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| Quick Notes
ITS Staff Milestones
Congratulations to the following people for their years of service at
Syracuse University:
Dan Edwards, Enterprise Systems Specialist - 10 years
Jackie Meadows, Office Coordinator III - 30 years |
| Updates
Keeping current with software, systems and devices
Good Practices for Mobile Device Security
 The hand-held devices that many of us use make it easier to do our jobs when we're just about anywhere. Like our personal computers, while these devices enable us to accomplish much, they also have the potential to compromise the security of our data--both personal data and institutional data-and the University's network. Below are some good security practices to observe with your mobile device.
- Every mobile computing device (iPhone, BlackBerry, Smartphones, even the iPod Touch lets you get e-mail), should be password/pass code protected if it is capable.
- BlackBerry devices managed by Information Technology and Services (ITS) can be remotely "wiped clean" if they are lost or stolen. If you realize your SU-owned BlackBerry has been lost or stolen contact ITS as soon as you can.
- Devices should be screen locked when you are not using them. Many devices provide an auto-lock feature that engages after a certain amount of inactive usage. This feature should be enabled. (i.e. SU BlackBerry devices auto-lock after 1 hour by default).
- Some devices have a setting where the device will self-erase its data if its password/passcode is mistyped a certain number of times. If this feature is available in a device, it should be enabled.
- If you are using your portable device to access University information, you should not loan it to your family or friends.
For information about computing security at SU, visit http://its.syr.edu/security/.
by Christopher D. Croad, Director of Information Security
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IT Professional Development
Staff on the cutting edge
Training & Education
Congratulations to Bob Marturano and Ted Rozelsky, who passed the Help Desk Institute (HDI) Customer Service Representative Certification Exam on March 27. With this achievement, Bob and Ted join a group of over 30,000 HDI-certified IT service and support professionals worldwide.
Cindy Barry presented a Confluence training class for Tia Harding, Randy Grimshaw and Kara Patten on April 6, and to David Hoalcraft, Robert Marturano, Diane Pizzuti, Jonathan Wright, Maureen Reilly, and Joshua Slade on April 22.
Conferences & Forums
Michael Morrison and James Bort presented about the SU Mobile Application Development at the NERCOMP "Widgets in Education" conference at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on March 24, 2009. On 3/13/09 LEMP's John Capozzolo and Dave Tiedemann represented SU at the New York Computing & Higher Education Symposium (NYCHES) hosted by the University of Rochester. The meeting had as its overall theme getting more bang for the buck in the current economy, and offered some key findings:
- NYCHES may try to act as a broker for regional staff professional development sessions to be hosted by various member schools
- Compared to other member institutions student worker training at SU seemed average to above average, with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) excelling in this area
- A four-year desktop replacement cycle was nearly universal for attendees (newly so for some)
- There is not a significant lecture capture technology being adopted among attendees
- Windows Vista adoption is spotty at best as was Active Directory.
- Virtualized labs are not in production at attendee schools, with only one or two even exploring options
- Accessibility will be a topic for the next meeting. RIT, with a large population of students with hearing disabilities will host the next meeting and present on this topic.
LEMP staff members Vince Cobb, Elizabeth Moore, Dave Tiedemann and Dave Williams attended EdTech Day March 26 at Ithaca College along with other SU staff from ITS, SUL, WSOM, etc. Educational Technology Day is a regional technology event that attracts over 1,600 people annually from the upstate New York region.
Sam Scozzafava attended the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) 2009 Alliance Conference in Anaheim, CA March 22 - 25. The conference represents the largest meeting of higher education, public and federal sector users of Oracle applications. The annual event featured over 500 sessions, more than 3,500 attendees and over 90 exhibitors.
Scott Nadzan will serve on two panel discussions at the upcoming Streaming Media East 2009 Conference May 12 & 13 in New York City: Video for Distance Learning & Classroom Training and Automation and Workflow Solutions for Transcoding Your Video Content. The conference bills itself as the "number-one place to come see, learn, and discuss what is taking place with all forms of online video business models and technology" and was attended by more than 3,500 executives last year. More than 100 speakers from the media, broadcast, enterprise and education markets are expected this year to make presentations and serve on discussion panels.
