UITS is pleased to announce the first true native in-house developed mobile application called “UAEU Mobile APP”. This new mobile app will enable UAEU community to access real time information. This innovative initiative enabled UAEU to be the first institution in the region that has developed a real time mobile app which is integrated with the University Enterprise Systems. UAEU Mobile App optimizes the access to the UAEU Services by delivering contents, and services that allow you to interact with university services anytime anywhere, without limitation, with the fashion of mobile app. It allows you to access the information quickly and easily. Read more

Posted on May 2012

Posted on April 2012

According to the seminar series on “New Technologies in Education”, Ms. Afraa Al Shamsi the CTO from University IT Services presented the “The Role of ICT in Improving the quality and Availability of Higher Education”. The presentation was focused on the role of ICT on human life, Role of ICT in higher education, historical approach of ICT within UAE and UAEU contribution. The presenter also briefly described the current UAEU infrastructure and the current services being provided by UITS. The whole session was much interactive and audience showed a positive feedback and satisfaction against the ICT services within UAEU.  For further details click here

Posted on April 2012

UAEU provides overtime to a specific category of UAEU employees, who have prior approval to work on certain project or task. Overtime process was little bit complicated, employee were required to fill a (manual) form, get it signed by manager and then submit to Time sheet data entry operator in his/her department to enter it in main business application for payment. Based on SG division request and coordination, UITS developed new overtime system. New Overtime system made all these processes very fast and simple. Overtime Submission, approval and payment could be done online. System allows UAEU employees to easily submit and track their overtime hours. In addition, the new service ease the process of managing and tracking of overtime hours and payments for both Human Resources and Finance departments. Overtime system keeps all information of Time sheets entry and approval, which could be then used for reporting purposes.

Posted on February 2012

UAE University, a research institution, host more than 200 websites and 9 domains. For such an environment It was very difficult and complex to maintain the DNS servers and also to take care of the frequent update and patches that were required, UITS began using Infoblox DNS appliances which are purpose-built to manage the University External DNS. Due to Infoblox’s central management, reliability, easy deployment and administrative advantages, the University acquired 4 Infoblox appliances. Infoblox is the best and most reliable solution. Even on the security front, the UITS found it was beneficial to use Infoblox appliances as it prevented the legacy systems from being open to attack. This move provided UAEU with high availability, continuous uptime, reduced administrative overheads and increased visibility. Using Infoblox appliances has provided resiliency and control while reducing error related risk and time-consuming manual tasks. As a result: the University now has reliable, manageable and secure network infrastructure services with DR advantages and IPv6 support for their education and research needs.

Posted on February 2012

To secure UAEU computing infrastructure from external internet threats and to proactively prevent any new security threads being raised on daily basis, UITS implemented a new robust Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) for Perimeter environment. Perimeter IPS performs comprehensive total packet flow inspection through Layer 7 to continually cleanse Internet traffic and accurately eradicate attacks (Worms, Viruses, Trojans, Blended threats, Phishing, Spyware, VoIP Threats, DoS, DDoS, Backdoors, Walk-in Worms, Bandwidth Hijacking) before damage occurs. Perimeter IPS protect UAEU infrastructure against Routers, Switches, External DNS and other devices. The perimeter IPS also blocked Zero-day Initiative (ZDI) threats before vulnerabilities are disclosed to the public. Solution is based on HP Tipping point technology.

Posted on February 2012

To boost up the internet browsing experience for UAEU Community and filter the unwanted internet web traffic, in Feb-2012 UITS upgraded its internet caching solution.The technology is based on Blue Cat Proxy. Blue Coat Proxy SG provides a secure web gateway for a network in a bidirectional forward proxy setup. Improve network performance and optimization through bandwidth management and proxy caching. The Proxy SG is placed as transparent for internet traffic and act as a filter for traffic monitoring and control.

