In spring 2020, ITS deployed Zoom videoconferencing to campus and later added large event support, captioning, and PHI-compliant Zoom for Health. Since then, adoption of Zoom has grown exponentially, while the use of BlueJeans has fallen significantly. Additionally, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are available as part of the U-M academic collaboration suite at no additional cost and… Read More »
For ITS Infrastructure teams the Labor Day weekend was not a holiday — they were working down to the wire, fighting through bad weather in Ann Arbor to complete work on North Campus to complete a much needed network upgrade to Northwoods IV & V whose apartments are home to many U-M graduate students and their families. This… Read More »
Dependence on the U-M Network has always been strong, but this term it will be used in locations, and ways not seen before. With COVID-19 concerns at a high level, the university has come up with creative ideas to assist our faculty and students, and decrease density in buildings, by creating new outdoor spaces for students to work… Read More »
The pandemic has created new and unique challenges for students. To support a culture of caring and to create safe computing options, ITS developed a new laptop loaner program called “Sites @ Home.” The program provides the best that ITS has to offer: Campus Computing Sites with access to specialized software, a Windows PC, and computers with higher… Read More »
As the next step in a public health informed return to service, Tech Shop now offers at-the-door pickup for online orders, in addition to a variety of shipping options. Online orders can be placed at techshop.umich.edu. This service will be available by appointment at the Michigan Union location. Service hours are 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Monday through… Read More »
Make your U-M Gmail even more secure Information and Technology Services (ITS) is happy to announce that effective immediately, students, staff, and faculty have access to a new email security tool — Virtru. (Note: Michigan Medicine provides a similar capability for their email service). With Virtru, you can send end-to-end encrypted email to any address, prevent a forwarded email… Read More »
Since August 2019, Advanced Research Computing – Technology Services (ARC-TS), a division of ITS, has been developing a tool that would give researchers and their delegates the ability to directly manage the IT research services they consume from ARC-TS, such as user access and usage stats. The ARC-TS Resource Management Portal (RMP) beta tool is now available for… Read More »
The University of Michigan recently launched the accessible, mobile-friendly website ResponsiBLUE (responsiblue.umich.edu) to help keep university community members healthy and reduce the spread of COVID-19. A downloadable mobile app for both Android and Apple platforms is in development and will be available soon. All faculty, staff and students entering U-M buildings are required to use ResponsiBLUE to meet… Read More »
Previously targeted to retire at the end of the year, the campus contract for ServiceNow, an IT service management tool, will end early on September 30 to avoid significant licensing costs.
A more secure and user-friendly version of Procurement Services’ Quote-to-Order (QTO) System is now available for the university community. The QTO System allows university employees to, among other things, easily and conveniently obtain estimates—and place orders—from multiple strategic suppliers for a variety of products and services, including printing/mailing, web design, and IT temp staffing. The security enhancements to… Read More »
A key ITS area of focus is “to work as one ITS team to improve the way we serve the U-M campus.” This has the potential for significant impact. A recent dialogue between the digital accessibility and collaboration teams is an outstanding example of how ITS can benefit users far beyond our campus. Like many vendors of cloud-based… Read More »
In summer 2019, LSA Technology Services began investigating work management platforms (ticketing systems) as a way to enhance the customer experience. The LSA Technology Services team placed a high priority on increasing collaboration both internally and externally as they evaluated tools, vendors, and software solutions. The team sought out departmental partners across the college and worked with Information… Read More »
In June 2020, Information and Technology Services (ITS) announced an agreement to offer Dropbox at U-M—a cloud file storage option that provides automatic back-up and is readily accessible from any device. The first phase of the rollout included individual accounts with a 5TB storage limit for all faculty, staff, and students on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint… Read More »
Google has announced a new look and feel to Gmail on the web that integrates Meet, Chat, Gmail, Drive, and Tasks, all in one place. According to Google, starting September 1, 2020, Gmail on the web will become a centralized location for your communication and collaboration. Gmail will now feature four distinct components: Mail Chat Rooms Meet Google… Read More »
With COVID-19 changing the landscape of how higher-education and other areas of our society operate, gaining important insights from data is more important than ever. As U-M begins a historical public health-informed in-residence semester, the Michigan Insights on Demand (MIND) team at Information and Technology Services (ITS) continues to make strides in building and enhancing the ecosystem needed… Read More »
Starting today, July 15, 2020, Google Chat has replaced classic Google Hangouts in Gmail and is now the default option for direct (one-to-one) messages, group messages, and team-based room discussions within Gmail. For several years, classic Google Hangouts had been a part of Google at U-M and integrated with Google Mail. Google Chat is an updated, team-based experience… Read More »
Google Chat will be replacing classic Google Hangouts in Gmail. Google Chat is an evolution of classic Hangouts, adding additional features that let you chat with individuals, send group messages, and engage in team-based collaboration with rooms across the entire university community and externally. Starting July 15, 2020, Google Chat will become the default option for direct (one-to-one)… Read More »
As of December 31, 2020, Google will no longer support Google Cloud Print, Google’s beta, cloud-based printing solution. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will not be able to print using Google Cloud Print. It is recommended that you find an alternative print solution and migrate your print services by the end of 2020. One alternative, MPrint, is U-M’s printing… Read More »
Google has announced they will be transitioning Google+ over to an updated service called Google Currents. Starting on July 6, 2020, you will begin to lose access to Google+ and all existing communities will begin the transition to Currents. No action is required by you or your team. Google Currents is a rebranding of Google+ with an updated… Read More »
In an ongoing effort to provide the best possible service to its customers, the MiServer team recently invested a tremendous amount of time and labor to bring quality enhancements to their managed virtual server environment. Over an 18-month period, the group worked extensively on replacing aging hardware, upgrading supporting infrastructure, and developing automation tools in an effort to… Read More »