Information & Telecom Services

Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. M-F
Office Location: OC 108 and OC 124
Phone: 683-7411

The Information and Telecommunication Services department (ITS) is dedicated to delivery and support of Information Technology services on The University of Montana - Western campus. These include computing, data networks, telecommunications (voice), and related facilities.

On campus, ITS provides the support necessary to ensure the proper operation of computing services for students, faculty, and staff. This includes student labs, faculty and administrative offices, and general access points. Services include phone communication, network access to shared resources (i.e., email and the Internet), new infrastructure configuration and installation, server management, and user support.

As part of the Montana University System, ITS joins with the other technical units of higher education to operate and maintain a statewide information network that interconnects all campuses of the University System as well as other educational and governmental entities of Montana.


Basic Campus Data Infrastructure
The UMW campus data network is comprised of multimode fiber-optic cable between buildings with unshielded twisted pair UTP) connections rated at 100 Mbps to the desktop.
 
The switched data network system is based upon a hierarchy of data transmission. The switches that make up this system efficiently direct network traffic to its destination without impacting other data flows on the network.

This environment provides a level of security, as switched traffic is not broadcast throughout the network. It also provides the ability to monitor the status of communications lines on campus, allowing ITS the ability to diagnose and fix problems.

The campus network operates primarily with a Windows client/server configuration that is running under a Windows 2003 environment. Fully functional connections to the network are available using a Windows 2000 or Windows XP client. While other clients (e.g. Windows 98/ME and Mac 9 and 10 OS)may be used to access the network, service and support is minimal.

Information and Telecommunications Services (ITS) staff are available to answer questions regarding supported hardware and software.  ITS will make every attempt to respond to problems within 24 hours, and give an estimate of the time required to resolve a problem if it cannot be done immediately.