ITS upgrades HFC’s information technology across the spectrum

The Information Technology Services (ITS) department is involved in many projects this fall in an effort to provide the College with the latest technology.

500 new PCs

For the first time ever, ITS is attempting a wholesale replacement of HFC administrative computers. At least 500 new PCs will be distributed to HFC staff. Any PC more than a year old will be replaced. The replacement project does not include academic machines, which are purchased through academic department budgets. Because the new PCs each come with a new monitor, anyone who wants a second monitor will be able to have one of the existing monitors.

Server infrastructure to be replaced

The College's server infrastructure is also being replaced. There will be 12 new servers, which will act as hosts for the hundreds of virtual servers. Some of the servers being replaced are still viable servers, which will allow ITS to build a second fully operational backup system.

New enterprise storage

New enterprise storage is being purchased and implemented. Two new storage systems are being purchased, and all new connectivity for those systems is also part of the project. The new storage replaces four-year-old storage and eight-year-old connectivity devices. The new connectivity devices double the connection speeds to the storage systems and should reduce server latency significantly.

New network core

A brand-new network core has been purchased. The previous core supports connections of 1/10 gigabits per second. The new servers support 1/10/25 gigabits per second, as well as 40/100 gigabit connections.

New load balancers

All College web traffic runs through two load balancers. The load balancers provide redundancy and eliminate single points of failure accessing HFC web resources. The current load balancers are seven years old and will be replaced with two new, more powerful load balancers.

Upgrading the phone system

The College’s Cisco phone system is more than seven years old and runs off two Cisco servers. Those servers have been replaced and the College is in the process of upgrading its servers to the latest software and migrating the phone system and all supporting software – voicemail, faxing, and emergency alerts – to the new system. ITS is also in the process of replacing the entire network infrastructure – all building network equipment – with new Cisco switches.

For questions or more information, contact HFC Director, Network and IT Infrastructure Joe Zitnik at 313-317-6500 or jzitnik@hfcc.edu.