IT Services In UB Owned Space

In the normal course of their duties and responsibilities, persons appointed as UB employees who are located within UB owned, controlled or managed space can expect to have basic Information Technology (IT) services provided through the university. This document provides the principles for which IT services will be provided and under what circumstances. In addition, this document provides detail on how the same services will be provided to non-UB employees or departments, if at all. Each IT service is described separately.

Workstation Support

• UB employees: faculty and staff located in UB space that have an appointment in a UB department will have their UB owned or UB provided workstation support provided by their departmental UB IT Support.
• Non-UB employee or Non-UB departments: persons or departments not formally affiliated with the university located within UB space must provide their own workstation support, or contract with an outside vendor. The non-UB department must identify a Principle IT Contact that will be responsible to ensure that all devices attached to the network satisfy the following requirements:
  • Devices must have an authorized fixed IP address or be appropriately registered for DHCP. The Principle IT Contact will work with the appropriate person within the VPCIO organization to register all devices prior to them being placed on the network.
  • Devices must be configured to run a supported version of an operating system for which patches for newly identified security breaches are developed and distributed in a timely manner.
  • Devices must be configured in such a way that known vulnerabilities – such as open FTP ports and open relays – are eliminated or minimized.
  • Devices must be maintained in such a way that patches which close known security breaches are applied as soon as they become available.
  • Devices must have antivirus software installed that runs continuously and is updated regularly.
  • Devices must be scanned and determined to be free of viruses and other known compromises that may have been introduced to its operating environment.
  • Devices must have installed firewalls that run continuously whenever possible and practical. In the event that a device is identified as being compromised, the VPCIO organization retains the right to immediately suspend the network connection to that compromised device, and the Principle IT Contact will be informed of the suspension as soon as possible after the action is taken. The Principle IT Contact is responsible to ensure that the compromised machine is not reconnected to the network until the device is properly secured.

Telephone Service

• Participating UB Department:  UB IT Support will provide telephone services (VoIP) to participating departments. Departments are responsible for any costs associated with the purchase and installation of the new telephony equipment, if the costs are not included in a move, rehab, or project budget. UB reserves the right to collect additional funding from participating UB departments to maintain phone service in the future.
• Non-participating UB Department: UB IT Support will provide telephone services (VoIP) to non-participating UB departments, however, the department is responsible for any costs associated with purchase, installation, and monthly service charges.
• Non-UB departments: UB will not provide telephone service to non-UB departments. Telephone service must be procured independently from a third party Voice over IP (VoIP) provider. Connectivity to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a third party VoIP provider will be facilitated over the university provided data network and Internet connection via IP.
• Neither participating nor non-participating UB departments are authorized to contract with outside vendors for the provision of telephone services without prior approval by UB IT Support. UB IT support will take the lead in determining whether outside vendors would best meet the department’s telephony needs.

Campus Network

• UB Employees: faculty and staff located in UB space are eligible to receive campus network (Internet) services. UB departments are responsible for the costs of cabling and data switch equipment required providing connectivity from the nearest telecommunications room to the designated outlet location.
• Non-UB personnel or Non-UB departments: persons or departments not formally affiliated with the university located within UB space may be provided campus network (Internet) services by UB IT support for per-port installation and monthly usage fees.
• All inter-room network installations must be in compliance with university standards and will be administered and maintained by UB IT Support. UB will take the lead in determining whether outside vendors would best meet campus network (Internet) service needs. 
• Neither UB nor non-UB departments are authorized to contract with outside vendors for the provision of campus network (Internet) services without prior approval by UB IT Support. 

Campus Network-Connected Devices

• UB Departments: All devices connected to the campus network (Internet) must comply with the UB Network Connection Policy.
• Non-UB Departments: All network-connected devices must be located within the non-UB department’s space. The networking implementation for these devices must be discussed with Network and Classroom Services prior to installation and implementation. All devices connected to the campus network (Internet) must comply with the UB Network Connection Policy.

Network connected devices

Any Internet capable device that can be attached to the campus network for the purpose of interacting with other devices and services. Typically this connection is through wired Ethernet, but may be extended to include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or cellular connectivity when necessary. Devices include servers, workstations, workgroup printers, “cloud drives”, virtual desktop appliances, media devices, gaming consoles, tablets, smartphones, and controllers.

Non-participating UB Department

UB operating unit that did not participate in the 2005/06 permanent transfer of unit funding that was based on the number of active phone lines either by choice or circumstance.

Non-UB Department

A public entity, private not-for profit entity, private educational entity, private affiliated entity, or private business located in UB space.

Non-UB Employee

Any person who does not have a current official appointment at the University at Buffalo, including students, student club members, vendors, members of public entities, members of private not-for-profit entities, members of private educational entities, members of private affiliated entities, or members of a private business that is located within UB space.

Participating UB Department

A UB operating unit participating in the 2005/06 permanent transfer of unit funding that was based on the number of active phone lines at that time and previously billed annual telephone charges. The permanent transfer was done to pay for the telephone system conversion to VoIP technology. Departments may not be included in the participating group retroactively.

Principle IT Contact

Any person identified by the administrative head of a Non-UB department whose responsibility is to act as the contact regarding IT support and services for the Non-UB department to UB IT Support.

UB Department

An official operating unit at the University at Buffalo, directly supported through UB funding sources. UB departments are recognized in the entity/hierarchy system of record.

UB Employee

Any person with a current official appointment at the University at Buffalo, including faculty, staff, adjunct faculty, volunteers, and contract staff.

UB IT Support

Any of the UB organizational units that provide information technology services to UB departments and employees. UB IT Support comprises the divisions of Computing and Information Technology, and all the distributed IT Support organizations located throughout schools, departments and divisions. Local UB IT Support refers to the IT support organization that is chiefly present in a particular location or responsibility area.

UB Space

Buildings, structures, and their surrounding area that is either owned, controlled or managed by the University at Buffalo.

Workstation

A university owned or provided computing device such as a desktop, laptop or notebook computer typically assigned to a particular individual, role or location.

• Establish and maintain this policy
• Provide the aforementioned IT services within UB Spaces according to service level statements
• Coordinate workstation support within various campus locations with distributed IT support organizations
• Handle customer requests for new service, modifications, etc.
• Project leadership with integrating outside vendors with extant university IT infrastructure

• Request IT services according to procedures outlined at www.buffalo.edu/ubit
• Fund fee for service when appropriate

• Ensure personal devices connected to the campus network conform to UB’s Network Connection Policy
• Adhere to UB’s Computer and Network Use policy for appropriate use of information technology resources and services