May 3rd, 2007 by Lyle Wiedeman
NACS regularly upgrades networking equipment around the campus, typically in a rolling series of school or departmental upgrades that take place over several years. In addition to these large upgrades–which may include replacing older wiring as well as equipment, campus-wide infrastructure needs maintenance and periodic replacement as well. In 2005, the core of the campus backbone was upgraded from one to ten gigabits per second (Gb/s). In a multi-year project begun the same year, NACS began replacing older routers/switches in the “distribution layer” with new equipment in many buildings around campus. (The distribution layer connects the networks in a building to the campus backbone). In addition, NACS has been working to replace all older edge switches in buildings. (Edge switches provide the connectivity from labs and offices to the building distribution switch).
Between July 2005 and June 2006 building distribution switches were replaced in Aldrich Hall, Berkeley Place South, Science Library, Social Ecology 2, Social Science Plaza buildings A and B, and Medical Surge 1. In addition, all of these buildings except Aldrich Hall and Med Surge 1 (which were upgraded the previous year) had their edge switches replaced with new equipment, greatly enhancing the performance of these networks for the occupants. Finally, a large number of new wireless access points have been added around the campus, including a major wireless upgrade in the Science Library. Many of these wireless upgrades have been the result of a networking survey NACS conducted last year.
May 3rd, 2007 by Lyle Wiedeman
NACS is working with Sprint Nextel to improve Sprint PCS coverage on the main campus. Sprint Nextel is adding Sprint PCS equipment to the existing Nextel site located at Engineering Tower. This should improve in-building coverage for Sprint where it has been poor.
NACS and other campus departments are also working with AT&T (formerly Cingular) to construct a new cell site that will be located on the rooftop of the Science Library. This site will bring coverage to the western portion of the campus in an effort to restore coverage to UCI’s AT&T users. Cingular sold their interest in the joint venture network to T-Mobile when Cingular bought AT&T Wireless assets a few years ago. Since then, their two sites on campus have only carried T-Mobile traffic, which had a negative impact on AT&T/Cingular coverage at UCI.
In addition to these two projects, NACS is developing a “master plan” for future cell site installations to bring new carriers on board, and add better coverage to existing carriers that have sites on the campus. One idea that we are evaluating is a distributed antenna system or DAS. This system, installed by a third party, leverages advances in technology to deploy small “microcell” nodes that are fed by fiber optic cable back to a central distribution point on our campus. The DAS system has a very small profile compared to the sites that exist on campus today. This solution can work better in our environment, improving in-building coverage and adding carriers without the challenge of finding a rooftop or other space for several hundred square feet of equipment and large antenna arrays. In some cases, the antennas can be completely hidden, with attendant aesthetic benefits.
In this information age, NACS understands the desire of many to be mobile, whether it’s simply a cell phone, PDA, or data card for their laptop. We will continue to work with cellular carriers to implement better coverage on campus.
May 3rd, 2007 by Lyle Wiedeman
I have been assigned a phone number that was used by my predecessor, but I can’t get into Infomail (voice mail). How do I get the password reset?
Please fill out a Service Request Form (SRF) http://www.nacs.uci.edu/service-request/ and specify in the comments section that you need an Infomail password reset. There is a $10 charge to reset the Infomail password. It is reset to the default password (the phone’s 5-digit extension). This will normally happen the same business day.
What email programs can I use with my NACS email account and how do I configure them?
NACS offers a web-based email program at http://webmail.uci.edu and supports many common desktop email programs. A list of desktop email programs, including Thunderbird, Mac Mail, Outlook, and Eudora, with configuration instructions is available from http://www.nacs.uci.edu/email/settings.html.
What is a ‘Corporate Time’ or ‘Oracle Calendar’ account? Why do I need one? What is my password? How much does it cost?
‘Corporate Time’ is the former name of the campus-wide calendaring service NACS supports. Since being purchased by Oracle, it has been renamed ‘Oracle Calendar’.
Oracle Calendar allows its users to keep track of tasks, reminders, and meetings (like a planner/organizer), but adds the functionality of viewing and interacting with other users’ accounts, which allows joint planning and collaboration, even between members of different departments.
Many units on campus use Oracle Calendar as their scheduling tool. You can obtain your password by contacting the NACS response center at (949) 824-2222 (extension 42222 on campus).
The cost is $7.00 annually per account, payable by recharge.
For more information, please see our Oracle Calendar web page at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/calendar/