Posted on February 2012

Earlier, When any employee leave the UAEU, different department like HR/ Employee Department/ Immigration/ Health/ IT/ Housing...etc. Were supposed to sign off clearance form and communicate it to finance to proceed with final End of Service payment. Then finance were supposed to do a complicated calculations before finalizing the end of service payment. This all communication, updates and calculations were done manually which obviously required lots of effort and time. Based on SG division request and coordination, UITS automated all End of Service Clearance and payment processes. As different departments are involved in the clearance process, this system centralize the EOS processes, reduce processing time, and lots of paper works. Also, a part of this system, an online calculator has been provided for the employees to calculate their approximated gratuity with all benefits and liabilities. This system is fully integrated with core business ERP and keeps all relevant information at central database. UITS is maintaining and supporting this product and providing data for reporting purposes.

Posted on January 2012

In January 2012, while extending the functionality of End-User Computing Resources Management solution, UITS implemented the phase-2 of SCCM. Within this phase we initiated the assets intelligent module of SCCM. This implementation enabled us to have the collection of our desktop resources which are over 6000 client at a centralized location. With the help of assets intelligent module we are able to categorize, manage and control our clients, to collect hardware and software inventory, licensing management, reporting, forecasting and further more we can use this collection for software distribution and OS deployment. This initiative will enable UITS support team in many ways in their routine support and maintenance jobs. Will provide administrators with continuous visibility into what type of hardware and software assets we have, who is using them and where they are located and support them remotely.

Posted on January 2012

UITS is pleased to launch online LiveChat Servcie as a a part of continues support to our UAEU Community  to start chat Click here

Posted on January 2012

Remote Assistance tool that enables instant, secure, and trouble-free connections between your computers and to IT Support Team within UAEU infrastructure.Read more

Posted on January 2012

The New Campus project included also a Fax server solution that can cover the entire Fax needs from a centralized solution. UITS developed the service for entire University. The service is integrated with Active Directory for authentication and access control.

Posted on December 2011

UITS ? EAI Group gave a presentation at SunGard Middle East User Group Conference (SMEUG 2011) on a system that was developed in-house. Following is a brief description on this: Previously if a UAEU employee required access to UAEU ERP system (also known as Banner), s/he had to complete a paper form, get required departmental approval, forward it to appropriate system data custodian who then reviews and decide which classes to assign the requester. This form is then passed to UITS helpdesk who in turn creates a ticket to responsible team(s) to create/update the requester's user account per the data custodian's specified permissions. To help speed up the process and grant system data custodian a faster tool to manage user's access to system, UITS ? EAI Group developed a system that allows UAEU employee to submit an online request specifying the type of access required to Banner. This request is then automatically forwarded to requester's manager(s) for approval and afterwards to the appropriate data custodian. The data custodian can then go online and immediately assign the appropriate classes to this requester, who in turn can then access the system right away. And at each stage of the request, the requester can view online the status of the request and will also receive email notifications on status updates. This solution has reduced the overhead on all departments involved in this process, and minimized the timeline considerably. UITS ? EAI Group has also developed ways to allow the data custodians full permission to manage their own system classes and specify the type of access for each form or report (update or query). So overall, this solution has also empowered data custodians more as they are now able to manage their system classes and users at their convenience, and helped UITS ? EAI Group to focus on other core functions.

Posted on December 2011

UITS is pleased to announce the enhanced version of eFax solution called RightFax. RightFax will help fax users to reduce operational cost and save environment by reducing the use of papers, phone lines, modems, stand-alone fax machines and related supplies. The improved RightFax solution will cover all existing, advanced and productive features that will help UAEU fax users in achieving their daily work more effectively. This solution consists of several new features such as MS Outlook Integration, Email Integration, Web Interface, Arabic Language support and Broadcasting Fax.

Posted on December 2011

To maximize the utilization of computing resources, University Information Technology services (UITS) implemented Citrix desktop vitalization solution within UAEU new campus. We virtualized our desktop and related applications to improve usability, consistency and manageability to provide secure, instant access to UAEU IT services. During the past 1 year, UITS worked with the partners to implement the initial phase of desktop virtualization using Citrix enterprise virtualization solution, currently this solution is hosting 350 virtual desktops within the new campus. The virtual desktops are deployed across the campus at open spaces like library, common and public labs. The whole solution is giving the same experience of a normal desktop environment to our valuable students, staff and faculty members while on the other hand it gives us a great opportunity of managing, supporting, maintaining, updating and upgrading all of device with a centralized approach. As a technology we used XenServer, Xendesktop, XenApp and MS server and desktop application UITS is actively working on the next challenge of enhancing the desktop and end-user application virtualization to the rest of academics and research labs within each college.

