We are fortunate to have the final member of the IT
Services leadership team join us this month. In another
article of this newsletter, you will find information
about Robert Howard, the new Senior Director for Support
Services and Campus Partnerships. One of Robert’s
charges will be to establish a new Campus Partnership
program at Miami. This will be a new service offering
to provide end-user and departmental support for technology
in a different way from the current Miami model. The
scope of services will eventually include end user desktop
support, server hosting and management, non-enterprise
level application development and other services based
on future demand. All services requested for the benefit
of a single individual, department, school, college
or similar unit will be channeled through the Campus
Partnership program. This will facilitate the development
of clearly understood service requirements and associated
costs.
IT
Strategic Planning Update: Current IT Initiatives
Supporting “First in 2009” Goals
Several tactical projects were identified as a
result of the university’s IT Strategic Planning
Study completed in May 2004. The study involved
all four Miami campuses and is meant to provide
a plan of action for the next several years, in
conjunction with ongoing reviews to determine emerging
and changed needs. Listed below are some of the
tactical projects and their status as they align
with the First in 2009 goals.
New
Senior Director of Support Services and Campus Partnerships
The Office of the Vice President for Information
Technology is pleased to announce that, effective
November 1, 2004, Mr. Robert Howard has joined Miami’s
staff as the Senior Director for Support Services
and Campus Partnerships.
Peer-to-Peer
File Sharing Ban and Future Options
In Spring 2004, worms and viruses dramatically
increased their use of the same ports that were
used by Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing applications.
The activity of these worms produced enormous amounts
of network traffic, putting the campus network at
risk. Miami, and many other institutions, blocked
these ports to eliminate network disruptions.
Spam
Scoring Enables “Filtering” of Junk E-mail
On Monday, November 8th, a spam scoring system
was put into place on Miami’s incoming e-mail
servers. End users will now have the option of configuring
their desktop e-mail client (for example, Outlook
or Eudora) to filter e-mail identified as spam so
it is not delivered to their inbox.
Computer
Remediation Center Helps with Virus/Spyware-infected
Personal Computers
Students, faculty or staff concerned that viruses
have infected their personally-owned computer or
that have Internet connection issues due to spyware
can call the Support Desk at 513.529.7900 for a
quick fix over the phone or a free appointment with
the Computer Remediation Center.
IT Services
Print Center is proud to announce a new arrival –
a three-ton Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press
The iGen3 revolutionizes digital production printing.
You won’t be able to tell the difference between
a full color piece produced on the iGen3 and one
printed on an offset press – except by the
speed. Now even small quantities can be produced
to the highest quality, at a price that will surprise
you.
MU Wireless
is Now Available in All Residence and Dining Halls
In mid-August, IT Services began rolling out MU
Wireless into the dining and residence halls. As
of early November, all of the residence halls (except
MacCracken where the wiring for the access points
is still being installed) are now active and using
the service.
New
and Developing Network Protection Services
The first major component of the Network Protection
Services project with visible effects to the university
community, the “Quarantine Network”,
was implemented in the residence halls on November
3, 2004.
Miami Information
Environment (MInE) Upgrade
MInE, the Miami Information Environment, will be
upgraded with a new software release over the weekend
of January 15 – 17, 2005.
Virus
Scanning of Universal Disk Space (UDS)
On November 2, IT Services ran a
virus scan of Universal Disk Space (also known as
netDisk, UDS, or the M Drive) to identify files
containing viruses. We used the logs from the virus
scan to send each identified user an e-mail with
a list of infected files found on his/her space.
Electronic
Accounts for Miami Retirees and Emeriti
Members of the newly created Society of Miami Retirees
now join members of the Society of Miami Emeriti
in retaining use of their Miami electronic accounts
after retirement.
Blackboard
Tip for Instructors: Copying or Moving Course Content
Blackboard, in an effort to ease the integration
of content into your site, has introduced the ability
to copy/move content items. Now, with the implementation
of the Blackboard Learning System version 6.1.5
at Miami, you can move a content item to a new location
in your site, copy it to other locations within
your site, or even move or copy it to any other
site for which you hold the role of Instructor.
Password
Security
When it comes to managing your password, it should
be treated like your toothbrush - don’t share
it with anyone and change it periodically. Since
we’re on a roll, another comparison would
be that of the similarities between passwords and
bubble-gum: They are always strongest when fresh,
they shouldn’t be shared by a group and if
left lying around, they result in a sticky mess.
