UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY NEWS

Rate decrease for storage associated with IST's Virtual Machine service (Click Here to View) Top Stories
Effective December 1, 2011, the recharge rate for storage associated with IST's Virtual Machine (VM) service has decreased. IST is passing savings from recent reductions in storage rates directly on to customers. The new rate will be reflected in the January 2012 billing statements.

 

OTHER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY NEWS

bMail and bCal selected as names for UC Berkeley's Google solution
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As announced at the March 22, 2012 Operational Excellence Expo, the names of the campus's new email and calendar solutions are bMail and bCal, respectively. More than 1,150 entries were submitted in the contest to name the email and calendar systems.


CIO Shel Waggener to step down April 30, 2012
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On March 15, 2012, UC Berkeley Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology & Chief Information Officer Shel Waggener announced he will be leaving Berkeley to join Internet2 as Senior Vice President, where he will provide executive leadership for Internet2 NET+ Services. Shel will continue to serve as campus AVC-IT & CIO through April 30, 2012.


Call for 2011 Sautter Award nominations
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Applications for the 2012 Larry L. Sautter Award Program are now being accepted. The application deadline is May 15, 2012. Submission guidelines and other information are available at http://www.ucop.edu/irc/itlc/sautter/welcome.html.


Naming contest for UC Berkeley's Google solution
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As previously announced, Google has been selected as the new campus calendar and email solution. The campus is now looking for names unique to UC Berkeley for the new email and calendar services. Entries due by March 19, 2012.


Campuswide MATLAB statistical package agreement
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As a result of a campuswide site-license arrangement negotiated by the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the College of Engineering, Berkeley faculty, staff, and students can install and use the MATLAB statistical package on institution-owned devices at no charge to individuals or departments in calendar year 2012.


Secure your desktop computers
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Citing a recent security breach lawsuit against Sutter Health, the campus privacy and information risk officer advises taking steps to secure desktop computers and the data within them. Locks and encryption software are cheap when compared to the legal costs to defend against data breach lawsuits.


Preventing laptop theft: Defense-in-depth approach
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According to UCPD, in 2011, 88 laptops were reported stolen at UC Berkeley. This article offers tips to help you keep your laptop safe and the contents within it secure.


AT&T Wi-Fi activated at Haas and Boalt
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Students, faculty, and staff will enjoy additional connectivity options as IST adds "attwifi", the AT&T SSID, to the campus wireless infrastructure. The AT&T SSID will be visible alongside AirBears, the existing campus SSID, and both will be carried by the campus high-speed data network. The attwifi network is limited to WiFi devices with an AT&T data plan, and is currently available at Haas and Boalt.


2012-13 AT&T directory listings
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April 6, 2012, is the deadline to make changes to department listings in the AT&T White Pages.


Lower rates for Linux and Windows Extended Support packages
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IST has reduced its Windows and Linux Extended System Administration rates from $460.00 to $300.00 per month, a 35 percent cost reduction, effective January 1, 2012.


New IST Drupal Cloud Hosting service available to empower campus web developers
Top Stories
Information Services and Technology has implemented IST Drupal Cloud Hosting, a new service that offers powerful and easy-to-use tools for building and maintaining websites and applications using the Drupal content management platform. The service provides free state-of-the-art development tools and affordable hosting plans with 24x7 support through a partnership with San Francisco-based Pantheon.


Update: DreamHost outage affecting L&S websites
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The Letters & Science web server issues are largely resolved at this time. All L&S-hosted websites should have had their current content restored, and all should be up and running normally. If you notice any problems with your L&S-hosted sites, contact the L&S support team, generate_ucb_email("web-hosting", "LSCR", "."); avweb-hostingante at LSCR dot berkeley dot edu.


Research Hub gets 1000th user, offers training and a survey
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Since Research Hub's launch in fall 2011, the content management and collaboration service has supported the work of a steadily growing segment of the UC Berkeley community. In an effort to maintain quality and prioritize further development, Research Hub has created an online survey to gather feedback from campus. Also, to help the campus take full advantage of the service, Research Hub is providing two series of drop-in trainings.


DreamHost outage affecting L&S websites
Top Stories
The web hosting service provided by the College of Letters & Science to its departments is experiencing an outage that began at 10:00 pm Tuesday, January 17. Approximately 80 campus domains are affected, including many of the websites for L&S departments. L&S is working with the hosting provider, DreamHost, to assist in the recovery of the sites and is providing updates via email to impacted departments.


IST to continue procurement support for Apple and Dell orders through FY 2011-12
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Based on campus feedback, IST Procurement will continue to provide procurement support to departments for Dell and Apple products through the end of the 2011–12 fiscal year. Effective July 1, 2012, all departments will make their Apple and Dell purchases through the BearBuy system.


