February 2009 Archives

Everyone acknowledges that we're in very tough economic times. The state of the economy has created some uncertainty for Seton Hall University, as it has for other colleges and universities. As the economy has shrunk, enrollments at private colleges have declined while at the same time the need for financial aid has increased. In response to these challenges, the University has prudently reduced its overall operating budget. These budget reductions will have some affects on IT services at the University. While the specific cuts and their impacts are still being finalized, some of the affects will likely include:

• Faculty laptop computers: Faculty and eligible academic administrators whose laptops are provided through the University's Mobile Computing Program will have their laptop computers replaced every three years, rather than the current two year replacement cycle.


• Computer Labs: Desktop computers in the public computer labs maintained by IT will be replaced every three years, rather than the two year replacement cycle. The hours of certain labs may be be reduced.


• Faculty Grants: The operating budgets for internal faculty grants from the TLT Center will be reduced. Some grant initiatives such as the Faculty Innovation Grants and the Student Undergraduate Research Fund may be suspended.


• Internet2: The University's membership to Internet2 may be discontinued, and its connection to Internet2 may be reduced or eliminated.


• Support Services: The current hiring slowdown may result int he elimination of open positions. This in turn will mean that some services may take longer. For example, more laptop repairs may be done off campus rather than in our repair shop, taking longer for those repairs to be completed.

Steve Landry, CIO
email: cio@shu.edu

Seton Hall University has selected the 2009 laptop and tablet PC models for the Mobile Computing Program. The laptop model will be the Lenovo ThinkPad T500, featuring a 15.4" wide screen monitor and the ATI Radeon Mobility video card. The tablet PC model will be the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet with a 12" LED backlit screen.

Full sepcifications for the 2009 models can be found in the document:
2009 SHU Mobile Computing Standard Models.doc

Sophomore refresh will begin in mid April and continue through the end of final exams. All sophomore students who have registered for the fall semester are eligible to upgrade their current laptop or tablet computers before the summer.

Steve Landry, CIO

Microsoft has announced a new release of Live@EDU, the hosted email that you are using today. The new service, coined Microsoft Live R3 will include a variety of new features, including the following:

• Multibrowser support. Access e-mail over the Web using Windows Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari.
• Enhanced conversation view. Organize e-mail in a new way that cuts down on unnecessary inbox clutter by combining multiple e-mails into a single conversation.
• Integrated instant messaging and presence. Access communications right at your fingertips in a single interface that marries e-mail and instant messaging from Windows Live Messenger or Microsoft Office Communicator.

A date for Seton Hall University's upgrade has not been set as of yet but we can look forward to having the new functionality in the next month or so, we'll let you know when it's happening.

If you have any questions or need to report a problem please call the Technology Help Desk @ 973-275-2222.

Paul Fisher
Director, TLT Center

Yesterday Microsoft Corporation released a critical security patch for Windows XP and Windows Vista users. This fixes a vulnerability that would allow malicious Web sites to inject viruses or other malware into your computer. University IT Services strongly recommends that all members of the University community apply this critical security patch.

If you have a University issued laptop or desktop computer, you probably don't need to take any action yourself. UITS configures the laptop and desktop computers it issues to automatically download and install critical updates from Microsoft.

If you are unsure if your computer is set to automatically update its software, or if you are concerned about a non-University issued computer that you use to access University IT systems, please call the Technology Help Desk at 973-275-2222. A technician can assist you in checking your system and, if necessary, downloading and applying any needed software updates.

Stephen G. Landry, Ph.D.
CIO

Now that all students have been moved from Lotus Notes to MS Live@EDU, University IT Services (UITS) is focusing on expanding the pool of "early adopters" of faculty, staff, and administrators for MS Exchange.

This week, UITS successfully added MS Exchange to the list of systems that support "single sign-on" through the new PirateNet portal. The PirateNet portal is based on Banner Luminis, and provides enhanced access to the University's Banner system, as well as providing single sign-on for most commonly used campus systems.

Next week early adoptes from the Law School and Housing and Residence Life will be migrated to the new MS Exchange email system. This will provide UITS an opportunity to test the migration process and user training.

There are four ways to access MS Exchange email. Using MS Outlook is one of the most common, and allows users to download their email to their computer and work "off line." Outlook Web Access (OWA) works in MS Internet Explorer and provides roughly the same functionality as MS Outlook over the Web. OWA Light works in any Web browser and provides an interface similar to MS Hotmail. You can also access MS Exchange email from other devices and clients, including the Blackberry and iPhone, using IMAP.

As we get more early adopters converted to MS Exchange email, UITS will share a more detailed conversion schedule with the University community. Look for this later in February.

Steve Landry, CIO