December 2006

DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 2:
ITS will follow a modified schedule of coverage from end-of-business on Friday, December 22 through Tuesday, January 2. ITS computer labs will be closed, but the ITS Client Services helpline staff and operator services staff will be available on a reduced schedule.

Visit the ITS website (www.nyu.edu/its/coverage/) for the complete Winter Break schedule, contact information you can use over the recess, links to various NYU academic calendars, information on making a gift to the University, and detailed instructions on preparing your voice mail and email for the Break. Note: If you use NYU voice mail, ITS recommends that you retrieve your messages during the Break to reduce the volume of calls received by our voice mail systems immediately following the Break.

JANUARY 3-15:
The ITS Client Services Center and all ITS offices will reopen on Wednesday, January 3 and follow their normal hours for the remainder of the University's Winter Break (also known as the Intersession). ITS computer labs will follow a modified schedule during the Intersession; details are available at www.nyu.edu/its/labs/.

Posted by Kate at 12:11 PM | Permalink

ITS Student Technology Services can help with your end-of-semester crunch! New early morning hours are available at the ITS Tisch Hall Computer Lab, room LC-7. The lab now opens daily at 6am, Monday through Saturday. During early morning hours the lab will be self-service; lab access requires swiping a valid NYUCard. Also, the ITS Third Avenue Center is open round the clock, seven days a week. And remember the Sunday hours, noon-11:30pm, at the ITS Multimedia Center, 35 W. 4th Street, 2nd floor.

Check www.nyu.edu/its/labs/ for locations & hours of all ITS labs. ITS computer labs are available to NYU faculty and staff, and all students in degree or diploma programs. Be sure to bring your NYUCard when you visit.

Posted by Kate at 12:09 PM | Permalink

**** Students ****
A new Podcasting Production Studio for students has been created at the ITS Multimedia Lab. The Multimedia Lab is located in the Education Building at 35 West 4th Street, on the second floor. The Macintosh-based system provides a variety of software and hardware to meet the needs of both experienced and novice podcasters. Staff will be on-hand to guide students through the process, and electronic guides and tutorials are also available. For more information about podcasting resources on campus, visit www.nyu.edu/podcast/.

**** Faculty ****
Want to make a podcast of your classes? Campus Media maintains several carts equipped with Macintosh computers and microphones, as well as a portable solution (an MP3 recorder and a lavaliere microphone) so that you can record your class and have it posted on to the Internet for your students. Want to learn more? Call Campus Media at 8-2655, visit www.nyu.edu/podcast/, or, to book your next class or event for podcasting, visit www.nyu.edu/campusmedia/reservation/form/podcast.htm. Updates and additional recording capabilities will be available soon.

Posted by Kate at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Twice a year, the NYU Tisch School of the Arts' Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) hosts a student show of interactive sight, sound, and physical objects. This year's Winter Show will be held on the 4th floor of 721 Broadway on Sunday, Dec. 17th from 2-6pm, and Monday, Dec. 18th from 5-9pm. The event is free and open to the public, and there is no need to RSVP. For more information, visit http://itp.nyu.edu/show/ or contact itp.inquiries@nyu.edu or 212-998-1880.

Posted by Kate at 12:05 PM | Permalink

During the Spring 2007 semester, ITS will be testing a number of exciting new technologies to enhance the teaching and learning environment, and is currently looking for faculty volunteers. Good candidates are those faculty who are planning to use online instructional technologies (such as NYU Blackboard) in their courses and who are willing to pilot the new tools. Faculty with all levels of technical ability are welcome. Visit www.nyu.edu/its/faculty/pilot/ to volunteer or submit a question.

Posted by Kate at 12:02 PM | Permalink

Each academic year, the University obtains licenses for SPSS and SAS statistical software for use by NYU faculty, administrators, and staff (and, for SAS, matriculated graduate students, as well). SPSS and SAS licenses for the current academic year are now available for purchase from ITS via a streamlined licensing process. In addition, ITS is pleased to announce the availability of Amos, a powerful, easy-to-use structural equation modeling (SEM) software program. For details, please visit www.nyu.edu/its/statistics/sas_spss.html.

Posted by Kate at 11:59 AM | Permalink

Over the course of its 20-year history, NYU-NET, the campus data network, has supported a variety of communications protocols for the various computers on the network, including DECNet (Digital Equipment Corporation), XNS (Xerox and Ungermann-Bass systems), AppleTalk (pre-Mac OS 9 Macintosh computers), and IPX (Netware's unsupported v5.0 and earlier Novell servers). Each of these computer manufacturers has dropped support for its proprietary communications systems in favor of IP (the Internet Protocol). Similarly, vendors of networking equipment are also eliminating "multiprotocol support" in their network switches and routers. Though ITS has phased out the use of DECNet and XNS, AppleTalk and IPX continue to operate on NYU-NET, and as long as we require infrastructure which supports those two protocols, that requirement limits our choices for new equipment to those which have reduced IP capabilities. There is also typically a premium cost for equipment that supports these legacy communications technologies. As a result, multiprotocol use on NYU-NET is impacting our ability to develop the campus network and support the high-performance computing and networking needs of University research.

This is an advance announcement that ITS plans to retire the AppleTalk and IPX protocols on the backbone of the University network on June 1, 2008. To our knowledge, the only devices remaining on NYU-NET that would be adversely affected by the discontinuation of those services are rather old devices no longer supported by their vendors:

• Apple LaserWriter printers which only support AppleTalk
• File sharing and printing from Macintosh computers running System 8 or earlier
• Novell servers running Netware v5.0 or earlier. (Netware v5.1 is IP capable.)

ITS is happy to work with departments that have any concerns regarding the above plan or need assistance in identifying any such equipment in their environments. Please contact the ITS Client Services Center at 212-998-3333 with any questions or comments.

Posted by Kate at 11:56 AM | Permalink

The USENET News service has been active on NYU-NET since the inception of the campus network. Over that period of time, USENET activity on campus grew from a modest service to one of the most active USENET services on the planet. In recent years, however, technologies such as weblogs, private web services, and instant messaging have contributed to record-low activity on the NYU-NET USENET service. Even though campus use of the USENET service is very low, maintaining this service makes very intensive use of both network bandwidth and server resources. This is an advance announcement that ITS plans to retire the campus network news service on June 1, 2007.

Several alternatives exist for access to USENET services:

• Home access: Local Internet Service Providers (including dialup, cable modem and DSL providers) typically offer USENET services.
• Free global access: Services such as "Google Groups" (http://groups.google.com) provide free access to the text-based newsgroups.
• Pay-for access: Giganews (http://www.giganews.com) and Supernews (http://www.supernews.com) offer access to all newsgroups, including the "binaries" newsgroups, for a monthly fee.

ITS welcomes your feedback on this plan. Please contact the ITS Client Services Center at 212-998-3333 with any questions or comments.

Posted by Kate at 11:50 AM | Permalink

In preparation for the holidays, ITS' Technology Security Services would like to remind you to turn off your computer while you are away from the University. Turning off your computer is an important step for these and other reasons:

• If a new security patch comes out and you've forgotten to activate your automatic security updates features, your computer will not be compromised while you are away.
• If there is an existing security vulnerability that your computer is already susceptible to, it will not get infected or broken into over the break. Keep in mind, however, that it is important to update your computer's security features as soon as you return from the break!
• It will help save energy and help make you a good University citizen!

Posted by Kate at 11:46 AM | Permalink