June 17, 2013
Big summer projects in information technology services
Summer months are when information technology services, or ITS, prepares for the next academic year. This summer may prove to be the busiest summer on record for the services, and it got even busier with needed support for the NCAA regional tournament in June.
K-State recently hosted the NCAA Manhattan regionals on June 2, and information technology services staff had a mile-long to-do list in support of the tournament, including providing wired and wireless coverage for the media during this event. Information technology services ran ISDN and analog lines for ESPN to support media broadcasting from Tointon Stadium. In the Brandeberry Complex, staff installed wired and wireless Ethernet locations. In the merchandise tent, cabling was installed to provide connections for credit card transactions. 
Zimbra central email/calendar services will be migrated to Office 365, hosted by Microsoft. This is one of the biggest information technology projects of the summer and will impact more than 50,000 K-State student, faculty and staff user accounts.
K-State's information technology presence at new student orientation and enrollment on June 5-8, June 11-15 and June 18-21 is supported by almost 30 iTAC staff. The staff includes booth attendees, IT Help Desk student consultants available through Zoom video conference, plus tech staff who are providing antivirus installs and wireless setups each day to students who buy or bring in their computer.
Network entry connections for 17 buildings are being upgraded from 100MB to 1GB. This means all campus buildings will be connected to the core routers at a minimum of 1GB, which will improve bandwidth to support an ever-increasing demand for network connectivity.
Network infrastructure is being installed for several new buildings and major renovations, to be completed this summer. Projects include the west side construction of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Innovation Center, Honors House Residence Hall, Human Ecology Research Center, Intercollegiate Rowing Center, Danforth Chapel and the completion of the Chet Peters Recreation Complex renovation.
Network infrastructure improvements are slated for the Data Center, Bushnell, Chem/BioChem, Durland/Rathbone/Fiedler Complex, Moore, Nichols and Throckmorton halls.
Virtual Desktop Initiative, or VDI, is a project that will allow for easier management and updating of software in the K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library, the university computing labs and the university technology classrooms.
Data center improvements are driven in part by the Virtual Desktop Initiative project. K-State is moving from 2GB connections to 20GB connections to the data center. This will allow more bandwidth for the Virtual Desktop Initiative project.
Twelve department classroom and conference rooms are in the process of getting new technology installed by information technology services, and six of these rooms are being remodeled. Three additional department spaces are getting technology upgrades.
All Faith's Chapel will be updated with an added projection system and a new sound system.
Bluemont 101 technology classroom is getting a complete facelift with ceiling to floor improvements, new seating, improved acoustics and updated technology. By May 24, contractors had removed 249 seats and ceiling tiles and were ready for the next renovation stage.
Five new general-use technology classrooms are being added this summer. Facilities room scheduling handles usage requests for general classrooms. This will raise the total number of university technology classrooms to 107 by the start of the fall semester. Ten other technology classrooms are getting technology upgrades, remodeling, or both.
Stay tuned for more updates on information technology services summer projects.