ITSS home : Policies : Recommended Solutions

Recommended Solutions provides advice to the campus regarding acquisition of hardware and software.

It is not the intention of Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS) to stifle innovation and creativity by rigid application of standards, but rather to provide guidance for purchase decisions and clarification of support available from ITSS. View the details of our policy and rationale along with our Recommended Solutions for hardware, network, and software through the links below.

Policy and Rationale

Purpose

Information Technology Systems and Services uses recommended solutions for technological hardware, network, and software to accomplish a number of goals:

• Give advice to the campus community regarding acquisition of hardware and software.
• Provide centralized training for primary supported packages.
• Allow for efficiency in the stocking of parts and obtaining of volume discounts.
• Decrease effective costs of all operations by improving the compatibility of information and staff training throughout the campus.
• Select software that is compatible on as many standard hardware platforms as possible.
• Avoid inefficiency that arises when a campus purchases, supports, and maintains multiple products that duplicate one another.
• Increase productivity of Information Technology Systems and Services staff by limiting the number of hardware and software platforms they must support and helping us to set priorities.
• Clarify for the Information Technology Systems and Services staff what levels of support they must provide to customers.

Guidelines

We propose the following guidelines for retaining flexibility in the maintenance of our recommended solutions:

• Define levels of support to make it clear to both the campus and to the Information Technology Systems and Services staff how we assist the campus.
• Tie our recommended solutions to Information Technology Systems and Services mission, vision, and goals.
• Tie support levels to rate schedules. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/rates/
• Define and implement processes for ongoing updates to the recommended solutions in order to keep them current.
• Work with individuals or departments to assist them with special needs that may not be directly reflected in the recommended solutions.

Support Levels

A complete description of each service level is given below:

Primary:

Hardware approved for connection to the network; hardware maintenance and local warranty work available; basic-features support provided through the Help Desk, ITSS staff and ITSS students; high priority for Information Technology Systems and Services staff.

Developing:

Under investigation by Information Technology Systems and Services staff; testing done by staff and selected members of the campus community; Help Desk, ITSS staff and ITSS student assistance may or may not be available; moderate priority for Information Technology Systems and Services staff.

Diminishing:

Information Technology Systems and Services staff assists customers in moving to new platforms; customers discouraged from purchases; Help Desk assistance likely to be available; low priority for Information Technology Systems and Services staff. Customers should plan for replacement. Requests for service may be refused.

Specialized Academic:

Limited training may be provided by Information Technology Systems and Services; academic departments asked to contribute to costs and to provide training and support for students; Help Desk assistance minimal; lab consultant assistance minimal; limited hardware maintenance after warranty period at cost of time and materials; moderate priority for Information Technology Systems and Services staff.

Specialized Administrative:

Training shared with Student Support Services, Business Office, and other support units on campus; specialized programming available from Information Technology Systems and Services staff; some Help Desk assistance available; lab consultant assistance nonexistent; high priority for a small number of Information Technology Systems and Services staff.

Revisions and Updates

It is important that UMD remain current in computing systems and skills. Information Technology Systems and Services will update this "Recommended Solutions" document frequently throughout the year in an effort to make it a useful tool for the UMD campus community.

If you have suggestions for additions or revisions, please send them to Sally Bradt (sbradt).

Network Solutions

On-campus Network Connections

ITSS provides both wired and wireless access on campus. All network hardware must be purchased and installed by ITSS.

• Physical: Twisted Pair Ethernet (primary)
• Wireless: 802.11 b/g (primary)
  ITSS will install wireless access points in campus buildings as requested by UMD departments, in accordance UMD network policies and with the technical specifications listed below.

Dial-Up Services

To connect to the UMD Campus network from off campus, ITSS recommends using a third party broadband provider such as Charter or Qwest. If one is not available, then ITSS does offer modem dialup service supporting 33.6-56k baud access.

• Dialup (modem) computing

VPN (Virtual Private Network) Access

VPN lets you make a secure connection to a University computer from an off-campus, non-UMD connection (for example, cable or DSL modem). When you use UMD's VPN service, it makes your computer appear as though it is directly attached to UMDNet, and provides the same security and access to restricted resources that you have while on campus.

• VPN client for Windows, Mac OSX, Solaris, and Linux

Hardware Solutions

Hardware Maintenance

Information Technology Systems and Services tries, whenever possible and cost-effective, to provide hardware maintenance and warranty work on campus for hardware in the primary support category. This benefits the campus community by making it more convenient to get equipment repaired. Where possible, we negotiate lower initial pricing on hardware in exchange for doing the warranty work on campus. Information Technology Systems and Services also provides trouble-shooting assistance and repair work for non-standard hardware on a time-and-materials basis.

