Computing and Telecommunication Center

The Computing and Telecommunication Center (CTC) is a service department of the university, providing computing, telephone, and networking services for faculty, staff, and students. The CTC maintains a comprehensive student and fiscal administrative system, consults on microcomputer systems for grants, purchases, and repair; installs network connections; configures and maintains LAN servers for departments and labs; designs and maintains mediated classrooms; manages media and computer equipment checkout; provides Internet dialup services for off-campus users; hosts Internet web services; and trains users for essential administrative and academic systems. The central administrative system feeds data to a data warehouse used for decision support. Students access their transcripts, demographic data, course data, and financial data using the World Wide Web. Virtual College students enroll using the web. The CTC supports Lotus Notes, a campus-wide e-mail system, calendar, and workgroup computing system. The CTC is designing a new portal functionality for the administrative system to provide more personalized access to and more self-service functionality with administrative data.

The campus network is an Ethernet network running on a Gigabit backbone. Off-campus users may choose to access this network and the Internet by dialing into a bank of modems hosted by the CTC or through commercial broadland services. The CTC is expanding with wireless hot spots across campus. Currently, students access wireless data in the Memorial Union, Forsyth Library, Davis Hall, parts of Tomanek Hall, and will soon have access in Rarick Hall and Picken Hall. FHSU is upgrading its Avaya g3r telephone switch to enable it to provide Voice over IP and potentially wireless VOIP services. FHSU works closely with Kanren who has established a point of presence at FHSU with a new Gigabit connection to the Great Plains Network gigapop (for Internet 2) in Kansas City.

Located in Tomanek Hall, the CTC manages three open computing labs, a student helpdesk, and the campus switchboard services on the first floor. The CTC plays an active role in the Regents Information Technology Council, a group that helps coordinate computing efforts of universities across the state, and in ITAB, a state-wide Information Technology Advisory Board.