Tech Corner

Tech Corner
Faculty should request fall software by April 8

BY ANDREA POUND
Special to the Rice News

To reach more professors before commencement, Information Technology (IT) has moved the software request deadline for fall semester classes to April 8. In the past, the deadline has been in July, after many professors are gone for the summer.

Susan McClure, a systems administrator in IT, handles the software requests for the Unix platform. “When you think about your class, at the same time you think about the books you’ll need to order, you should think about the software the students will need,” she said. “They go hand in hand.”

Adding new software to the labs is a complex process, going far beyond purchasing and installing a new product. IT staff must start working on requests early to ensure that the software will not only be able to meet the specifications stipulated by the requesting faculty member, but also that it will be compatible with other software that must be installed in the same lab.

“Labs are a shared resource and must remain stable in order to be user-friendly,” said Marc Scarborough, systems integration manager. For this reason, testing of new software in the labs and classrooms must be done during academic vacations, so as to not disrupt classes that rely on the labs.

Increasingly, interdependencies between software, as well as the sheer volume of software that must fit on lab machines, add to the difficulty of getting products installed. “These days, many products also have prerequisite software that must be added first, which adds to the time to install and test,” McClure said. Problems arise when two pieces have the same prerequisite software, but require it to be configured in different ways.

In addition to requests for new software, IT wants to know about any needs for updated versions of existing software. Because different versions may be markedly different, they can require just as much installation time and testing as a new product.

Scarborough said IT wants to hear from professors about existing software, even if an upgrade isn’t necessary. This communication lets IT know what demand exists for a particular product. “We encourage faculty to talk to us and to let us know what they think they might be using, even if they’re not sure yet,” he said. “The more information we have, the more helpful we can be.”

To request software installations for the fall semester, fill out the form at <www.rice.edu/market/software/swrform.html>.

— Andrea Pound is a support specialist in academic and research computing.