The Network Services Department provides coordination, planning and support to aid in the effective use of Data, Voice, Video and Information Security technology for Lamar University faculty, staff and students. Our goal is to provide quality network services that are efficient, reliable and responsive to the needs of Lamar University.

Network Services functions as an information resource to departments in the application of new technologies and promotes the effective use of Data, Voice and Video communication services.

Network Services establishes and maintains the infrastructure upon which departments can build for information resources and management to meet the educational mission of Lamar University.

Network Services maintains LUNET (the campus Gigabit backbone network), the University RESNET (the campus residential network), and the Enterprise Video Communications Network. The department also manages connectivity between Lamar University, Lamar Institute of Technology, and Lamar State College Orange to enable collaboration of ERP and other technology resources.

The university data network operates at one Gigabit per second with 55 Mbps of commodity Internet bandwidth and 5 Mbps access to Internet2. The University is a participant in the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN), and National Lambda Rail (NLR), which provides direct, high speed access to National and Regional networks. Network Services also serves as a point-of-presence for the Texas Higher Education Network (THEnet) which serves as a connection point for a number of K-12, Higher Education, and other state agencies in the Southeast Texas area. The university also maintains a modem pool supporting dial-in access. These resources provide online students and other members of the university community with access to online courses and a wide variety of other technology resources.

All academic and administrative buildings and residence hall rooms have a minimum of 100 Mbps connections to the campus backbone network. The campus also has a large wireless network that serves many academic and administrative buildings as well as public access areas with 11 Mbps 802.11b and 54 Mbps 802.11g service. Access to the campus wireless network is controlled and VPN access is required. The combination of these resources provides nearly ubiquitous access to the network and its resources, including many classrooms, public access areas, and the Library. The Lamar University network (LUNET) is a "converged" network, in that it supports access to data, voice (VoIP), and video (H.323) services.

Access to LUNET and its resources is automatically provided to all students, faculty, and staff from the moment they begin their official association with the university. The university participates with other institutions of Higher Education to provide low-cost campus-wide licenses for many popular software applications. In addition, all students, faculty, and staff are provided accounts on the university mail server, and myLamar portal which provides access to campus administrative systems and enhances campus-wide communications.

Support for access to and use of network resources is provided by the Network Services Department. There is also a Network Services web site with general information, forms, instructions for using network services, and links to training videos. Work orders and trouble tickets are submitted to the centralized IT Help Desk in order to provide a single source of problem reporting and resolution.

Network Services has also implemented an Enterprise Video Communications product which allows faculty to include video in their course resources for students and provides storage and management of video assets. The Media gateway is also being used for employee development and training by providing access to video communications such as on-demand recording of meetings, presentations, and training. Use of this product gives Lamar University the capability to launch live events whenever needed, and to capture the information for later use. Public access to the media gateway can be obtained at http://video.lamar.edu, or by logging in to my.lamar.edu using the university LEA account, and clicking How-To Videos.

The Department also maintains the University video surveillance system which includes cameras placed at strategic locations around the campus enabling the University Police Department to view and record live video feed. This Internet Protocol based security system is part of the overall University security initiative.