Blog - Monday, December 13, 2010 16:12 - 0 Comments

It’s IT upgrade time at Australia’s universities

blog Yup, it’s that time of year again — that brief window of opportunity where Australia’s universities, many of which are working off three semesters a year now, get a couple of weeks around Christmas to upgrade their IT systems.

Those of you who work in university IT departments know what I am talking about — the modern university needs to keep most of its customer-facing systems running 24 hours a day, almost 365 days a year, to meet the current level of student and staff demand for online services. So much has to be kept up; internal communications platforms for academics that work long hours, internal subject-specific forums, library platforms which are increasingly delivering information through the internet.

I have spoken to quite a few university IT admins and managers over the years who work Christmas Day and even New Year’s Day. Hard-working university IT departments of Australia: We salute you. And we hope the unis slip a few beers into the fridge to compensate ;)