August 16, 2007 : Network Upgrade
Last night, we completed the upgrade of several closet switches. These new switches are Cisco 3750s replacing the previous Cisco 2924s that were originally installed prior to 1999. This new generation of switches are significantly more capable than the ones they replaced. They offer greater speed and intelligence and allow us to run more sophisticated and network-resource-hungry applications.

This switch upgrade, coming on the heels of our recent upgrade to the network core, means that our network infrastructure is now significantly enhanced from end-to-end. But we are not quite done yet. Several months ago, working in collaboration with the facilities staff, we started installing new, higher-capacity fiber connecting the closets directly to the network core. We expect to have all of this new fiber connected shortly.

July 9, 2007 : IT Staffing Change
Eric Zhou has joined the Colleague team as a Jr. Programmer/Analyst . Eric recently graduated with a Masters in Computer Science from Drexel University. He also holds a Bachelors degree from William Patterson University. His skill set includes JAVA, C/C++, SQL and PERL. Eric also speaks Mandarin.

We look forward to him becoming a valued member of the team.

July 3, 2007 : Significant Network Update
At about 9pm, we completed a very significant upgrade of our network infrastructure. The supervisor engine in our core switch was upgraded to the 720 engine. Keeping the chassis, we swapped out the guts of the device (power supplies, supervisor engine, the older modules, the fan unit, etc.) and replaced them with newer and more-capable ones. This upgrade will allow the Juilliard network to operate at much higher speeds and increased level of intelligence -- once we fully start to take advantage of its new capabilities.

June 22, 2007 : Network outage
Starting at about 1pm, the core network switch failed leading to disruptions in Internet connectivity. Users at the College were unable to connect to the Internet while users on the outside were unable to reach resources including e-mail. The issues was finally resolved at approximately 3pm. A new, upgraded supervisor engine is scheduled to be installed on that switch giving it much greater capability than it currently has. We expect that this new engine will prevent such problems going forward.

June 5 , 2007 : Inbound traffic network issue
An electrical shutdown has been scheduled for this weekend, beginning Saturday at 2 pm and ending Sunday at 2 pm.  In order to protect hardware and your own files, IT asks that those of you working at desktops within the building remember to shut their PCs down before leaving for the weekend.  Network services will cease shortly before 2 pm Saturday and will recommence shortly after 2 pm Sunday.  During this inactive period, email sent to Juilliard may be returned to the sender.  Though the rose building will continue to have electrical power, the resnet network and the 19th floor computer lab will not have network connectivity for the duration of the outage. The wireless network will also be unavailable.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

May 18, 2007 : Inbound traffic network issue
Our ISP is currently experiencing an issue that is causing scattered network traffic delays when connecting to network resources from outside the building.  The problem is being investigated by their technicians. In the meantime, you may notice some slowness when connecting to any of our remote access services (outlook, citrix, etc) from outside the school. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

May 9,2007 : IT Staffing Changes
Christopher Downes has joined the IT staff as the
Technical Support Specialist – Mac. In this position, Christopher is responsible for managing all Juilliard-owned Mac resources, providing Music Technology support and overseeing the operation of Juilliard’s Angel course management system. Christopher is a graduate of NYU where he obtained a Bachelor of Music in Music Technology. Before coming to Juilliard, he was a Network Administrator at Metropolitan Research Associates. Christopher has provided audio engineering for various jazz and classical ensembles and has also been a sound designer for films.

Jeremy Pinquist, currently Juilliard’s Network Manager and longest-serving member of the IT staff, is being promoted to
IT Manager, Network and Operations. In his new role, Jeremy will continue to oversee all aspects of the operation of Juilliard’s network and the various services offered on it. He also takes on responsibility for other aspects of IT operations including managing the User Support Group. As part of the ongoing redevelopment project, several important network upgrades are in the works that will significantly increase the quality of service offered. Jeremy assumes an even larger role in the planning and provisioning of these new and improved IT services to a larger number of users. Jeremy has a Bachelor’s degree in biology from SUNY Binghamton and is both a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

May 8, 2007: Colleague on the Web
We are pleased to announce that going forward, you may now securely access Colleague from any web browser anywhere. Simply type in the address: https://ui.juilliard.edu/ from within the building or outside it and you are brought to a login prompt. Provide your regular Colleague login credentials and you will have the entire Colleague suite available to you.

You may want to bookmark this address. Note the "s" in the https and a padlock image near the address line. This denotes a secure (encrypted) connection between our server and your browser. Please note that 5 failed login attempts will cause your account to be locked out for one hour. If this happens either wait for the hour to expire or contact the helpdesk (x7121 or helpdesk@juilliard.edu). Web UI is marginally slower than regular UI but is a great tool for casual or remote Colleague users.