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Voice and Data Services

Eduroam… WOW!

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Did you know that your status as a member of the UC Irvine community gives you access to hundreds of wireless networks around the USA and the world?

Eduroam is a service that lets users at various institutions use one another’s networks by sending a permission request back to the home campus.  Once enabled, users often report surprise when their devices connect intelligently – and without prompting – to Eduroam sites away from home.

One key thing about Eduroam is that you must configure it on campus before using it anywhere else.

How can you get started with Eduroam? Have a look at the set up instructions from OIT: http://www.oit.uci.edu/eduroam/

If you run into any trouble the OIT Help Desk is ready to help: oit@uci.edu, x42222, or via our new Help Center.

Campus Radio System Upgrade

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Originally called the 800MHz Radio System, the Campus Radio System is the UCI approved radio system for campus. It is used for our day to day operations, special events and emergency communications. The system was over 20 years old prior to the upgrade.

The Campus Radio System has been upgraded to a standards-based P25 700/800MHz digital radio system.  We have augmented our six 800MHz channels with four new 700MHz channels for increased capacity.  The new system provides digital voice communications, encryption security, new radio models, and IP-based features.

To enable compatibility with the new radio system, our customers’ portable and mobile radios were replaced with new units or upgraded to provide digital radio communications with clearer, static-free voice transmission.

We will continue to support our Campus Radio System with a focus on availability and reliability.  In addition, we will be introducing new features and functionality (such as integration with smartphones) and working with each radio user group to understand your needs and interest in the new options.

We are in the process of updating our radio website content to include our new naming convention, new hardware requirements, repair procedures, training documents and user manuals.  Technical details about the radio upgrade are available on the OIT website.

OIT Does That?

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OIT is a diverse organization, responsible for many campus services.  This is the first in a series of articles highlighting OIT activities you may not be aware of.

OIT Operators

Campus Operator

When anyone “calls UCI,” they reach the campus operator, who cheerfully answers questions, gives directions, or figures out the person or department the caller needs.

Led by Gayle Bonham, the operator staff includes a group of bright and friendly students ensuring callers to UCI have a good impression of the campus.

Gayle has worked for UCI for 25 years, starting as a temp, then working for the Medical Center before coming to OIT.  Her favorite part of the job is getting to know people all around the campus.  She says, “I enjoy helping people and putting a smile on their face.”

If you need help reaching someone at UCI by phone, call 824-5011, and Gayle or her “angels” will direct you to the right place.

UCI Lightpath: a High-Speed Network for Research

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lightpathOIT has built a dedicated high-performance network infrastructure that can help meet the needs of researchers requiring the transfer of a large quantity of data within and beyond campus. This network is called UCI Lightpath which is funded by a Grant from National Science Foundation Campus Cyberinfrastructure – Network Infrastructure Engineering Program (NSF CC-NIE)

UCI Lightpath is composed of a Science DMZ with a 10 Gbps connection to the science and research community on the Internet, and a dedicated 10 Gbps network infrastructure on campus.  A science DMZ is a portion of the network that is designed so that the equipment, configuration, and security policies are optimized for high-performance scientific applications rather than for general-purpose business systems or “enterprise” computing.

The initial infrastructure covers eight campus locations including the OIT Data Center where computing clusters, such as HPC and Greenplanet reside.  The UCI Lightpath network infrastructure is separate from the existing campus network (UCINet.)  The diagram shows the current status of the UCI Lightpath.

For more information of UCI Lightpath and its access policy, please refer to OIT website http://www.oit.uci.edu/network/lightpath/

 

UCI’s Internet Connections Upgraded

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connectivityOIT recently improved UCI’s connection to the Internet, increasing bandwidth from 6 Gbps (billion bits per second) to 20 Gbps. This upgrade enhances connections from the main campus, UCI Medical Center, and the residential network. The upgrade provides faster network access both to the research Internet and the general commodity Internet.

UCI connects to the Internet via CENIC, a regional network service provider providing Internet connections to California research and education organizations. CENIC provides two connections for the campus: CalREN-HPR and CalREN. CalREN-HPR supplies researchers with high-speed connectivity to other research networks, such as Internet2 and the Energy Science Network (ESnet). CalREN provides general Internet commodity services.

Last July, when OIT began work on the UCI Lightpath project, our CalREN-HPR network connection was upgraded from 1Gbps to 10Gbps with a 1Gbps diversified backup link. (Lightpath is a dedicated science network funded by the National Science Foundation). This February, our CalREN general Internet connection was upgraded from five 1Gbps connections to a 10Gbps connection.

OIT is also working with CENIC to establish additional fiber infrastructure between UCI and UCLA which will enable us to upgrade our diversified backup paths from 1Gbps to higher bandwidth. Our goal is to upgrade both backup links of CalREN-HPR and CalREN to 10Gbps in the near future.