The Haas School has rolled out several technology improvements in the past few months in response to students' changing IT needs and growing printing demand.
Nine new Bloomberg terminals are now available for finance and financial engineering students to use on high-performance PCs in the Haas Computer Lab.
In response to the increasing popularity of Macs, meanwhile, the school has increased its Macintosh Virtual Machine support. The increased "server virtualizaton" allows Haas Enterprise Computing and Service Management staff to more effectively deploy and support Macintosh applications and computers. About half of the students in the school's MBA programs use Macs, according to Haas Chief Information Officer Lyle Nevels.
Facing a growing demand for video online, the school has upgraded its video streaming capabilities from RealNetworks to a Flash-based delivery system, improving viewing quality.
Print, however, is not dead. With an increase in student printing, Haas Enterprise Computing and Service Management opened a "Service Now" business center in Cheit Hall, room C122, this past month, which includes two express printer stations, a network printer, and on-duty IT and laptop support staff.
"We realize students sometimes need to print quickly between classes and don't have time to walk over to the computer lab," says Nevels. "This is one of several steps we have taken to meet growing printer demand."
Other printing improvements include new software to help students more easily locate their print jobs, a new high-capacity printer, printer sorters and stackers, and an additional print monitor for job status monitoring. The computing team continues to explore ways to improve printing services in order to fulfill the increasing demand.
Meanwhile, Haas also has added amenities to facilitate more brainstorming and free thinking the old fashioned way–without computers. The school has added white boards to all Cheit classrooms and library study rooms. The library study rooms also received a facelift with new tables, chairs, carpet, paint, flat-screen monitors, and telephones.