ITS @ Belmont University

Belmont Internet Bandwidth Grows to 300mb

Over the summer ITS upgraded the campus network to 300mb. We now have 200mb dedicated to Resnet and student usage on campus. That compares to 21mb a year ago making the increase in bandwidth for residential students an almost 10 fold increase. For faculty and staff we increased our bandwidth almost 5 times to 100mb. Internet usage continues to grow and as the campus population grows we will keep adding bandwidth to keep ahead of the curve.

As part of the upgrades we purchased 200mb of bandwidth from NetTN which is the State of Tennessee Education Network. We are excited to be apart of NetTN network because it gives us the ability to greatly expand bandwidth in the future at an excellent price point as compared to the regular commodity internet. The upgrades were handled expertly by Network Services staff including manager, Randy Capps, network technician, Dave Elder and Resnet Technician, Andrew Kee.

Voicemail Update

The campus voicemail system was upgraded on July 22nd at 5pm. Everyone will need to reset their greeting and password. The default password is 37212 to enter your mail box to reset the greeting and password. If you need to listen to your old voicemails you can do this by calling x8400 through September 1st. There are a number of changes including the persistance of the voicmail light (you have to listen to every message) and when you check your messages all you have to do is enter your security code. If you have any questions about voicemail please contact Gary Hunter, Telecommunications Manager, at x6059. In addition, you can send voicemail requests to telecom@mail.belmont.edu

for voicemail tips and tricks select this link.

New Student Laptop Program for Fall 2009

This fall we have two exciting laptops for incoming students. We have a Macbook and Studio 15 model, both with 4gb of ram and full three year warrenties. For more information go to http://www.belmont.edu/its/laptop/index.html

The program allows a family to pay for a laptop through a student's Belmont account. Pricing is competitive with educational discounts from Dell and Apple.

If you have any questions about the program contact Randall Reynolds, Director of Technology Services at 615-460-5471.

Faculty and Staff Email Transition to Exchange

We are excited to announce the migration of Belmont’s e-mail system to Microsoft Exchange. This faculty/staff e-mail transition is expected to be complete by May 31, 2009. There are many advantages to this new system, including a simplified e-mail address, 20 times more storage, sophisticated remote access and better compatibility with mobile devices.

You will receive a follow-up to this e-mail with your new account name and password along with instructions for how to logon to the new address. Your new e-mail address will be: first.last@belmont.edu. Your former address will still be accessible and able to receive e-mail, and it will forward to your new address until August 2010. User Services will personally assist you with the transfer of your previous e-mail and calendar to the new mail system; or, if you want to complete the transfer yourself, step-by-step instructions will be provided.

A list of “Frequently Asked Questions” can be found by clicking here. Additionally, representatives from IT will be presenting this information at upcoming college meetings and at the university-wide staff meeting on Fri., April 17 at 1 p.m. in the Vince Gill Room.

We think you will find that this new system is a positive step for the university. Again, more details and instructions for set-up will follow in the next few days. If you have questions, contact your User Services representative or a member of Network Services.

Belmont Internet Service Upgraded

Belmont's Internet Service was upgraded this morning at 6:30am to a 100mb Metro-E circuit. The increase in bandwidth effectively doubles our Internet service for the campus from 44mb to 100mb split evenly between Resnet and the Campus. Users should see some improvement in access to web sites as well as improved speed of campus Internet especially email that often will access off-campus sites for images etc. The new metro-E internet service provides improved packet throughput and an easier path to add additional bandwidth in the future. For you history buffs the campus was first connected to the Internet in 1994 using a 56kps line. Kudos to Randy Capps, Network Services Manager, for making the upgrade a seamless operation for the campus resulting in about 30 minutes of downtime.

ITS and Debate08- A Huge Success!!!

It is hard to believe that its been nearly a month since Debate08. Nearly a year in the planning Debate08 was the largest project that Belmont and certainly ITS has accomplished todate. Nearly 400 Belmont staff worked on the event. The requirements for the debate were overwhelming and challenging for IT at Belmont. The IT effort was led by Randall Reynolds, Director of Technology Serivces, Randy Capps, Network Manager, Gary Hunter, Telecom Manager. IT partnered with ATT Nashville in the project. Spending hundreds of person hours as well as over a million dollars Debate08 was success for everyone at Belmont and IT in particular. Requirements included running over 70 miles of copper and fiber and building out separate facilities for telephones, data and wireless. About 1100 telephones and voicemail boxes were installed as well as 3000 online accounts and 1.5 GB of Internet installed. Many staff volunteered to work the long hours and User Services led the effort to provide support for the thousands of reporters and visiting dignitaries. We are tired but proud to have contributed to Belmont's success.

Student Email now hosted by Google

Over the summer Network Services moved all student email hosting to Google Mail. What this means is simply, email is hosted at Google, but student addresses and overall functionality stay the same. Why do this? Students get over 6gb of storage as compared to 20mb and an interface similar to gmail that is used by millions. Google also provides document storage and calendar for students, so its a big win for the students and a win for the university in offering a better product at a lower cost. Google offers educational instititutions free email hosting without advertisement for hundreds of schools around the world, Notable institutions such as University of Arizona and Northwestern University use Google for email hosting.

