Project Theme: Building Capability

What is the project? The Blue Call Boxes project involves transitioning the approximately 300 Blue Call Boxes (also referred to as blue lights) on campus from analog phone lines to Voice over IP (VoIP). These call boxes are emergency communication devices that automatically dial 911 when activated, connecting the user directly to the UNC public safety center. Why are we doing it? This transition is necessary to maintain the functionality of emergency call boxes across… Read More about Blue Call Boxes: Upgrading Phone Lines.

What is the project? ITS is replacing the current Communicator soft phone software client with new software called “Ping, powered by Clearspan”. This software allows customers to use their desktop or mobile device to make and place phone calls using a UNC phone number.  It can be installed on various operating systems, including Mac, Windows, Android, and Apple devices. This software is particularly useful for remote workers or those without access to a physical office… Read More about Upgrading to Ping: The Next Generation of Soft Phone.

What is it?   ITS is working with the Office of Sponsored Research to calculate, track, and display project burn rates. Project burn rates compare the pace at which funding and awards are spent to the allocated project budget. After calculation, RAM Reports will visually indicate the burn rate, using a color-coded bar with percentages.   Why are we doing it?   This change will enhance data visualization and improve funding management. If the report draws attention to… Read More about RAM Reports: Visualizing Project Burn Rates for Improved Funding Management.

What is it? ITS is transitioning from running Atlassian Confluence and Jira on-premises to the cloud-hosted versions. Confluence is a widely used collaboration tool for managing technical documentation in a wiki format, while Jira is used for project management across various divisions within the organization. To make things simpler and more reliable, we are also switching to Microsoft’s tools called Azure Active Directory (AAD) and Microsoft Authenticator for accessing Confluence and Jira. This is the… Read More about Atlassian Cloud Migration (Confluence and Jira).

The purpose of the project is to put a third-party solution in place to allow UNC-Chapel Hill to do capital budgeting, the annual budgeting cycle and associated reporting across the enterprise. Currently, we use resource-intensive manual processes to do the University’s budgeting. This means we have a reduced ability to properly plan for large capital expenditures. The success of this project will be measured by the ability of the University to handle the annual budgeting… Read More about UNC Budget Tool.

Replace the existing campus wireless services contracts (Neutral Hosting) with a new set of wireless provider (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T) service contracts and implement new campus 5G services. We expect to support a seamless transition away from the current service contract after we establish the contracts and new funding model. The project includes new 5G services and new positions (people and roles) to manage the services on campus. The end result is providing reliable outdoor… Read More about 5G and Wireless Service.

ITS continues to install high-speed fiber connections throughout campus, making our networks faster and more reliable. Projects underway include: Curtis Media Center: This new run of fiber will connect the Curtis Media Center with Carmichael Arena and Memorial Hall. School of Medicine: This project added a new fiber backbone from ITS Manning to MacNider Hall. It will also move the tier one location from Isaac M. Taylor Hall to Marsico Lung Institute. Completion date: Fall… Read More about Fiber Projects.

The NetApp AltaVault is reaching the end of its life cycle in December 2023. We need a replacement solution to move identified data off-premise for specified time periods. The replacement solution will be an automated tool that: moves data from on-premise to off-premise, logs the process and expires the data at the appropriate time, allows us to retrieve the data and restore it on-premise when required, and have a cost model that fits the ITS… Read More about AltaVault Replacement (NetApp CBS).

The life cycle of the current Cisco UCS* hardware, purchased in 2015, is coming to an end.  The current hardware does not have modern compute speed, and, as it ages, is more prone to failure. We plan to migrate all work loads to the new server blades by the end of the 2022. *Unified Computing System

This project will implement the ServiceNow Asset Management module. The ServiceNow Asset Management module will be responsible for managing the life cycle of end-point device hardware assets for ITS and SOM Managed Desktop Services groups. Standardizing tracking and reporting on the data attributes relating to ownership, status and location of hardware assets will be helpful to our teams. Benefiting our clients by allowing IT to identify the most at-risk end-point devices in a department that… Read More about ServiceNow Asset Management.

This project will migrate Research Computing’s technical documentation off of the ITS WordPress site. The project will also refresh the content, making it easier to find and read.

The Mass Storage system (also known as StorNext or /ms) is used for archiving research data files and storing very large files, files that are too large to fit within an individual researcher’s or a department’s storage space. This project will move the Mass Storage system to the next generation of hardware.