INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES (ICTS)
Objective
Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) Department at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
aims at identifying, providing and maintaining reliable computing facilities, computing network
environment, communication facilities and related infrastructure to facilitate education, research,
instructional and Institute - approved business services.
The department is functionally grouped into Systems Administration, Hardware & Network Support, Lab
Administration, Software Development, Multimedia and Web Designing.
Computing Facilities in the Campus
The campus is well equipped with over 1500 computers. The facilities are made available to the staff and students from 8.30 AM to 05:00 PM on all days excluding holidays. All staff rooms are also equipped with sufficient computers to help faculty to carry out their day-to-day academic requirements and also to help them in their research activities.
Student Computer Labs
The computer centres are accessible to students during college working hours. The Computer centres are also kept open beyond the college working hours and on holidays for the benefit of the students as per requirement. The computer centre lab time table is hosted on the campus intranet site : intranet.ch.amrita.edu
| Day | Labs | Timings |
|---|---|---|
| Regular Working Days | All Computer Labs | 08:30 AM to 05:00 PM |
| Working Saturdays | All Computer Labs | 08:30 PM to 05:00 PM |
| All Sundays | All Labs Closed | |
| National Holidays | All Labs Closed | |
Faculty who need access to computer labs for the purpose of conducting any online exams, conferences, workshops, placement drives, etc. can contact the Department Head / Lab In-chage for allotment of labs for the purpose.
Centralized Data Centre
ICTS has designed and maintains a central data centre that acts as the central hub for all computing facilities and network services for the campus. The Systems Administration Group manages the data centre. The data centre hosts all the servers and central networking infrastructure for the campus. The Systems Administrators can manage the complete campus network from the central data centre. The data centre is provided with adequate physical and logical security solutions. The data centre is equipped with remote console management facilities, all servers, storage servers, backup devices, firewall, network switches, routers, satellite modems, etc. The servers include domain controllers, domain name service servers, email servers, proxy servers, university database servers, library management server, student ftp servers, etc. The Systems Administrators using inband or out-of-band monitoring technologies can monitor the data centre.
Networking Infrastructure
All computing facilities in the campus are internetworked. All buildings in the campus are linked through high-speed fiber optic cable allowing seamless connectivity between departments functioning at these locations. This seamless connectivity assist students to share files and access servers from any PC in the campus. The cables have spare capacities to allow scalability to accommodate more bandwidth in the future. Within a building infrastructure, computing facilities are interlinked via high-speed copper networking cables. Each wings/blocks/floors have their own network concentration points that allow easy administration and security. Network cabling within a laboratory or a block is designed and implemented using the structured cabling approach. This allows flexibility and scalability for expansions in the future.
WiFi at Amrita
All hostels and Academic Blocks at Amrita are covered by the Wireless network (WiFi). Faculty and
students can connect to WiFi using their Campus Domain Controller username and password. The
department has also setup WiFi hotspots in Academic Block which allows users to connect to the
network from their classes.
Requests for support can be either send by email to techsupport@ch.amrita.edu or through
a phone
call to Extn. 221.
Network Services
The Data Center also hosts all other network services related to the smooth functioning of the campus
network. This includes Domain Controllers, Domain Name Servers (DNS), DHCP Server, FTP Server,
License Servers, etc.
Requests for support can be either send by email to sysadmin@ch.amrita.edu (link sends
e-mail) or
through a phone call to Extn. 230.
Email services of the campus are hosted on the cloud service. The campus has subscribed to Microsoft
O365 services for all collaboration. The students are also allotted an email ID on the Google cloud.
All faculty, staff and students are allotted email address on the University domain. The use of the
email ID is governed by the University Email Use Policy.
Email : sysadmin@ch.amrita.edu
ICT Policy
The department has laid out an IT Policy that has been adopted and to be complied by all the IT infrastructure users. The IT Policy is reviewed periodically and amended as required.
Manpower
The department is functionally grouped into Systems Administration, Hardware Support, Lab Administration, Telecom and Audio/Video support. A staff in supervisory role heads each functional group. The department has one Manager – Systems and Networks and is headed by the Head – ICTS. The recruitment of staff is done after a written test, technical interview and a personal interview.
Maintenance of Systems and Networks
The Hardware Support group maintains the Computing Systems and Networks. The data centre maintenance
is undertaken by the Systems Administrators with the help of the Hardware Support group. All Systems
Support is managed and maintained through a support desk application. Users can log complaints
either through phone or email. All issues registered will get a token number and the administrators,
supervisors and the respective user can track the incident. This application allows easy management
of the incidents and optimum allocation of available resources by the supervisor.
Requests for support can be either send by email to techsupport@ch.amrita.edu (link sends
e-mail) or through a phone call to Extn. 221.
Audiovisual Support
The department has a separate group that manages all audio/video related requirements of the
University. This includes providing audiovisual equipments and support technicians at all
Auditoriums, Seminar Halls, Conference Halls, Language Laboratory and Hostels. The department is
responsible for the upkeep of all the audiovisual equipments installed at these locations, which
include amplifiers, speakers, audio/video mixers, microphones, projection systems, etc.
Email : techsupport@ch.amrita.edu
Campus Surveillance System
ICTS hosts and maintains all surveillance devices in the campus. Surveillance systems are installed at vantage locations in the campus which includes security gate, hostels, academic areas, etc.
