1, 2014 through Nov. 30, 2014, the campus recycled over 73,800 pounds (36.9 tons) of e-waste. There is one more scheduled pick-up this year and projects for year-end are expected to exceed 38 tons.
Other completed ITS projects
The ITS University Enterprise Software Team completed 24 software projects in the past quarter. Examples of projects include one for Mobile Optimized Course Evaluation, various server migrations, an update to the ID card feed and many software package upgrades. Other projects included providing assistance to relocate several offices across campus. ITS provided help relocating and setting up the computers for offices moves for Undergraduate Admissions, Enrollment Management, Student Accounts, and Financial Aid and Student Records. Our Desktop Support staff, an area within Client Services, provided over 80 price quotes for new computers and printers and our Academic and Research Services area facilitated the redeployment of 24 Macintosh computers to various schools within Harpur College.