Minor Works

Semester breaks are traditionally the time the Technical Services Unit can focus on longer-term projects, when demands from staff tend to less than during teaching periods.

This year the break between Semesters 1 and 2 is being used to start the project to move Divisional servers to a new, separate server facility. The first stage of the project is minor works in the new server room to prepare it for the servers. Climate control adequate for the equipment to go into the room is being installed, access provided to the Technical Services Unit Helpdesk work area, and network connections provided to join the new facility to the University computer network.

There will be some noise and other activities associated with the work over the break, but no interruptions to services are expected. Once the minor works are completed new equipment replacing end-of-life gear in the old server room will be installed and commissioned in the new server room during Semester 2. Once this equipment is operational the older equipment will be decommissioned. The equipment still in use will be moved to the new room after the end of Semester 2.

Relocation of the Division’s server room

The Division's server rack is moving to its own room.

Following a successful bid for Minor Works support, the Division’s server will be moved over the period between the mid-year break and the end of the year.

This year’s IT Infrastructure Fund loan provides for the replacement of some of the Division’s IT infrastructure that has or will become end-of-life by September 2006. New equipment to replace the Division’s Network Attached Storage device, tape backup system, Uninterruptible Power Supply, and print server will be installed in the new server room and commissioned before the old gear is taken out of service.

Relocation of other equipment will be scheduled to provide least disruption to end-users and may not be completed until mid-November, after the end of the academic year.

Divisional staff and students who may be affected will be consulted to ensure the changeover is smooth.

If everything goes to plan end-users should not notice any difference in their work environment, but behind the scenes there will be greater capacity and more reliable services. The new server room provides technical staff with much easier access to the server equipment where required and will make it easier and more efficient for them to look after the gear. It also moves the equipment out of their day-to-day workspace so they will enjoy quieter and more comfortable working conditions.

Move to Building 9

After many years of discussions, the Division has successfully swapped space in Building 2 for space in Building 9.

The decision to swap Divisional space in Building 2 with Category A space in Building 9 has some impact on the Technical Services Unit: between 1 and 12 November all the Division's equipment and materials will have to be removed from Building 2 and either disposed of or relocated.

We have no storage space in the Division, so most items no longer in use will have to be dumped: this particularly has an impact on the School of Languages and International Education, by far the greatest user of the space. School staff should ensure, by 1 November, that arrangements are made to keep any items currently in Building 2 to be retained: anything not claimed will be disposed of then.

IELTS testing

Some of the space in Building 2 to be handed back to Facilities and Services has been used for IELTS testing. At this stage there are no plans to replicate the facilities elsewhere in the Division, so alternative arrangements will need to be made for any future IELTS testing.

Timetabling

The Division is unlikely to have the funds in 2005 to replace the Information Management lab computers, which are well beyond their replacement dates. Any classes that were to be using the Information Management lab next year will have to be rescheduled into Building 10 or other Divisional labs.

All other classes currently timetabled in Building 2, apart from the Languages Computer lab which will move to Building 9 in November 2004, will be rescheduled into newly refurbished Category A rooms in Building 2 to be completed over the 2004-2005 summer break. It is also hoped to move any classes currently scheduled into the Category A spaces in Building 9 to refurbished Building 2 spaces, leaving the rooms in Building 9 available for short term bookings until the reorganisation can take place there.

Minor Works

The Division put in an ambit minor works bid to spend $175,000 in 2005 on refurbishments to Building 9, to repurpose the space from 9B14 through to 9B27 to better suit the current and future needs of the Division. It was proposed that a consultant designer be brought in to work with the various stakeholders in the Division and in Facilities and Services, to come up with a detailed costed proposal which would then be implemented.

Facilities and Services has advised that the proposal is not specific enough to be considered by the Buildings and Site Committee, but has agreed to take forward a proposal for the contracting of a consultant designer to work with the Division and, with Facilities and Services, to come up with a costed plan that would then form the basis for a bid in the 2006 round of minor works proposals.

In the meantime, the Building 2 Languages lab will be moved to Building 9, and some refreshing of other areas would be undertaking late this year or early in 2005.