Code 4 Cal hackathon, February 3-4, 2012
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The Student Technology Council is hosting Code 4 Cal, a hackathon for students to create innovative, sustainable, and useful applications or widgets for Berkeley students, February 3-4, 2012.  Grand Prize is $1,500. Pre-registration is required. More information available at Code 4 Cal information session, 5:00 pm Tuesday, January 24, 202 South Hall.


L&S websites unavailable
Top Stories
The web hosting service provided by the College of Letters & Science to its departments is experiencing an outage that began at 10:00 pm Tuesday, January 17. Approximately 80 campus domains are affected, including many of the websites for L&S departments. L&S is working with the hosting provider, DreamHost, to assist in the recovery of the sites and is providing updates via email to impacted departments.


Business continuity planning for IST-managed systems
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There are two components to business continuity: disaster recovery, which deals with getting systems and infrastructure back online after a disaster; and business resumption, which deals with getting business functionality back online after the infrastructure is readied. This article focuses on how IST handles disaster recovery for applications under its management.


Mathematica agreement
Top Stories
Beginning January 1, 2012, faculty, staff, and students can install and use Wolfram Research's Mathematica software suite on institution-owned devices for teaching and research with no charge to individuals or departments for 2012. The site license allows the University to deliver the latest version of Mathematica to a wider audience for a lower total cost of ownership.


Announcing Google as new campus email and calendar platform
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Google Apps for Education has been selected as the new email and calendar solution for Berkeley. The campus will remain on CalMail and CalAgenda pending an extensive migration during 2012.


MSSND revisions effective March 15, 2012
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Changes to the UC Berkeley Minimum Security Standard for Networked Devices (MSSND) have been approved by the CISPC and the campus Chief Privacy and Security Officer with an effective date of March 15, 2012. This version supersedes MSSND: Appendix A.


Rate decrease for storage associated with IST's Virtual Machine service
Top Stories
Effective December 1, 2011, the recharge rate for storage associated with IST's Virtual Machine (VM) service has decreased. IST is passing savings from recent reductions in storage rates directly on to customers. The new rate will be reflected in the January 2012 billing statements.


Microsoft software available to campus
Top Stories
UC Berkeley has signed a campus license agreement to provide the most commonly used Microsoft software to all faculty, staff, and students at no cost to individuals or departments for the 2011–12 fiscal year. This agreement allows unlimited deployment of a wide range of Microsoft software, including desktop and server software, on institutionally owned devices. A subset of the software is eligible for students, faculty, and staff to use at home. Software will be available for download beginning January 9, 2012.


Online education: ETS launches a one-stop production suite
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Berkeley faculty can now make professional-quality multimedia recordings for presentation online, at a small fraction of the going commercial rates. Educational Technology Services’ new production suite allows faculty to record video, audio, and PowerPoint slides (or other presentation materials) simultaneously, review and tweak their presentations, and publish them directly to YouTube. See Cathy Cockrell's UC Berkeley NewsCenter article.


Impressions of the 2011 EDUCAUSE conference
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In late October, several members of the Berkeley IT community attended the 2011 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Philadephia. This article reflects their conference highlights.


Where to find the latest CalMail outage information
Top Stories
The latest updates regarding the CalMail outages are available via the CalMail Updates page, Service Status page, CalMail home page, and @UCBCalMail Twitter feed. For an overview of what has been happening to date, as well as steps for mitigation, see the video of CIO Shel Waggener's detailed presentation at the December 1 BPAWG meeting, http://ustre.am/_1ha2G:VOX, and the PDF of his PowerPoint slides.


IST and OCIO holiday schedule 2011-2012
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Many Information Services and Technology (IST) facilities and services, as well as services offered by the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), will be closed or operating on modified schedules in late December and early January because of the semester break, University holidays, and campuswide energy curtailment.


UC Berkeley, AT&T collaborate to enhance campus network and Wi-Fi experience
Top Stories
In an effort to provide students, faculty, staff, and visitors with better opportunities in mobile learning, AT&T and UC Berkeley are working together to improve network and Wi-Fi coverage at Berkeley. The joint initiative will expand and upgrade voice and data coverage in more than 80 buildings and place additional Wi-Fi hotspots on campus and in surrounding areas. Cellular service improvements already have begun, with upgrades complete inside the Haas School of Business and School of Law, and currently underway in the Student-Athlete High Performance Center. See Robert Sanders's UC Berkeley NewsCenter article.


Free developer accounts and workshop for Drupal cloud service
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As a follow-up to the overview given last month of the partnership with SF-based Pantheon to provide the campus with cloud services for Drupal web development and hosting, IST invites campus Drupal users to register for free developer accounts, and participate in a workshop to get started using Pantheon. The workshop is scheduled for 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, Thursday, December 15, 2011, in 60 Barrows.