OIT Facilities

Network Infrastructure

The University of Alabama has a switched gigabit network backbone (used for on-campus network traffic). That backbone connects University buildings to each other and to our outbound connections. The majority of University desktops have switched 100 megabit connectivity to the backbone. The campus network also provides service to part of The University of Alabama System.

Our highspeed Internet connection is through ITC Deltacom. The University is a charter member of the Internet2 project, connecting to the highspeed educational network through the Southern Crossroads (SoX). We are also a member of the Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN) and maintain a connection to that statewide network.

Some central servers also provide core network services, among them pairs of load-balanced LDAP and SMTP servers.

Wireless connectivity is in almost all residential buildings and many administrative and academic buildings.

The Operations group monitors the University’s network infrastructure to ensure availability.