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Welcome to the third edition of Talking Technology
where we are letting you know what is happening with
the upgrade to school computers and networks. This edition
describes the initiatives associated with the upgrade
which will see NT schools equipped with the latest computers
hardware and software over the next five months.
New Computers
Dell Australia has been selected as the preferred
supplier for desktop and laptop computers and we hope
to finalise the contract details by the end of July.
The attached
table shows the details of these computers. The standard
prices for the new computers are $911 for a desktop
and $1336 for the laptop exclusive GST. This price includes
a 3 year on-site hardware warranty for schools in the
five major centres and a return-to-base warranty for
computers in remote schools.
We have not finalised the delivery date but anticipate
that the computers will be delivered via air from Penang
in a single batch in September. Schools who wish to
purchase additional devices with their own funds for
inclusion in the initial shipment will need to advise
IT services on the number of devices required so these
can be ordered in the next two weeks.
Once the initial deliveries are completed authorized
persons in schools will be able to order additional
desktop and laptop computers using a dedicated web site
that Dell is establishing for NT schools. These arrangements
also cover non Government schools. In the meantime Dell
has supplied a number of sample computers which are
being configured by the project team to run within the
current LATIS and new NT schools environments.
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Collection of Old
Computers
We will be seeking to recover the old LATIS computers
when the new ones are delivered. Schools are also invited
to return any other old computers, monitors and printers
at this time. This returned hardware will be disposed
of in accordance with the NT Government regulations
on disposal of Government assets. We have not finalised
the collection strategy but we will probably use the
couriers who deliver the new computers to pick up the
old ones.
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School Server Upgrades
The upgrade of school servers is closely following the
desktop rollout with tenders for the new hardware closing
next week. We are still finalising the rollout schedule
but aim to have all remote schools completed by early
October, all primary schools completed by the end of
October and all high schools by the end of the school
year.
The introduction the new servers and computers will
initiate major improvements in services for staff and
students with the introduction of Microsoft Office 2003
across all new devices and a move from Webmail/Squirrel
Mail to Microsoft Exchange for email services.
We will also be taking the opportunity presented by
these upgrades to introduce a range of online systems
already in use across the NT Government. These include
myHR for leave requests and temporary transfers, TRIPS
for office travel and Copylink for high volume printing
at the Government Printer.
To meet the ambitious deadlines multiple project teams
will be assembled to work through the 200 school sites
in the NT. The teams will include IT specialists who
will install the new hardware and convert existing data
and consultants or floor-walkers who will provide individual
instruction to staff on the new systems and services.
We will be seeking assistance from schools to ensure
that the standard model is tailored to suit your individual
circumstances but as a minimum we will be seeking a
school employee to project manage the school components
tasks such as communicating to staff and students and
making decisions on the location and configuration of
services.
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Moving to Microsoft
Following overwhelmingly positive responses from Principals,
DEET has elected to enter into a schools enterprise
agreement with Microsoft covering the Windows server
and desktop operating systems, Microsoft Office and
Microsoft Exchange for email. The software will be loaded
on all new desktop and laptop computers and the agreement
allows new releases of software (eg Windows Vista) to
be taken up when they are released to the market.
Under the new agreement schools will contribute $30
/ year for each new computer connected to the schools
network. IT Services will meet the balance of the costs.
Schools that have already purchased Microsoft Office
licences will continue to use these licences and will
not need to pay the charge unless they elect to load
the latest versions of the software on their computers.
There will be a charge of $10 / year for existing school
computers that do not use MS office but are connected
to the automated software management service and MS
Exchange email services.
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User Identity Management
A key improvement in the new environment will be the
introduction of ePass for user identity management.
ePass is an online system where staff and students fill
in their details and identify the ICT services they
require (eg LAN, email Internet, Portal etc). These
requirements are sent to school delegates who will approve
them online. The necessary accounts will then be automatically
created and will not require the ICT coordinator to
manually enter them. ePass will also be used to automate
the transfer of user user email and LAN accounts between
schools. Finally, ePass will provide a single user id
and password for access to all new School, DEET and
NT Government systems. The system is also being introduced
to all NT Government agencies including DEET corporate.
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New Domain Name
A new domain name ntschools.net has
been selected for the schools network. This will mean
all existing references to LATIS in school web addresses
and emails will change to ntschools.net. The new email
address format will be firstname.lastname@ntschools.net.
We appreciate that this will cause some inconvenience
and costs due to the changes in stationery and other
documents which have school and staff web and email
addresses however we feel the LATIS branding is no longer
appropriate and a long term title is required.
Other considerations in selecting the new domain name
were the strong desire from schools to have a short
name and the fact that the LATIS domain name is owned
by two non DEET employees.
The new domain name will be phased in as part of the
introduction of Windows services and a redirection service
will forward emails addressed to LATIS accounts to the
corresponding ntschools.net account.
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AARNet for Schools Internet
Services
In the next few weeks the schools Internet connection
will be migrated from Telstra to the Australian Academic
Research Network (AARNet) which is a national high capacity
data network that links all Universities and research
institutions. There will not be any functional changes
but the bandwidth will be increased from 20 Megabits
per second to 50 Megabits per second and there will
be a corresponding increase in download speeds.
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NTG Intranet Access
During the semester break the schools network was linked
to the NT Government Intranet so all teaching and admin
staff in Government schools can now access the services
used by other NTPS employees. Authentication for school
staff is automatically done based on your LATIS credentials.
There is a vast range of resources available on the
Intranet however some of the more popular services are:
Intranet home page http://uluru.nt.gov.au/
Phone Directory http://phones.nt.gov.au/
Parliamentary Broadcasts http://www.nt.gov.au/lant/broadcast/
ABC News and Weather http://uluru.nt.gov.au/ntg/news.shtml
You will notice that Intranet addresses do not have
a www prefix and can only be accessed by computers on
the school network.
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DEET Directory
A new version of the DEET Directory has been released
for Beta testing. The new directory will provide the
public with easy access to school information via drill
down map and text search features. The Intranet version
of the directory will also display staff names and phone
numbers. These are currently being manually maintained
but will be extracted from ePass when it is implemented.
This means that staff will be responsible for maintaining
the phone contact information presented in the DEET
directory by updating their ePass details.
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DEET Corporate Environment
We are currently finalising plans to upgrade the DEET
Corporate network to contemporary standards by the end
of this year. The upgrade will include a move to resource
PC’s and the retirement of the thin client environment.
We will also be installing Microsoft Office 2003 and
may migrate from Lotus Notes to Exchange so that the
DEET corporate email service integrates with school
email services.
Finally a costing study has identified the potential
to dramatically reduce printing costs by consolidating
the large numbers of corporate laser printers, photocopiers
and fax machines into a smaller number of high quality
networked photocopiers. The detailed costs will be identified
shortly however in the meantime corporate users should
defer purchasing any new laser printers, photocopiers
or fax machines. If you need to proceed please contact
IT Services for advice.
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