Technology
American University was one of the first universities in the nation to adopt wireless technology across all campus buildings back in 2001. As a result, AU has been classified as one of the most "unwired" campuses in the U.S. by Intel. In 2004, AU expanded its wireless presence by teaming with T-Mobile to first convert AU into the first HotSpot campus. Then again in 2005, when the Kogod School of Business became the first business school to integrate RSS data services with BlackBerry devices distributed to all graduate business students. Shortly after implementing RSS services, the university began providing podcasts for on-demand educational multimedia, such as lectures, playable on such programs as iTunes and compatible MP3 players as Apple's iPod. The University Library also launched a program whereby its Media Services Department began converting films to digital format for exclusive use by faculty in teaching their coursework for streaming media content.
In 2009, American University identified "employing technology to empower excellence" as an enabling goal of the University's Strategic Plan. There has been a concerted effort by the central Office of Information Technology to consolidate and standardize the IT infrastructure, resulting in a more stable and manageable architecture. Legacy systems have been replaced with industry recognized enterprise-level systems. From 20120-2012, the campus upgraded or replaced the following systems: a new enterprise content management system, a collaboration portal, an enhanced administrative and student information systems, a business intelligence platform, an integrated messaging system, a robust storage area network, a new firewall, and a more customer-friendly network access control.
The campus network infrastructure has been upgraded and modernized, along with a state-of-the-art campus wireless. OIT has reached and even exceeded its goal to maintain at least a 99.9% average for uptime and reliability of our core services, largely through the virtualization of servers and also the establishment of a second data center to address the continuity of operations plan. In 2011, a high-performance computing cluster was created to support advanced computing applications. The university is in the process of piloting virtual computing with the goal of providing students and research faculty access to important software from anywhere, without needing to go to a physical lab.
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Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“Radio put technology into storytelling and made it sick. TV killed it. Then you were locked into somebody else’s sighting of that story. You no longer had the benefit of making that picture for yourself, using your imagination. Storytelling brings back that humanness that we have lost with TV. You talk to children and they don’t hear you. They are television addicts. Mamas bring them home from the hospital and drag them up in front of the set and the great stare-out begins.”
—Jackie Torrence (b. 1944)