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ITidbits
Facts and figures about IT @ SU
In the 30-day period ending April 21, 2009, SU's email servers handled, on average, more than 400,000 spam messages each day. That's almost 5 spam emails per second! The SU Video Showcase has 2,300 video titles, managed by Ensemble Video, Whitman's video content management system. The SUAthletics web server gets over 16.5 million page loads a year, and serves up more than 15,000 videos monthly, some with runtime of over an hour. The Whitman School had 1,800 student laptop loans in February (953) and March (847) with a loaner pool of 20 laptops. |
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LEMP Supports SU Showcase Success
110 events. 66 rooms. 22 buildings. 1 day.
While classes were cancelled on April 21, staff from Learning Environments and Media Production (LEMP) was busier than usual supporting the fifth annual SU Showcase. A record-setting 110 events were held this year, using an unprecedented 66 rooms in 22 buildings across the Syracuse University campus for academic presentations, discussions, displays, concerts and screenings. "The event was a great success," said Thomas V. Wolfe, Senior Vice president and Dean of Student Affairs. "An estimated 7,000 Syracuse University students, local schoolchildren and community members took part in the day, which showcased student works of creativity, discovery, research and innovation."
LEMP played a key role in the Showcase, monitoring and providing technical support campus-wide, with particular focus on those in the Hall of Languages and the Life Sciences Complex, which had the largest concentration of events. John Allis, Dave Tiedemann and Dave Williams worked the various venues using cell phones for dispatching from the LEMP classroom help desk.
Planning began in October 2008, with David Tiedemann serving on the programming committee and David Williams serving on the logistics committee.
Event organizers were appreciative of the support. "I am constantly amazed at the quality and quantity of work you do, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. You guys are top-drawer," wrote Rob Enslin, Communications Manager for The College of Arts and Sciences. "We certainly couldn't have done it without you." |
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UNIX Timeshare and File Storage Services
to be Discontinued
Personal web sites, other data must be moved by 5/18/09
Information Technology and Services (ITS) will eliminate the following legacy UNIX services on May 19, 2009:
- Access to shared UNIX timeshares gamera and rodan
- UNIX applications such as SAS, APL, perl, pico, emacs, ssh, ftp, telnet, gcc, sftp, newsreaders, Sun C and Fortran compilers
- Personal and project data storage on UNIX platform (data.syr.edu)
- Space for personal web pages (web.syr.edu)
The last day these services will be available is May 18, 2009.
Faculty and staff using any of the above services should contact their school, college or departmental IT support staff as soon as possible for information about migrating to new services. Project data that is still in use should be copied to Active Directory or another alternative place. Information about contacting technical support staff is available on the ITS web site at http://its.syr.edu/support.
Students who are still storing files (including project files) in their UNIX directory must migrate their data to Active Directory by the end of the day Monday, May 18, 2009. Instructions for migrating data to AD are at http://its.syr.edu/sunix/sunixtoad.pdf.
Access to the above services will be terminated on May 19, 2009.
Anyone with a personal website on http://web.syr.edu can find complete instructions for moving to MySite at http://its.syr.edu/mysite/. MySite is the new personal web page hosting service available to Syracuse University students, faculty and staff.
For those who have already migrated to alternative services, and/or no longer use the services listed above, no action is needed.