Posted on December 2011

With the distinctive benefit offered from Microsoft, now UAEU faculty and staff can be a member of Microsoft TechNet Subscription.  Read more

Posted on December 2011

The 7th issuance of UITS newsletter. To read click here

Posted on November 2011

UITS is pleased to announce that we are planning to conduct training session for UAEU faculty and staff to demonstrate an introduction to Microsoft Access 2010. This session will help you get familiar with Microsoft Access and learn many interesting and new features available. The session will be conducted 1 hour daily starting from 31th Oct 2011 and will finish within three days for each candidate in UITS Training Lab.

Posted on October 2011

To continue enjoying Microsoft offers for UAEU University Community, Microsoft E-Learning is Updated and online at Microsoft.com. Read more

Posted on October 2011

As of September 1st, 2011 all central computing systems and large file systems on the Islamic Institute campus have been relocated to the new data center on the new campus with zero IT functions data loss and are all running smoothly. This move was the largest data center relocation in UAEU history and the seamless transition of resources in less than 4 weekends is a testament to UAEU strength in information technology. The relocation was a huge success as all systems were available and functioning when the new academic classes started. It took our team months of planning and preparation. A comprehensive review of the Islamic Institute data center, including a comprehensive inventory of software, hardware, servers, storage and network equipment was undertaken. We defined what equipment and data will be moved, where it will be moved, how it will be moved, when it will be moved, and approximately how long the move will take. The new facility has been built on today technology and provides high speed network connectivity of 10g. It also provides a secure, professionally managed data center to meet the growing information technology needs of academic and administrative units and it houses enterprise-wide academic and administrative services critical to students, faculty, and staff.

Posted on September 2011

UITS is pleased to announce the offering of the video-conferencing service built on new infrastructure. Read more

Posted on September 2011

As a part of increasing security measures for all UAEU users, UITS is in the process of migrating to new anti virus (Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection) Read more

Posted on September 2011

To continue enjoying Microsoft offers for UAEU University Community, Microsoft E-Learning is Updated and online at Microsoft.com. Read more

Posted on September 2011

UAE University IT infrastructure is hosting more than 12000 End-User computing resources which include desktop, laptops and mobile devices. Facilities such as End-user computing assets management, software distribution, OS deployment, licensing management, remote administration and hardware / software inventory are a great challenge within a distributed client infrastructure environment. Considering that, it has been determined that a centralized management solution best fitting with UITS’s strategic direction is Microsoft System Center Configuration Management (SCCM) solution. In August 2011, UITS successfully implemented the MS SCCM solution. SCCM deployment enable UAEU to better control and mange it’s IT infrastructure and assets. In the phase-1 we successfully deployed the MS fore front end-point (FEP) security solution using SCCM across the UAEU campuses. All of the FEB clients are currently being managed centrally via SCCM and all new security patches and deployments are being well managed by it. As a technology we used MS SCCM server, MS windows Server and FEP enterprise security solution. In coming future the SCCM functionality will be enhanced to next level of resource management.

Posted on August 2011

UITS is pleased to announce a new service, which will provide you complete access to your IP Phone throughout the campus If you have an iPhone, you can download the CISCO Mobile App 8.1. Read More

Posted on July 2011

To capture, monitor and to take action against these set of events, UITS implemented Event management solution. These events are being generated and centralized from a large number of devices to this central event management system. The Juniper Network STRM serves as a command and control center for all Security technologies deployed within a UAE University environment. Events from Juniper Networks Firewall, SA Series SSL-VPN and Unified Access Control (UAC) are aggregated in a single location where they can be viewed and queried. Events from different devices that indicate similar or identical security threats are normalized and categorized in order to enable easier analysis.

Posted on May 2011

We are pleased to announce that we are currently in the process of organizing training session to demonstrate the new features and advantages of windows 7. In this session you will learn new features which will assist you in using the system effectively. The Training session is scheduled on daily basis (2:00 PM- 3:00 PM) from Sunday May 29th, 2011 till Thursday June 2nd, 2011 in UITS Training Lab.

