The Division of IT Implements a New Voicemail System In a continuing effort to provide innovative technology to all faculty and staff at FIU, the Division of IT is in the process of implementing a new voicemail system this fall semester. Since technical support is no longer available from Avaya for the existing voicemail system, the Division is implementing a new voicemail system powered by Microsoft Unified Messaging 2010. Due to our soft-ware license agreement with Microsoft, the new and improved voicemail service will be available at no additional cost to the University. The new voicemail system provides all the functions of the old voicemail system. It also provides several new features. For example, a new feature will give faculty and staff several options in how they access their incoming messages. After pressing the

Messages button on their office phones, users may either access their voicemail traditionally, via the touchtone interface, or opt to use the voice interface in addition to touch-tone dialing. It is a hands-free approach to checking voicemail messages, changing greetings, and setting all customizations to make voicemail more intuitive to the user. This change to the Microsoft voicemail system is Phase I of the transition to Microsoft Unified Messaging system. In Phase II of the transition, all faculty and staff will have the option to check their voicemail messages not only by calling their voicemail, but also through their email. To learn more about the new voicemail system, visit uts.fiu.edu/voicemail.

UPGRADE OF FIU’S EMAIL

SYSTEM FOR FACULTY & STAFF

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CIARA HELPS CAPTURE SNAP-

SHOT OF TWO GALAXIES COLLIDING

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TRANSITIONING TO A NEW LEARNING

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS)

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DoIT now

FIU’s Division of IT Newsletter

Dear Readers, Welcome to the fall 2010 issue of DoIT Now. I hope that your summer was safe and productive. Effective communication is the key to the introduction and support of new technologies. We hope that this newsletter will contribute to that process.

The Division of Information Technology has made significant progress towards the realization of its vision – advancing FIU as a leader in using technology for learning, teaching, research and administration. In this issue of the IT Newsletter, you will find informative articles on major projects that placed FIU in a leading position in using the latest technologies to enhance our services and achieve cost-efficiency, including voicemail upgrade, email upgrade, expanding our single sign-on solution, upgrade of our network infrastructure, and much more. Thank you for reading this issue of our newsletter. I hope that you will find this newsletter useful and informative. Min Yao, Ph.D. Vice President and CIO

Fall 2010

A Message from the CIO

In addition to the implementation of the new voicemail system powered by Microsoft Unified Messaging 2010, the Division of IT is also in the process of upgrading FIU’s email system from Microsoft Exchange 2007 to Microsoft Exchange 2010. The new email system provides several new features in addition to the new voicemail system, including better email storage management. Beginning September 25, faculty and staff will be migrated to the new email s y s t e m o n a d e p a r t m e n t by department basis. There will not be major change in the look and feel on the email client site. Most improvements are on the servers. Users of the new email system will be able to continue to use their existing email client software to access the new email system, such as Microsoft Outlook, the web-based version FIUmail, Entourage or Thunderbird. Microsoft’s voicemail, which is part of

Microsoft Unified Messaging system, integrates into the new Exchange email system and provides users the ability to access their incoming voicemail messages from their email inbox. It also allows them to check their calendar events or new email

messages via their voicemail. Through Microsoft Unified Messaging system, the office or classroom is just one call or click away. All faculty and staff will have access to Microsoft Unified Messaging system. Users may request the unified messaging service after their department is

migrated to the new email system by contacting the UTS Call Center via email at utshelp@fiu.edu, by visiting uts.fiu.edu, or by calling 305.348.2284 To learn more about the new email system, visit uts.fiu.edu/emailupgrade. For more information on u n i f i e d m e s s a g i n g , p l e a s e v i s i t uts.fiu.edu/unifiedmessaging.

Since the introduction of MyAccounts in April 2008, the Division of Information Technology has been working diligently to achieve its goal of a single sign-on solution. Every day brings the Division closer to achieving this goal. On October 31, 2010, the Division of IT will synchronize the passwords for the PantherSoft Student-Campus Solutions information system with our single sign-on solut ion, MyAccounts. After the synchroniza-tion, users will be able to use their MyAccounts password (the same password for our email system, VPN, wireless, ImageNow, and desktop computers) to log onto the PantherSof t Student -Campus Solutions information system. Once this transition has been completed, users will also have the ability to logon through the MyFIU portal, my.fiu.edu. This is part of the Division’s effort to reach its single sign-on goal: To have one set of

username and password for all of its enterprise information systems. The single sign-on solution provides many benefits, including: Security of passwords is

enhanced Faculty, students, and staff use

one username and password to access FIU enterprise services and information systems, such as wireless network, email, and file systems

Faculty, students and staff have the ability to reset their own passwords

To prepare for this transition, the Division of IT encourages all users of the PantherSoft Student-Campus Solutions information system to log onto their MyAccounts profile at myaccounts.fiu.edu and establish their security questions. This will allow users to reset their passwords on their own in the future.

Streamlining the Login Process for the PantherSoft Student-Campus Solutions System

Upgrade of FIU’s Email System for Faculty and Staff

Learn Technology skills online via eTraining

eTraining offers faculty, staff,

and students online narrated

QuickTime screen movie

training and tutorials provided

by Atomic Learning. eTraining

offers a collection of nearly

40,000 tutorials on more than

120 software applications for

both Macintosh and Windows

platforms. You can find tutorials

on major software applications,

such as:

Microsoft Office

Adobe Photoshop

Dreamweaver

And much more…

Try out eTraining today at

etraining.fiu.edu

Do Not Share Passwords with Others

Always remember that sharing

(receiving or giving out) your

usernames/passwords to FIU

systems is not only bad

practice, but also strictly

prohibited per FIU Policy.