If you would like to learn more about the move to Google email hosting go to the FAQ page.

New ATT Cellphone Plans for Students, Staff and Faculty

Everyone on campus who uses ATT Cellphones can now get a discount. Students can get up to 10% off of a new plan. Faculty and Staff can get up to 15% for a new or current plan. For more information go to the computer discounts page on the ITS web site for links to the new plans. You can order new service or equipment for your personal cell phone plans on the web sites.

http://www.belmont.edu/its/buy/index.html

If you have any questions please call the campus ATT representative.
Jason Suerstedt
University Sales Executive
Colleges and Universities
Mobile: (615) 618-1951
Fax: (615) 221-3874
John.Suerstedt@att.com

Computer Discount Programs

Belmont has two options for everyone to purchase a Dell or Apple Computer at a small discount. As always we recommend you shop around and look for the best deal that fits your pocketbook. Last year Belmont
established an Apple Store with MacAurthority for the campus. Their store is located off of Wedgewood about two miles from campus at: 2018 Lindell Ave. Their web site is:
http://www.macauthority.com/

Below are the two links to purchasing either a Dell or Apple product at educational prices.

http://www.dell.com/belmont

http://www.apple.com/education/hed/

Internet Service Disruption

Internet Service to the campus for faculty and staff was briefly interrupted for about 90 minutes today. Services were restored by ATT approximately at noon. Our last Internet outage was in the Fall of 2006 for about an hour.

Typo Squatting---Watch those URLs when you surf

Mistyped web queries are big business. Typo Squatting is a new term that describes web sites that have names that are similar to popular web sites such as google. These sites use our inability to type to fool web users into
using the wrong web site. The purpose is to make money (i.e. google ads) and also to inject your PC with a virus or trogan to force you to purchase virus protection as one example. Even large corporations such as Microsoft license misspelled sites to generate web traffic. While not illegal it is very frustrating to visit an unintended web site. For novice users they can also be exposed to materials that are not appropriate. So, be sure to read any URL you go to to make sure that www.youtube.com is not www.yuotuhe.com. Its easy to be fooled.
For more information about Typo-squatting go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting

Printer Scam Alert

The Belmont community needs to be aware of possible scam artists calling different departments across campus asking for serial numbers from HP and possibly Dell printers. These scam artists use the serial number from these printers to get warranty parts from HP or Dell, which they sell for profit. These scam artists will sound convincing if you talk to them long enough. Do not give them that opportunity. If anyone calls your department claiming to be from a printer or toner company and they request serial numbers from the printers in your office, tell them you are not allowed to give out that information and hang up.
Millicent Jolly
Director of User Services

Outlook use on campus and off campus

With the move to Outlook for email and Outlook Calendar options for accessing email from on campus and off campus keep expanding. While email has been accessible for over 10 years from off-campus options including access to email from BIC make email easy to get to and easy to manage. If you would like to use Outlook Calendar and also integrate with your cellular data service please contact Network Services. Calendars with Outlook can be shared and you can also access from off-campus or using your PDA. While we have not tested all vendors we have assisted users with AT&T, Verizon and Apple in accessing campus email through private data services that users subscribe to at home.

For more information about email and or calendar call Randy Capps or Dave Elder in Network Services. User Services can also assist you with training in Outlook email and Calendar. Today there are more options then ever for you to stay connected to campus.

Ever wonder how many phones there are on campus?

While the campus has grown the number of telephones have grown as well. Also, add to that alarm circuits and fax machines. Oh, I forgot, voicemail boxes. The campus uses Nortel systems and last May upgraded
to a Succession 1000 switch preparing the campus for VOIP.

Here is the lowdown on the numbers....

3797 total phone circuits
1019 digital (975 are in staff/faculty offices)
2778 analog phones

of those 2778:
approx. 1600 are student or student phones
approx. 950 are faculty/staff phones
approx. 125 fax/elevator/alarms/emergency phones
102 for VM connectivity and PRI (38/64)

also, total number of voicemail boxes?

3300 voice boxes, of that total 1802 are non-voice boxes (menus and mail boxes where messages cannot be left)

BTV Channel 3 Events Board on Campus Cable TV

Belmont is now allowing all student/faculty/staff groups and organizations to advertise their events, meetings, convo's, etc on the new Ch. 3 Events Board. To request an event be posted, go to: www.Belmont.edu/its and under the 'Quick Links' section, press the 'Ch. 3 Events Board Request Form' button. All requirements/specifics are posted on the first page of the form. Press the button to Agree to the requirements, fill out the form, and click "Submit". Once the request is verified that the requirements are met, it will be created and will appear on Ch. 3 along with the tv schedule. Your advertisement will then appear on all resident student televisions every time they turn to ch. 3.