IU software program helps LSU students

This fall, Louisiana State University will utilize IU's Get Connected software to help its students connect to the university's network.\nLSU signed a three-year license agreement to use the application, which was launched at IU in 2001 and is now available for use by other universities, according to a press release from University Information Technology Services. \n"Through the support of this application, students are on a more secure network than ever," said Sue B. Workman, IU director of user support. "IT support personnel can also glean valuable user information, such as the type of operating system a user has, how much RAM they have and whether they have a desktop or a laptop. This information allows university user support personnel to tailor services, support, software and system negotiations to best fit their audience."\nBefore Get Connected was launched, IU's Support Center received 12,000 calls from students and parents about network connections during a single move-in week, according to the press release. \n"Our decision to use an application like Get Connected stemmed from our recent university-wide IT strategic planning effort. The LSU community called for increased efforts to secure our network and enhance the student experience through IT," said Melody Childs, deputy chief information officer and executive director of user support and student IT enablement for LSU.\nGet Connected requires a Windows XP or MAC OS X operating system. The application is customizable and possesses several features, including complete logging of all changes to the client systems over a private network, according to the release. This type of logging permits instant troubleshooting of individual computers and a real-time view of events and other valuable metrics for assessing and managing the configuration of a large number of computers in a short time frame.