Page 12 - OIT Progress Report 2014

12
DAS Update
A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) strategically places smaller antennas through- out the interior of a structure bypassing physical barriers by connecting to pow- erful cellular equipment located in the University Data Center (UDC). We worked with a third-party firm to generate a detailed design for our campus-wide indoor and outdoor DAS. Our design relies on the UDC and outside fiber cable plant to connect campus buildings.
As formalized agreements are established with each wireless carrier, they will begin installing their equipment in the UDC in order to connect to the SMU DAS. The newly built Residential Commons and Arnold Dining Commons were the first to be upgraded with the DAS. Verizon was the first carrier to come online at the beginning of the school year, followed by AT&T and T-Mobile in December. Sprint installation dates are to be determined. The remaining residence halls, campus buildings, and sporting facilities are the next buildings scheduled for DAS expan- sion. For more details or to see the DAS expansion schedule, visit smu.edu/OIT/ DASproject.
Objective 1: Support for a living/learning environment that enhances personal explora- tion and growth.
Unified Communications
Big changes are on the way for communications at SMU. The Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) project will replace SMU’s telephone and voicemail systems; however, the breadth of the new solution goes far beyond basic telephony.
The scope of the UCC project leverages recent upgrades in SMU’s network infra- structure to provide next-generation communications capabilities, including Enterprise Voice over IP (VoIP); audio, video, and web conferencing; instant mes- saging and presence; and social media, with extensions to desktop and laptop workstations plus mobile devices. By moving away from traditional telephony, we expect to realize considerable savings for long-distance and conferencing costs to SMU.
The first stage of this project involves replacing SMU’s existing voicemail system with unified messaging. Voicemail delivered to the in-box, voice-to-text transcrip- tion, and text-to-voice for email and calendaring are three improvements that the new system will offer. Discovery and planning stages are underway, and substan- tial progress is expected in 2015.
4