Our students take full advantage of technology to succeed in the program. The following are some recommendations and links to resources.

Technical Specifications for Entering Students

Telecommunications
Expect to spend 6-10 hours a week on a voice system if you are a remote student. That's an increase of 360-600 minutes/week on a phone line. Please take the time to investigate the best price for increased service with your provider.* Some of that time will be in conference calling, some of it will be utilizing programs such as Skype. The options available for plenary sessions and classes are determined by the lead faculty member. Options for team meetings are decided upon by each team. Cell phones, Wireless, and consumer level speaker phones are not recommended for any conferencing as they can introduce quality issues into the conference. Recommendations for hardware are always given to new students during the pre-orientation phone calls based on the most recent tests run by the Tech Operations staff.

Over time, students and faculty have developed a set of best practices for effective telecommunications, click here to read the document.

Phone Costs Recommendations
Review calling options with your home phone provider as they want to keep you as a customer and are willing to create deals for such volume changes. Look into Unlimited Flat Rate Long Distance Calling Options. If you can't get Flat Rate, target for 3-4 cents/minutes of US Long Distance Calling.

If you are calling from a place you cannot control costs, invest in low rate calling cards, but be mindful of the fine print - look for no maintenance fee, no connection fee, no expiration, low per call charge rounding, rechargeable cards. You can find them for around 3-4 cents/minute for US Long Distance Calling.

You may consider looking in to VOIP options, but please be mindful of issues and implications for you and your team members. Not all VOIP systems offer PSTN tie-in which can restrict accessibility. Many have limitations on conferencing. VOIP options typically do not offer 911, 411 and other services typically found in a normal PSTN service. Conversations are also considered public domain.

TECHNICAL FAQ

If you have a technical question, this is a good place to start. If you do not find an answer or resolution here, contact help@west.cmu.edu or call 650-335-2819.

Curriculum
http://info.west.cmu.edu/ms

Mailing Lists
http://www.cmu.edu/myandrew
For help with Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh services or products contact advisor@andrew.cmu.edu or call 412-268-HELP

Licenses
Enterprise Java Studio aka JBuilder
Email help@west.cmu.edu with your full Windows user name. In Windows XP, right-click on My Computer, select Properties, select Advanced tab and click on User Profiles Settings.
Installation instructions can be found at http://info.west.cmu.edu/twiki/bin/view/Graffiti/BorlandJBuilderFAQ

LiveMeeting
http://livemeeting.west.cmu.edu
One account per student team.

MSDNAA Software
http://msdnaa.west.cmu.edu

Printing on Campus
Read this document for instructions.

Software for Sale
MS Windows and MS Office are for sale through the help desk.
Go to http://info.west.cmu.edu/twiki/bin/view/Public/MSStudentSoftwareSales for more information.

Tigris
Register at http://www.tigris.org
Send any questions to feedback@tigris.org

TWiki
http://info.west.cmu.edu
Username format: First name and last name, no space, no dots, capitalized, e.g. JohnSmith.