IT Services

IoT Data Provisioning and Data Visualization Service

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly evolving and expanding collection of diverse devices and wearables that interact with the edge devices as well as Cloud applications. With IoTs data integration and growth in computing and storage capabilities on Cloud, the barriers to achieve real time monitoring and tracking on environment and activities become much lower to allow such application to expand to higher education campus. A shared IoT infrastructure is established with the components to facilitate the adoption of IoT technologies in research projects and administrative operation of the University: A private LoRaWan network infrastructure covering the open areas of the campus A data collection and provisioning infrastructure for collecting telemetry data from edge devices irrespective of the location of the devices and provisioning the collected data to external database A data visualization platform for users to analyse the collected data with dashboards Near-to-realtime alert can be generated based on anomalies detected from edge devices Edge devices can be controlled via the IoT infrastructure to perform corresponding actions based on the telemetry data or open data There are some use cases showing how departments leverage the IoT infrastructure and related services to achieve their operational need or research project objectives.

IP Telephony and eFAX service

IP (Internet Protocol) telephony and eFax service facilitates departments to run daily operation and achieve office efficiency. IP Telephony IP based telephone service, which is a composite of a wide range of communication services, is provided on campus and at off-campus offices for staff and student use. Features include: Standard call in/out, call forward, call routing, do-not-disturb, caller ID display, group hunting, call pick-up, boss-secretary function, etc. Support IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) and Call Centre service Voice message forwarding to Staff Email account Softphone installed on mobile device The IP phone models of two brands, Cisco and Snom, are supported by our telephony system. Cisco IP phone models: Cisco 6921, 6945, 7821, 7841, 7911, 7912, 7940, 7945, 7960, 7962 and 7965 Snom IP phone models: Snom D315, D375, D765 and D785 eFax With eFax service, fax documents can be sent or received directly through staff email mailbox. Monthly eFax rental charge, office space, office outgoing like the purchase of fax machine, paper and toner can be minimized.

IT Cloud Services

PolyU Cloud service provides departments with a server hosting platform in a virtual environment. It operates as a rental service for departments to rent a ‘virtual server’ from ITS at a cost which is lower than buying and operating their own. This service will save departments the trouble of maintaining their own servers which will need special arrangements on the physical settings and security protection. It can also achieve cost-savings for the University at an institutional-wide level. Details of the service are available at the University Cloud User Portal.

IT Security Online Training

Every PolyU member plays an important role in protecting the University data and information systems. To ensure that our users know how to protect the data under their custody in daily operation, a series of IT Security Online Training Course has designed for them. Module of the training course will be updated regularly, users can access the courses via the University Digital Learning Platform, LEARN@PolyU.

’IT Support for Research’ Consulting Service

Researchers may come across with IT related troubles or problems while conduct their research activities, our IT support consulting service may be of assistance in providing advice on IT tools and platforms supported by the University to researchers. You may reserve a timeslot to meet and discuss with our support staff for consultation via the booking system.

‘IT Support for Research’ Training

To better equip our staff, students and researchers with the IT skills in using research-related software, workshop and webinars on programming skills and software tools are regularly arranged in support of research activities. Details of training will be announced from time to time. Resources are available online for revisit if you cannot attend the class on a particular date.

Mass Mailing and SMS Service

Mass Mailing and SMS Service enables departments to send broad-based emails and SMS through Mailing List Management (MLM) system to staff, students or external recipients. MLM allows users to send large volume of messages, such as mandatory information for students, events and activities promotion message, periodic newsletters or updates to targeted recipients. In addition to supporting authorized users of departments in sending mass messages, MLM also provides a convenient platform for the maintenance of various mailing lists, including the opt-out lists as required by the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO). SMS service is subject to charge based on the number of outgoing messages.  

Mobile Application Management (MAM) Service

Staff members utilize their personal mobile devices such as Android or iPhone to manage day-to-day business operations. It's important to note that some of the data handled on these devices may include sensitive information belonging to the University. The Mobile Application Management (MAM) service offers an additional level of safeguarding for the University's data stored on staff members' personal mobile devices, while ensuring that it does not impact their personal information. Remote data wipe can be executed upon staff’s request.  Only the data within the managed apps will be wiped from the device. Sending organization data is limited within managed apps. Data stored on phone’s memory is encrypted.

Multi-Factor Authentication Service

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides extra security before logging into an online service. When accessing an MFA-protected service, staff will be prompted to enter NetID and NetPassword as the first authentication and as a second step, reconfirm staff’s identity by using a verification device, like a phone or a tablet. To facilitate this verification process, users are required to install a mobile app called “Microsoft Authenticator” to personal smart phone or tablet.   Two secondary identity verification methods are available for users: Push Notification With the Microsoft Authenticator installed to the mobile device, a Pop-up Notification will be received when user log into an MFS-protected service. User can simply hit “Approve” to log in. (Note: Beginning from March 2023, you will be prompted to enter a 'matching number' to your Microsoft Authenticator mobile app to approve log in. This number is displayed on the login screen of the application which you are trying to access.) It is recommended to use Push Notification while having a stable internet connection because it is the most convenient option. Passcode In situations where users have poor cell phone reception or internet connection, users should select “Passcode” as the second identity verification method. This method has added benefit of being completely free since it does not use user’s cellular data package.   Users are recommended to check out the user guides on setting up MFA service and configure which verification method to use.

MySurvey Service

The online survey tool mySurvey allows our users to create and conduct web-based opinion surveys for learning and research purposes without programming effort. The data can be outputted in various format for further analysis.