For further information, see our Computer Maintenance web page.

Desktop Computing Equipment

The University can provide more efficient service and better pricing by limiting the number of vendors we work with. Currently ITSS recommends the following vendors for laptops and/or desktops:

• Dell (primary)
• Gateway (primary)
• Apple (primary)

In general, ITSS recommends that our customers use the most current operating system (OS) that is stable for the platform (Windows, Mac, Unix), which is not necessarily the most current OS. Recommendations are:

• Windows XP Professional (primary)
• Macintosh System OSX (primary)
• Windows Vista (developing)
• Unix (Solaris, Linux) (specialized academic and administrative)
• Unix FreeBSD (specialized academic and administrative)
• Windows 2000 Pro (diminishing)
• Macintosh System OS9 (diminishing)

Servers

For departments considering purchase of servers and expecting ITSS support, we recommend purchase of the same type of systems owned and operated by ITSS. Contact Dan Burrows (dburrows) for further information on these servers:

• UNIX/Linux (primary)
• Novell Netware 6.5 (primary)
• Windows 2003 (primary)
• Apple XServe (developing)

Printers, Scanners

Printer and scanner models and features change frequently. The basic requirement is full network capability. Before purchasing a new printer or scanner, we recommend that you contact ITSS Maintenance or the Computer Corner for the current specification.

Current recommendation:

• Hewlett-Packard laser printers/scanners with full ethernet capabilities (primary)
• Other laser printers or inkjet printers (specialized academic and administrative)
• Other scanners (specialized academic and administrative)
• Xerox Network Printers/Copiers (specialized academic and administrative)

Personal Digital Assistants

New PDAs arrive on the market daily. If you are considering purchasing a PDA, note that the email client must use secure IMAP settings.

In general, ITSS supports the following PDAs:

• Palm OS-based PDAs, Treos/Smart Phones (primary)
• Microsoft Pocket PC-based PDAs, Treos/Smart Phones (primary)

Student Response Systems (SRS)

Student Response Systems (SRS) - also called "clickers" - are small handheld devices coupled with receiving hardware and presentation software. The system allows an instructor to present questions, usually via a computer projector, and collect student answers immediately during the lecture. The results can generally be manipulated and displayed immediately and can be used to change the course of the lecture. For details see: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/classroom/srs.html

Current recommendation:

• Turning Point Technologies (primary)

Adaptive Technology

Adaptive equipment is available in ITSS student computer labs. For more information on adaptive technology and services, contact Disability Services & Resources.

• Adaptive Software locations (specialized academic and administrative)

Software Solutions - Desktop

The University and ITSS provide a variety of Windows, Macintosh and Unix-based software to students, faculty and staff. The software is offered in a number of ways: thru the Novell office and lab servers, central systems, site licenses, web downloads, and CDs.

Site Licenses

Site licenses often take a variety of forms, ranging from unlimited access to one license per machine. Information Technology Systems and Services will try to negotiate special site licenses for software where possible in cooperation with the UMD Stores. Whenever possible, discounted rates for software and hardware will be made available to the campus at large in cooperation with University Stores and OIT.

For a detailed listing of software available for students, faculty, and staff, please see: Software.

Adaptive Software

• Adaptive software available in ITSS Computer Labs (specialized academic and administrative)

Calendar Software

• UMCal / Oracle Calendar (primary)
• SyncML (primary)
• Outlook Calendar (diminishing)

Databases (desktop)

• Access 2003 for Windows (primary)
• FileMaker Pro 5.0 (primary)
• Access 2007 for Windows (developing)

Desktop publishing

• Microsoft Publisher 2003 (primary)
• InDesign (primary)
• Microsoft Publisher 2007 (developing)
• Pagemaker 6.5 and higher for Mac and Windows (diminishing)
• LaTeX and TeX (specialized academic/diminishing)

Email

• Mulberry 3.1.6 Secure or higher for Windows, Mac, Linux and SunRay (primary)
• UMD WebMail (primary)
• Outlook (primary)
• MacOSX mail (primary)
• Other electronic mail programs which use the IMAP Protocol - POP is not recommended (specialized academic and administrative) For example:
  • Outlook Express
  • Entourage
  • Netscape Mail
  • Eudora
  • Thunderbird
• Pine on central Unix systems (diminishing)

File Transfer (ftp, terminal emulation)

All non-UMD ethernet or dial-in connections should use secure email and ftp clients or use UMD's VPN service to secure the entire connection.

