| Over the past year, Vanderbilt's Information Technology Office has been
upgrading the campus modem pool to newer technology and consolidating diverse services.
This process will culminate by March 1, 1998, when most older modems will be phased out.
The modems accessed by phone numbers 343-1524, 4144, 4460, 4461, 5948, 5949, 5950, 5951,
5952, and 5953 will no longer be available. In order to maintain comparable service
levels, the new modem pool will be expanded. All dial-in services will be accessible via
343-9489 (for work that can be done within a half an hour) and 343-9491 (for work
requiring up to four hours of connect time). Please note that it will not be sufficient
just to change the dial-up numbers in users' current software in order to make the
transition to the new modem pool. The new modem pool requires authentication via a VUnet
ID, and the transition will also require some additional software modification.
Instruc-tions for acquiring a VUnet ID are provided at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vunet.
The dial-in software modifications are available for downloading at
http://www.vanderbilt. edu/vuaccess/ or on disk or CD-ROM at the Vanderbilt Computer Store
for the cost of distribution.
Another modification in dial-in service that will be available by January is that the
modems accessible via 343-9489 will be upgraded to 56Kb/sec. Because there are two
different kinds of 56Kb/sec modems, it is not recommended that members of the University
community upgrade their modems just to take advantage of this increased speed. When a
56Kb/sec standard is established, the campus modem pool will change to that standard.
Still, since some members of the community already have 56Kb/sec modems, it should be
noted that faster speeds will be supported in the event that one has a so-called 56K-flex
modem. Those who already own the alternative 56K-X2 modem may continue to connect to the
56K-flex modems at 33.6 speeds.
Another service modification is also in the works for the beginning of next semester.
VUmail handled by the Simeon service is increasingly being used; however, many travelers
have not been able to use Simeon while out of town. Beginning next semester VUmail will be
accessible via a WWW browser. A user need only open
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vumail/webaccess/ and log in using the VUnet ID and password.
Although users may access VUmail via the WWW on campus, local users will have more success
using Simeon because of the limitations imposed by the WWW interface. For this reason, the
system has been configured to support only casual user access in this manner.
From the Office of the Associate Provost for Information Technology |
