Three Upcoming Changes
- Tech Tools to support Remote Work
- Windows 7 is end-of-life January 14th
- New “VoIP” phone system rollout continuing in winter term
Tech Tools to support Remote Work
The new Remote Work policy, which was announced at the President’s Quarterly Meeting, adds complexity to Carleton’s technology infrastructure and raises the need for data security awareness among those who will be working off-campus.
As announced, employees will be expected to connect to Carleton via a Virtual Private Network (aka VPN). This tool allows information to be transmitted with the same security protocols as if you were on campus. We also want to remind Dropbox and Drive users that there are ways to ensure that documents reside in the cloud rather than on your local machine.
There are also tools available to enhance your productivity while working off-site. For example, you may want to learn more about videoconferencing through Google Meet and Zoom. And you might want to learn how to forward your office phone to ring on a home or cell phone during work hours. An upgrade to the phone system in the spring will bring some new features for phone forwarding.
ITS will be offering training sessions on these topics in December. Those events will be announced on our ITS calendar and in the Carleton Weekly.
Windows 7 end-of-life January 14th
If you are running a Windows 7 machine – at work or at home – you need to make plans for how to upgrade, replace or isolate that computer. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 in January 2015, with extended support running till 14 January 2020. That’s less than 2 months from now. ITS has been working with some individuals and departments to decide the appropriate path forward, and will be reaching out to others in December. If you are ready to start the conversation now, please contact Rebecca Barkmeier (rbarkmei).
New “VoIP” phone system rollout continuing in Winter Term
As part of the design of the science construction, Carleton made the decision to have phone traffic travel on the same Ethernet cables as computer traffic. Running one set of wires instead of two saved roughly $200K in cable and installation cost in the science complex. That approach was made possible by the use of “Voice over IP” (VoIP) technology. Carleton is going to continue the rollout of VoIP phones over Winter and Spring terms.
This project has several benefits. First, our current analog phone system (aka PBX) is antiquated. Moving to VoIP avoids the risk of using a service that is being supported with a “best effort” approach by our vendor and the cost of maintaining and upgrading a system with dwindling analog replacement paths. Second, by moving away from the PBX, we can remove the telephone equipment from the Laird basement and its tunnels which will make room for the new hot and chilled water feeds into the redesigned (and soon-to-be air conditioned) building. Third, VoIP technology offers new features such as easier movement of phones around campus (pick up the phone and plug in to a new location), improved routing of calls to other phone numbers for planned or as-needed uses, and the ability to answer calls from your computer with a headset rather than a traditional handset.
The transition will be managed on a building-by-building basis. It will be largely invisible to the campus since phone numbers won’t change, and most people will continue to use a handset. If you have any questions about this project, please contact Dan Stephans (dstephans), Director of Systems & Infrastructure.