• Windows:
  • Hummingbird Host Explorer for cufs access (primary)
  • QVTTerm SSH 4.2 for cufs access (primary)
  • WinSCP for secure ftp (developing)
  • X Windows and X_Win32 (specialized academic)
  • QVTTerm SSH 4.2 for cufs access (diminishing)
  • QWS 3270 v.3F for cufs access (diminishing)
  • WS_FTP for non secure file transfer (diminishing)
• Macintosh:
  • TN 3270 for remote connections (primary)
  • FETCH for file transfer (diminishing)
• Linux
  • Putty SSH (primary)

Geographic Information Science (GIS)

GIS data creation, update, query, mapping, and analysis system is available via a site license.

• ESRI ArcInfo and ArcView (specialized)

Graphics and Multimedia Tools

• Adobe PhotoShop (primary)
• PhotoShop Elements (primary)
• Flash (primary)
• iMovie (specialized academic)
• Final Cut Pro (specialized academic)

Mathematical and Statistical Tools

• SPSS 15 for Windows and Unix 6.1 (primary)
• Maple (specialized academic)
• Mathematica (specialized academic)
• Matlab (specialized academic)
• SAS (specialized academic)
• S+ (specialized academic)

Presentation

• Powerpoint 2003 for Windows (primary)
• Powerpoint 2004 for Mac (primary)
• Powerpoint 2007 for Windows (developing)
• Open Office Presentation for SunRay and Windows (diminishing)

Spreadsheets

• Excel 2003 for Windows (primary)
• Excel 2004 for Mac (primary)
• Excel 2007 for Windows (developing)
• Open Spreadsheet for SunRay and Windows (diminishing)

Utilities

• Winzip for Windows for file compressing/uncompressing (primary)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader for displaying PDF files (primary)
• PrintKey 2000 for Windows to print the active window (primary)

Virus & Spyware Detection

• Symantec Anti-Virus for Mac and PC (primary)
• Spybot (primary)
• Microsoft Defender (primary)
• Ad-Aware for personal use only (specialized)

Word Processing

• Word 2003 for Windows (primary)
• Word 2004 for OSX (primary)
• Word 2007 for Windows (developing)
• Word 2001 for OS9 (diminishing)
• Word Perfect for Windows and Mac OS (diminishing)
• Open Office Text Document for SunRay and Windows (diminishing)

Web Browsing

• Internet Explorer 6.x Windows (primary)
• Safari for Macintosh OSX (primary)
• FireFox (primary)
• Internet Explorer 7.x Windows (developing)
• Internet Explorer 5.1 Macintosh (diminishing)

Web Publishing

• Dreamweaver (primary)
• Contribute (primary)
• Microsoft Frontpage 2007 (developing)

Software Solutions - Server

Class Management Tools

Technology resources for faculty and staff can be found at http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/facstaff

• Web Crossing (primary)
• Test Pilot (primary)
• Class Aliases (primary)
• Moodle (primary)
• Portfolio (primary)
• WebVista 3/4 (primary)
• Webdrop (primary)
• eGradebook (primary)

Communications Tools

Technology resources for faculty and staff can be found at http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/facstaff

• Jabber (primary)
• UMConnect (formerly Breeze) (primary)
• Uthink (primary)
• Podcasting (developing)
• UMWiki (developing)

Compilers, Interpreters, and Languages

• HTML (primary)
• Java (specialized academic and administrative)
• JavaScript (specialized academic and administrative)
• Perl (specialized academic and administrative)
• PHP (specialized academic and administrative)
• C and C++ (specialized academic)
• COBOL (specialized academic)
• FORTRAN (specialized academic)
• Visual Studio.Net Professional (specialized academic)

Databases (server-based)

• MySQL (primary)
• Oracle (specialized academic and administrative)

Network File Access

• Novell for Mac and Windows (primary)
• Samba for Windows and Mac OS X (primary)
• NFS for Unix (primary)
• NetFiles (developing)

Text Editors (Unix)

• Pico (primary)
• Emacs (specialized academic)
• nedit (specialized academic)
• vi (specialized administrative and academic)

Software Solutions - Student Computer Labs

Lab Software

For a complete list of all the software available for students on lab servers, see http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/labs/software/

Most primary software is available in full-service laboratories supported by Information Technology Systems and Services. Some specialized academic software is available or can be added upon request. Some software is available in selected labs only. Some software is specific to a particular hardware platform and is therefore not available on other platforms.

Faculty may request that software be added to the lab server or that software on the lab server be added to the office server. See http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/software/requests/ for more information.