Posted on May 2011

As part of our continuous effort to improve UITS services and move close to our customers. UITS extend the IT Helpdesk working hours to align with UAEU academic objectives, the new working hours will be: 7:30 Am - 7:00 PM

Posted on May 2011

We are pleased to announce that UAE University is now fully connected with the United Arab Emirates National Research and Education Network, Ankabut. Ankabut offers high speed connectivity to other local universities and transit to other global research and education networks via Internet2. Internet2 is the networking consortium comprising of 221 universities in the United States with connectivity to other research and education network around the world. Ankabut connectivity which will enable UAE University to be a part of the global scientific research forums. It will encourage collaborative research within UAE and with international universities. UAE University can also be part of a closed community network to offer and utilize real-time services such as voice/video communication, cloud computing, e-learning and library interconnect. UAE University is the first Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) enabled University within the UAE. This will allow us to remain at the forefront of IT service delivery.The whole planning and implementation was completed by UAEU internal IT resources without any third party involvement.

Posted on May 2011

On 22 May 2011, Microsoft Case Study: UAEU Enhances Messaging While Saving IT Time and Cutting Storage Costs. Read more

Posted on May 2011

With the coordination of Vice Chancellor office UITS launched phase II of Alumni Project, the online services are extended to allow alumni to search for their classmates and their colleagues online. Also, they can apply online to receive an ID card and transcripts.

Posted on April 2011

With the coordination of SG division UITS Replace the current paper-base system for requesting/tracking the University Parking Permit with an automated system that allow employees to request it online, submit online all required documents and fully integrate it with University’s enterprise systems. This will reduce overhead work of General Service Department staff.

Posted on March 2011

Migrated the CET website and CET image library solution from MAC based servers to Windows based servers hosted in UITS centralized data center and fully supported and managed by UITS.

Posted on March 2011

With the coordination of publication department UITS implemented an online workflow system to help the printing press to manage their printing jobs and allow users to submit their printing requests online.

Posted on March 2011

With the coordination of iWIL department UITS launched New release of iWIL website that includes new reports, rebranding to new University Brand and integration with my.uaeu portal.

Posted on February 2011

Online Forms are created for departments that want to collect data for their customers. The online forms can process the collected data and send it via email or store it in a central database. Customers can review and extract the collect data in an easy way through the portal.

Posted on January 2011

With the coordination of SG division UITS Develop a web-based system that will allow staff and faculty to track their qualifications and professional development profiles and facilitates managers to view their staff profiles.

Posted on December 2010

UITS has participated in SMEUG 2010 -the Middle East's SunGard premier higher education user conference- which was held in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai during the period December 13th - 14th. Read more

Posted on December 2010

A new research engine to support research initiatives was developed by UITS team. Working collectively with the provost office, the online search engine was built to provide university community and public to search university research interests. The search engine was developed dynamically where users can search and filter based on different criteria’s such as researcher name, research topic, or even search all interests by college.

Posted on October 2010

An initiative taken within UITS team, and due to the evolving technology for mobile computing, the UITS team has built a new portal interface designed specifically for usage in mobile devices. The mobile currently provide information for students, faculties, and staff. The mobile portal will continue to evolve in the future where more services will be added.

Posted on October 2010

UITS implemented online password change solution to allow University community to change their active directory passwords through the web interface, without login to a desktop. Also, this website enforces security measures on password selection which cannot be implemented through Active Directory.

Posted on October 2010

As part of preparing the University of becoming a research institution it was demand to connect the data network to other countries Research and Education Networks. UITS initiated a project that was in conjunction with the New Campus deployment to link the UAE REN (Ankabut) in such a way that will allow anybody on the internal network to access other countries REN. The main challenge was to obtain approval from Etisalat to use a different routing protocol that was not standard for them. For this purpose the University registered with RIPE and this way the University obtain its own IPV6 subnets that will allow the deployment of the new IP version very easy.

