UW-IT Insights — Winter 2016
Expanding outdoor Wi-Fi using emerging technologies
Expanded outdoor Wi-Fi service is now available in key areas throughout the UW Seattle campus, including the redesigned Rainier Vista area, thanks to a new technology solution recently enabled by UW-IT. The enhancements are part of a larger effort by UW-IT to improve Wi-Fi service after students named it as their top priority in a 2015 Customer Experience survey. The new technology expands outdoor coverage and capacity options to help meet ever-growing demand to be connected. Peak Wi-Fi usage is about 65,000 unique devices mid-day, and about 200,000 unique devices in a 24-hour period.
2016: A Year in Partnerships
This special report features UW-IT’s collaborations with partners across all three campuses to support students, faculty and staff. Stories highlight how cloud computing services are helping a researcher shed light on the human genome, how efforts by Financial Aid are getting financial aid decisions to students faster, and more.
HR/Payroll Modernization: On track for summer launch
The HR/Payroll Modernization program is on budget and on track to launch the UW’s new Workday HR/Payroll system in mid-June 2017. The program is ramping up a comprehensive change management effort to prepare the UW community for the coming changes, and welcomed Dave Anderson, Executive Director, Health Sciences Administration, as its new Lead Executive Sponsor. User Acceptance Testing is planned for February and March, involving about 160 UW administrators, and marking the first opportunity for users to get a hands-on look at the new system. Training on the new system will most likely begin in early May, about six weeks prior to go-live.
Increasing Wi-Fi security through eduroam
Beginning in spring 2017, UW-IT will start to encourage students, faculty and staff to connect to Wi-Fi using eduroam, an encrypted world-wide roaming access service, to increase the security of their wireless connections. Eduroam was developed for the international research and education community and is already available at the UW and at thousands of locations across 70 countries. UW-IT is working to deploy a more robust eduroam service on all three campuses before asking everyone to use it. Expect more announcements in early 2017.
Popular SpaceScout app gets new name, more features
SpaceScout, the app that helps students find study spaces, now has a new name—Scout—and an expanded list of services. The new app helps users locate campus dining options and digital tools and equipment as well as study spaces. It’s mobile-optimized, with development underway for iOS and Android versions.
In brief:
A new weekly e-newsletter for UW faculty and staff—called UW Insider—is launching in January 2017. It will combine important messages from IT Connect News, The Resource, The Whole U, Disaster Digest, UW Recycling and Combined Fund Drive into one centrally managed email. UW Insider aims to help you make the most of your UW employment experience while reducing information overload. IT Connect News will continue to be mailed to students and posted on IT Connect.
New cloud computing for research pages in IT Connect can help researchers determine how the cloud can enable, accelerate and expand their work. Researchers can learn how to move their research to the cloud, read success stories from UW colleagues and visit the getting started page for detailed information.