To better serve the university and leverage scarce resources, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides a Campus LAN Support (CLS) unit. This unit is responsible for three key goals:

• Development of a robust, scalable, university-wide LAN infrastructure;
• Provision of secure, reliable, leading-edge, student computing facilities; and
• Deployment and facilitation of PC/Mac-based client-server technology sharing.

Currently CLS serves, for a fee, about 100 departments throughout the university. Emphasis is placed on departmental LAN support, computer lab support, and NetWare, Windows, and Apple fileserver support. They also provide network software distribution and Novell Directory Services administration of more than 75 servers with 12,000 accounts.

Most university units do not need a full-time LAN administrator, nor can they afford one. CLS provides services if and when they are needed, thus saving a department the necessity of providing their own LAN support. Annual contracts are available, and services can also be provided for an hourly fee.

"The technical support of this LAN unit is extremely professional and enhances the productivity and academic offerings of our department," said Dr. Ronald Zeigler, Interim Director, Nyumburu Cultural Center. "Currently we have two departmental computer labs consisting of seventeen workstations. Our professional workstations number six personal computers. In my opinion, the major benefit that a department pays for is the 'peace of-mind' to produce daily/weekly assignments without the major stress of fault tolerance problems."

CLS has provided support to Commuter Affairs and Community Service for the past four years. "The services they offer are perfect for our organization," said Adrienne Wicker Hamcke, Assistant to the Director. "We are large enough that we need networked machines and high-level technical support, but small enough that we don't want to manage these services ourselves with our own IT personnel. Campus LAN Support allows us to use technology effectively and efficiently to get our work accomplished."

CLS also supports the university-wide Network Users Group (UMNUG) of 150 LAN administrators. UMNUG is affiliated with NetWare Users International. They meet monthly to share experiences and to dialogue with specialists. Information about upcoming programs is available online at the UMNUG web site http://www.umnug.umd.edu.

Please visit http://www.oit.umd.edu/cls for more information.

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