IT Operations integrates campus updates
While on summer vacation, some Lee students traveled across the globe on a cross-cultural trip. Others completed a strenuous, but valuable, internship. Some even decided that they needed to continue their quest for a degree, so they remained on campus for summer school.
In the meantime, Information Technology Operations spent most of its summer months updating the technology at Lee University. From getting rid of old switches to adding virtual servers, IT Operations prepared the campus for the upcoming school year.
The Lee network operates on a large number of switches throughout the campus. A switch acts as a link, allowing the different areas of campus to connect with the network. IT Operations replaced 30 of them, some of which were 10-15 years old.
“Can you imagine the difference between the [technology] today compared with it 10-15 years ago?” IT Operations Director Chris Golden asked.
The difference is significant to say the least. To add some perspective, Lee University didn’t even have a presence on the internet until 1997, and some of Lee’s switches could have been as old as 1996.
On top of replacing the ancient switches, IT Operations swapped out several wireless access points around campus, leaving newer ones with a more powerful connection.
Then there were the additional servers. Adding new servers is no easy job; it requires time to actually build the servers, install special software and tie the new servers into the already existing system.
These particular servers house many more “virtual” servers that allow for plenty of space to support the ongoing growth in hardware and software that the university acquires, including thin clients and virtual lab technology.
Supporting an entire campus full of technology is no easy task. However, by applying these updates, the IT Operations team used the summer to take another step in the direction of a continuously stable technological environment for the Lee community.