This is the deployment, maintenance, and service of the campus end user desktops. This includes creating and updating windows installation for desktops as well as hardware support for the faculty and staff.
Similar to the employee desktops, this involves the Instructional Labs, including diverse platforms such as zero clients, laptops, tablets, and student lab check-in kiosks. These labs carry the additional challenge of varied software, as each curriculum has its own particular unique needs and challenges.
Various parts of the campus have open labs for students or faculty that require maintenance to keep pace with their office or classroom counterparts. We are also called upon to install computers that manage specialized equipment on campus, such as the gas pumps at transportation or the electronic signage found in various locations.
This is the acquisition of new equipment to meet the needs of the college. This includes the creation and adherence to enterprise environment standards as well as standardized equipment for the college. This entails researching the needs of the end user and contacting a vendor with a request. Once a recommendation is made, equipment is vetted by the Tech Services staff to ensure it meets the enterprise requirements of our college.
This is the large scale refreshing of equipment on campus, which applies to all of the areas listed earlier. This is a labor intensive operation and is staggered into four separate upgrade cycles corresponding to the warranty limitations of our hardware, in order to keep all equipment in full service. This entails over 2000 desktop platforms and over 600 mobile platforms that are divided among the four cycles, with roughly a quarter being refreshed each calendar year. It is the most labor and logistically involved parts of our duties, often involving the entire department and consulting with all campus divisions as part of the preparation.