The risk of giving out your

password to one information

system could compromise

several other information

systems on campus. For

example, if you were to give

someone your PantherSoft

Financials password, all of the

following systems could be

compromised since they are

all part of MyAccounts:

FIU Active Directory (AD)

FIUmail (Employee email

system)

PantherMail (Student

email system)

FIU Clean Access (Wireless

Network)

AIRS Registration

Virtual Private Network

(VPN)

UTS Computing Labs

PeopleSoft Financials

System

And much more

Please discourage any sharing

of FIU passwords, as it could

result in compromised

information systems, data and

financial losses, as well as

violation of FIU policy.

Faster Connection to the Internet and Internet 2

CIARA Helps Capture Snapshot of Two Galaxies Colliding

Over the summer, the Division of Information Technology upgraded the two fiber links that connect the University to the outside world. This upgrade improved FIU’s network uplink connection speed from 1Gbps to 10Gbps. This upgrade means that faculty and staff will now enjoy a faster Internet connection when conducting research or working on collaborative projects with other Universities and research institutions. In addition, to improve the FIU network connection speed to the Internet and Internet 2, the faster links also facilitate higher transfer rates to FIU’s disaster recovery data center located in Tallahassee and allow for future growth with our Internet service provider. “A lot of work went in behind the scenes to get this done,” says David Rotella, senior computer programmer analyst, “in order to accomplish the 10Gbps speeds, routers, switches, and security devices between FIU and the NAP were upgraded.”

FIU astronomers were able to capture a photo of two galaxies colliding earlier this year, thanks in part to the Division of IT’s involvement with AmLight (a bridge that links existing networks within the U.S. and Latin America) and FIU’s membership in SARA (the Southern Association for Research in Astronomy). The photo was made possible by accessing images viewed through a telescope located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory on a remote peak in the Andes Mountains in Chile. FIU’s astronomy faculty and students are able to conduct observations like these on campus by leveraging the n e t w o r k a n d t e c h n o l o g i c a l infrastructure FIU has established between the U.S. and Latin America, specifically with projects such as AmLight. “Astronomers are using networks, such as AmLight, to increase the ef f ic iency and effectiveness of how they conduct their research,” says Julio Ibarra, assistant vice president for CIARA (FIU’s Center for Internet Augmented Research and Assessment, part of

the Division of IT). Heidi Alvarez, director for CIARA adds, “because of these networks, an astronomer at FIU can remotely observe through a telescope located in Chile, in the comfort of their own home or office.” The Division of Information of IT is committed to supporting FIU’s vision of being a leading student-centered urban public research university that is locally and globally engaged through creating and supporting the technology that enables efforts such as these. Additional information about CIARA can be found at ciara.fiu.edu and information on SARA can be found at www.saraobservatory.org.

Since January 2010 students have downloaded 12,902 copies of Microsoft Office and 8,141 copies of McAfee Antivirus.

The Division of IT’s Education Technology

Services is in the midst of transitioning the

current commercial LMS Blackboard

WebCT to Moodle. Moodle is the

most-widely used open-source learning

management system today. It is designed

to be flexible for teachers and learners.

The move to Moodle is prompted by cost considerations, by the

limitations of Blackboard WebCT and other commercial learning

management systems, and by the advantages presented by

open-source alternatives.

Over the summer, Education Technology Services began to pilot

Moodle with a group of 28 faculty who taught 34 courses. The courses

were offered in summer A, B, and C semesters. The pilot was

beneficial in providing faculty and students with a glimpse of what to

expect with Moodle and to receive feedback on any changes that

needed to be made moving forward. Since the summer pilot,

approximately 235 instructors and 354 courses have been

transitioned to Moodle, with more than 8,000 students taking Moodle

courses in the fall 2010 semester.

All web-assisted courses will be taught in Moodle beginning summer

2011, with remaining Blackboard web-assisted courses being

migrated to Moodle for the next four semesters. To learn more about

Moodle transition, visit Ecampus.fiu.edu.

Transitioning to a New Learning Management System (LMS)

Our Mission:

To support FIU in its pursuit to become a leading student-

centered urban public research uni-versity that is locally and globally engaged by providing leadership, consultation, service and secure access for the use of technology.

Our Vision:

To advance FIU as a leader in using technologies for learning, teaching,

research and administration.

Our Core Values: Teamwork: We work together cooperatively to accomplish our mission. Excellence: We pursue excellence in all we do. Innovativeness: We promote new ideas and change. Service: We listen to our customers and instill in our staff a culture that promotes the best possible service.

WEBSITES:

Division of Information Technology: it.fiu.edu

University Technology Services: uts.fiu.edu

IT Security Office: security.fiu.edu

CIARA: ciara.fiu.edu

PantherSoft: panthersoft.fiu.edu

TECHNICAL SUPPORT:

Telephone: (305)348-2284 Online: uts.fiu.edu Walk-in Support: GL 249 (MMC) LIB InfoCommons (BBC)

HOURS OF OPERATION:

Please click on About Us located on the homepage of the UTS web-

site.

DoIT Now Editing Staff:

utsfyi@fiu.edu

Division of Information Technology Contact

Information