April 12th, 2002 by Dana Roode
Microsoft released the first version of Windows XP (WXP) this year, less than two years after release of Windows 2000 (W2K). Many schools and departments are working to make use of new features in W2K and WXP, including the Graduate School of Management, Health Sciences, University Extension, Network and Academic Computing Services, Claire Trevor School of Arts, and numerous smaller departments.
NACS has sponsored a series of W2K and WXP courses for interested system administrators covering Active Directory (AD) and Windows security issues. There was great interest in those classes from various groups and we hope to facilitate sharing experiences between groups currently deploying Windows and others just planning their migration.
As Windows NT will no longer be supported by Microsoft as of this summer, many departments are assessing their migration paths. Windows XP server, otherwise known as “.Net Server”, is undergoing a series of beta releases and security checks with a final release expected in December. All desktops purchased with Windows should now come with XP, and we consider XP the long-term platform of choice. While some departments migrated to W2K last year, others are now in the awkward position of working with an unsupported operating system (NT) or facing two migrations (W2K and WXP) in short succession.
NACS experts are available to departments assessing their migration needs. We have helped several departments with planning, budgeting, training, and support. If you are interested in investigating a beta release of .Net Server, please contact NACS. We’d be happy to work with you.
April 12th, 2002 by Dana Roode
UC has negotiated a bulk license purchase agreement with Macromedia. Most popular Macromedia (and Allaire) products are available, including Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, and Cold Fusion.
Under the terms of the agreement, a minimum order representing ten “points” is required. For example, five new Dreamweaver licenses would meet this requirement. You may mix and match different products to meet the minimum order size.
For more information, see http://www.gotrc.com/casystemsstore.htm, or call our TRC representative, Erica Gagni, at 800-517-2320 ext. 244.
April 12th, 2002 by Dana Roode
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) is now available to UCI campus departments. This call management feature has recently been added to our campus telephone system. ACD is software that controls how incoming calls are received, queued and distributed. ACD ensures that incoming calls are answered promptly and transferred to a representative or agent in the order received.
If all agents are busy when a call arrives, the caller will be placed in queue instead of hearing a busy signal. A queue message will play asking the caller to hold for the next available representative. Estimated wait time may be included in this message. When an agent becomes available, the caller will be automatically transferred to that agent.
Information indicating the number of agents that are taking calls and the number of calls in queue is displayed on the telephone sets of all agents. The number of calls to be held in queue is predetermined by the department. Once the threshold is reached, callers can be routed to another extension number, to voice mail or given a busy signal. There are reporting options available that assist the manager or supervisor of an ACD group to effectively manage their call load and staff the telephones accordingly.
Departments that are currently using the ACD feature include the Registrar’s Office, Student Health Services, Adcom’s Help Desk, Human Resources, Biological Sciences, and our own campus telephone operators. Each implementation was a great success and these departments are now enjoying the benefits of ACD.
Each ACD group can be set up to the specifications of the individual department or unit. Network & Academic Computing Services will be happy to send our consultants to your location to review all of the options. Basic ACD is billed at $16.00 per month for each ACD agent line. Please contact NACS for more information or to schedule a consulting appointment.