Posted on October 2010

It was a challenge for University to keep mailboxes of existing Alumni and ongoing number of graduates every year.  University wants to provide lifelong mailbox to each alumni student. UITS decided to move existing on premises Alumni mailboxes to cloud services because of saving on costs and resources. After assessment we decided to move with Microsoft Live@Edu services. Live@Edu which is a completely free service offered 10GB mailbox size with multiple client connectivity options. One of the main reasons to go with Live@Edu is the tight, transparent and easy integration with our existing on premises Exchange 2007 setup. We successfully moved around 30,000 on premises mailboxes with data to Live@Edu. Again the whole process was very seamless for end users and the whole project implementations were done using internal IT Team without involving any partner. We believe that UAE University?s Alumnus migration to Live@Edu is the biggest and successful which makes us unique educational institute in this region.

Posted on October 2010

With the coordination of SG division UITS developed In-house Banner Security Distributed System provides Banner ERP system data custodians a system for administering and auditing the system access. The system will empower Banner data custodians and give them the capabilities to assign/revoke system access and to review and report who has what access.

Posted on October 2010

UITS extended the service of VOIP as University wide service. The infrastructure is based on CISCO solution. The service is integrated with the Active Directory for authentication and for Address Books lookups.

Posted on September 2010

This project was part of the major project of building a new   campus for the University in the Maqam area. The design and the shift were done by the UITS and it was important achievement. The new architecture allows transparent connectivity to the Internet and Ankabut (Research and Education Network of UAE) aligning the UAE University infrastructure with the goal of becoming research intensive.

Posted on 25 August 2010

Recently, UITS migrated the voice communication services from the traditional telephone systems to Voice Over IP (VOIP) systems. VOIP systems are fully in operation inside the UAEU new campuses starting from August, 2010 and continuing to be deployed in the boys new campuses through the next year. VOIP is the technology technique for the delivery of voice communications over the network along with other services that can beneficial for work use such as, hold calls, transfer calls, use conference calls, forward calls to a colleague and many more. To communicate through the network using VOIP has a great advantage in reducing the costs of voice communications, and other advantages that can be used through the traditional telephone systems. VOIP devices came with a user friendly interface with lot of customizable options that are easy to use and modify. UITS pleased to conduct sessions for UAEU community to familiarize them with the services offered through the VOIP and how to use them.

Posted on August 2010

With the coordination of Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, UITS rebuild the wired and wireless network to match the needs of the new education programs developed by the Faculty.

Posted on 29 July 2010

The New Campus project included the change of the network architecture in such a way that main connectivity will be placed there. Infrastructure and Core Technologies team worked with technology partners the topology. As result of the new architecture the University obtained the following results:

• High speed/bandwidth fiber core network

• Complete transparent access to the Internet and Ankabut for the entire University network

• Better Internet connectivity by eliminating WAN bottleneck
  

Posted on 16 July 2010

With the coordination of SG division UITS e-Travel System replaces the current manual paper based system of requesting travel expenses with a web-based system that allow employees to request travel expenses any time, manager approve travel requests online and fully integrate it with University’s enterprise systems. The system automatically creates all required finance transaction thus, the system lowers the University's labor costs and increases the employee productivity.

Posted on July 2010

UITS upgraded the wired and wireless network of Tawam Female hostels. The project requirements was to replace the old data network with new wiring and wireless devices that will provide higher speed and better bandwidth for the students. The housing complex is connected via a MPLS circuit to the University backbone.

Posted on 21 June 2010

In order to monitor the complex IT environment that UITS developed an internal strategy for monitoring and alerting. We used “off shelf” and developed some tools locally (example: IP Address Monitoring) products instead of expensive enterprise tools. All these tools are accessible from the internal network or from Internet using VPN.

Posted on 21 May 2010

With the coordination of SG division UITS Replace the current manual paper based system of requesting and approving Leave with a web-based system that allow employees to request/track Leave any time, and managers to view and approve their staff Leave requests, and fully integrate it with University’s enterprise systems.

Posted on March 2010

The project requirements was to replace the old data network with new wiring and wireless devices that will provide higher speed and better bandwidth for the students. The housing complex is connected via a MPLS circuit to the University backbone.s University wide service. The infrastructure is based on CISCO solution. The service is integrated with the Active Directory for authentication and for Address Books lookups.

Posted on March 2010

With the coordination of SG division UITS Develop a system that will notify employees in advance for the expiration of their passport and visa.

Posted on February 2010