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Blackboard Upgrade this Summer
Enhanced system available 7/15/09 for Fall, 2009 classes
Information Technology and Services (ITS) envisions an outstanding technology environment at SU that, among other things, facilitates scholarship, teaching and learning. A key element in this vision is the Blackboard learning and course management system, which enables anytime, anywhere student engagement. Blackboard supports more than 2,400 classes (on-campus, distance learning and hybrid) and approximately 300 organizations per semester. The system has a periodic peak of more than 5,000 concurrent users. These numbers are steadily increasing, clear evidence of Blackboard's academic and strategic value to the faculty and students of Syracuse University.  The new version of Blackboard (version 9.0) has been released, and brings together the Blackboard and WebCT product lines. This new version features a new user interface for both instructors and students, along with new functionality and the addition of new collaborative tools for communication and group work. To take advantage of these new features, ITS has begun a project guided by a team that includes staff from the individual schools and colleges, as well as other campus organizations such as the Library, Registrar's Office and the Office of Academic Integrity. The goal of the project is to upgrade both the computing and network infrastructure that supports Blackboard at SU, as well as upgrade to the latest version of the application. This enhanced system will be available July 15, 2009 to support Fall 2009 classes. The current Blackboard system (version 8.0) will continue to be available until August 21, 2009 to support classes through the end of the 2009 Summer Sessions. Communications will be coming soon to all faculty about this upgrade to version 9.0, the upgrade schedule and the resources that will be available to facilitate transition to the new system. Most of these communications will be via email, accompanied by messages in Blackboard, and Campus Announcements via SU News Services. ITS will also host a "Guided Tour" of the new application soon after Commencement, and similar orientation sessions prior to, and shortly after, the Opening of School in August. Pertinent up-to-date information will be available soon at http://blogs.syr.edu/Blackboard9Upgrade. Should you have questions or concerns about Blackboard or these upgrades please contact Michael Morrison, Manager of Academic Applications ( memorr02@syr.edu; 443-1806). |
Introducing SUmail, SU's New
Student Email System
Following months of development, preparation and testing, Information Technology and Services (ITS) is pleased to announce the availability of SUmail, the new student email system at Syracuse University. SUmail will replace the aging and less-capable MyMail system. SUmail is managed by ITS and utilizes Microsoft's Outlook Live email service.
"There are currently more than 6 million student mailboxes in Outlook Live from hundreds of colleges and universities across the country and around the world," said Christopher Sedore, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at SU. "Right now, at least three other schools in New York State-St. John's University, Monroe Community College, and Suffolk Community College-are joining The University of Pennsylvania, Ball State University, and the University of Missouri, to name a few, and are transitioning their students to Outlook Live."
Outlook Live provides students several powerful and convenient features, including:
- The continued use of their existing official SU email address (NetId@syr.edu)
- 10 GB of email storage space (200 times more than MyMail)
- The ability to send and receive attachments up to 20mb in size (twice as large as MyMail)
- Access to email using a standard web browser on any computer with an internet connection, as well as many 3rd party email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Entourage, and Mobile Phones
- Searchable shared Syracuse University student email address list
- Customizable User Interface, with shared calendar and contacts, and folders to organize email
- Message redirection and tracking
- Spam filtering and phishing protection
- Account holders keep their email address after graduation
- No third-party banner ads for active students
Plus, registered SUmail users will be able to take advantage of other Windows Live services at no cost, including Office Live Workspaces; Windows Live SkyDrive; Windows Live Spaces; Microsoft SharedView beta; Windows Live Messenger; and Windows Live Alerts; and Microsoft's support for all these services. Students can enroll now, or wait for the automatic transition Students with existing MyMail accounts can enroll in SUmail by visiting http://getsumail.syr.edu. All remaining active student MyMail accounts (except perhaps those that are currently redirected to another system like Gmail or Yahoo) will be transitioned to the SUmail system sometime this summer. Account holders will be able to forward existing email messages saved in MyMail to SUmail. Official SU email accounts for all incoming students are now being established in SUmail and have been since February 16, 2009. Students admitted for the Fall 2009 term prior to February 16, 2009 have had their official SU email accounts established in MyMail, and are eligible to enroll in SUmail. Who is Eligible for SUmail?
All SU and ESF students except those who have filed a FERPA non-disclosure request and those who have an Exchange account (including, at least for the time being, existing Maxwell students) are eligible for SUmail. Current plans are that alumni will be eligible and transitioned to SUmail later in the year. Faculty, staff and others whose primary affiliation with the University is as a non-student are not eligible for SUmail. What about MyMail?
New student accounts are no longer established in the MyMail system. Existing MyMail accounts will continue to function normally until they are transitioned to SUmail. MyMail will be accessible through 2009 to students who transitioned to SUmail, but these MyMail accounts will not receive email. Faculty, staff and other non-students who currently have MyMail accounts, and perhaps student MyMail accounts that are currently redirected will not be transitioned to SUmail and will be addressed as part of the MyMail decommissioning process. At this time accounts for new ESF employees, SU instructors, PA instructors and SU dependents will continue to be created in MyMail. For more information, visit: http://its.syr.edu/email/sumail. |
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services at Syracuse University. Please submit story ideas and news items to Chris Finkle. |
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