Page 6 - OIT Progress Report: 2024 Edition

I n f ra s t r uc t u re Enhancements from Research to Athletics
From a simple card swipe to unlock a door, to transporting and processing information to help fuel research, the Infrastructure Services team at OIT works diligently to provide top-tier systems and service to all aspects of university operations. Supporting ever-increasing research ambitions along with the recent move of SMU Athletics to the Atlantic Coast Conference and everything in between, multiple initiatives have been underway to continue to provide cutting-edge, powerful, and secure infrastructure resources.
Several major initiatives are underway to upgrade our existing routing and switching equipment in every building on campus and beyond campus. These efforts will culminate in the final retirement of legacy routing infrastructure, paving the way for a new generation of features and abilities that we can capitalize on in the future. Additionally, we are implementing a change to our IP addressing schemes. While new buildings on campus have been receiving private IP addresses for devices for several years, work is underway to provide private IP addresses to each printer and desktop computer in existing buildings for enhanced security of devices and data.
Significant effort was made this year to prepare for a new service platform for our phone system and our server environments. These efforts are not yet complete, but represent a significant amount of time, effort, and careful planning. The
teams have been working diligently to prepare our environment to migrate from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. This includes major changes to the underlying architecture and new devices deployed across campus. The deployment began during the summer of 2024 and will complete in early Fall. Additionally, work began this year on preliminary analysis toward providing services through the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
Major multi-faceted projects are underway to transition our residential commons to key-free ID card locks. This provides a popular and convenient way for students to access their residence without a physical key that can be lost and is costly to replace. This effort coincides with other actions
on campus to improve physical security with the Alertus mass notification system, which works alongside building security systems for timely alerts to campus during emergency situations or when locking down physical buildings. Working together with Risk Management and the SMU Police Department, these efforts help provide safety, comfort, and peace of mind for when the worst may happen.
The Infrastructure team plays an important
role in the design and construction of network infrastructure within new and renovated structures. One of the largest of these projects over the past year has been the Cox School of Business
4 OIT PROGRESS REPORT 2024