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Milestones of the Development of Information and Communication Technology Office

1981-1990
1981 Computer Service Bureau (CSB), predecessor of ICTO was founded.
WANG/ VS system was set up for accommodation of Accounting System, Payroll System, Student Information System and Student Accounting System.
1982 Commodore and Discovery Microcomputers set up for academic purpose.
Library Catalog System was set up for cataloging of English title catalog and printing catalog card in WANG/VS system.
1985 NCR 9300 set up for academic purpose.
1988 The first PC LAN using Novell Netware 2.x and Token Ring network connection for academic use.
1990 4GL/PACE and Database were used to replace Cobol and traditional data file system at WANG/ VS. Data processing was transitioned from batch-processing to online processing.
Discovery Microcomputer replaced by Micro VAX 3400/VMS.
More personal computers (48 in total) were allocated to user departments for office automation purpose. Office Automation Team was then set up to provide office computer support.
1991-1996
1991 Office Automation Team renamed to PC support Team.
The first bi-monthly newsletter, THE ABACUS, was launched to provide users with the most up-to-date CSB information.
NCR 9300 replaced by SUN Sparc/SunOS system.
The first institution in Macao to establish BITNET and Internet connections.
The first institution in Macao to use email (x.25 protocol) to communicate with other higher education institutions in the world by connecting to the HARNET (Hong Kong Academic and Research Network).
1992 The first IPv4 Class B address (161.64.0.0) in Macao was assigned to UM.
Micro VAX 3400 upgraded to VAX 4200.
1993 The University of Macau established its Campus Network. It built the first fibre network architectural complex of campus network in Macao.
The network services such as email by cc:Mail, efax, file and software share at PC LAN servers were available to all staff for general use.
Began the migration from traditional terminal based information system (Wang/VS) to client-server based information system (Oracle) and became the first institution to widely deploy client-server based information system in Macao.
Dynix Library System was introduced for UM library with the support of Chinese catalog.
1994 The first lease line to the Internet in Macao was established.
Set up the first web server with domain name under the country/ area code “.mo”.
The first institution in managing Domain Name “.mo” for Macao.

The Macao Network Information Centre (MONIC) operated by our university, started to provide domain name registration services to the local community, meaning all websites with the domain name, “.mo”, must register with UM.
1995 Using Oracle Client-server Forms was started for development of the administrative applications including Student Information System, Staff Management System and Financial System.
1996 Intranet and web-based application on campus was launched.
Set up the Macao School Net and promoted IT education to secondary and primary schools.
The staff email system, cc:Mail was replaced with the Lotus Notes email. Lotus Notes was chosen also for development of departmental document databases and workflow system. Paperless concept was initiated.
1997-1999
1997 Began promoting E-Learning at the University by installing multimedia equipment in classroom, introducing the video conferencing system, video streaming and on-line education technologies.
The first video conferencing system running on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) was set up in Macao.
Video-On-Demand service was established.
SI Web, the first version of web-based Student Online Enrolment and Add/Drop application was launched, to replace all the manual operations.
1998 The first high speed ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network was set up in Macao with a speed of 622Mbps, the highest standard of ATM network technology at the time.
On-line Education was implemented. The web-based education platform is WebCT.
1999 Net-Home 56K Dialup service was deployed for general users accessing Internet and Campus Network at home.
The charged printing service in computer rooms was launched.
2000-2008
2000 The E-Campus concept was initiated. UM was the first institution in Macao to start the development of smart card system, the related E-purse application and smart facilities management systems. The traditional student and staff cards were replaced by a contactless smart card, called UM Campus Card.
Campus network backbone was upgraded to Gigabit Ethernet.
The Net-Port service was launched. With network outlets installed in all classrooms, meeting rooms, theatres, leisure areas and library for student use.
2001 The E-purse service integrated with the UM Campus Card was introduced. The first application was on printing service in computer rooms.
Kiosks with E-purse function were installed. Users could use the UM Campus Card to purchase additional printing quota via kiosk.
The largest wireless campus network was established in Macao, with the coverage of campus being over 90%.

The first generation of UM wireless network that supported the IEEE 802.11b industry standard, and provided the advanced dynamic WEP KEY technology of the day in user security. It also achieved the roaming function within single network segment.
The first Notebook Ownership Program was organized.
Application development platform was changed from Oracle Client-server Forms to Oracle JDeveloper, and Java web-based administrative applications were developed.
2002 The Macao’s first remote mirroring storage area network was built in UM, and becoming the first establishment of same class in South-East Asia.
An Optical Mark Recognition System was setup to perform the collection of data from document forms such as survey and tests.
2003 E-purse Add-Value Machine was introduced as an additional option for replenishing the E-Purse. The E-purse self-service photocopying was launched.
The University deployed Gigabit Ether Channel technology to build network with speed up to 8 Gbps.
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service was launched for users to access UM intranet resources off-campus.
Multimedia Station was set up for users to produce video files, record files on a CD or VCD or DVD, digitize videos from DVCAM, DV mini, VHS, SVHS, and output them to computer and Internet playable format.
The eChannel System was launched for providing users with an easy and convenient way to send notification to students through SMS.
2004 The Online Self-Learning Service was launched. A series of courses were prepared for staff to seek knowledge about information technology and related fields.
2005 An IPv6/32 address was assigned to UM. It is also for Macao Higher Education Network.
PC LAN was migrated from Novell Netware network to Microsoft Windows network.
The wireless network was upgraded to the second generation system, which supported the IEEE 802.11b/g industry standards and provided up to 54 Mb connection speed. It also achieved the roaming function across multiple network segments.
The University consolidated traditional PBX communication system with IP telephone system (Avaya Hybrid IP-PABX Phone system). New buildings on Campus were also built with IP telephone network.
UM i.Display system (Information Display system) was set up. User departments could submit up to date information to the system by their own.
2006 Computer Service Bureau (CSB) was renamed as Information and Communication Technology Office (ICTO).
2007 Launched E-purse applications: Self-service Laundry and Smart Metering of Air-Conditioning Service at student hostels.
The Smart Car Park Management system with RFID technology was set up for automating the car park management. The fee collection is based on the E-purse.
Started phasing out the Net-Home 56K Dialup service.
We joined Joint Universities Computer Centre, Hong Kong. UM is the first Macao Higher Institution joining this organisation for knowledge and experience sharing.
2008 The wireless network system was replaced with the third generation wireless network with thin access point. It supported IEEE 802.11 a/b/g industry standard high-speed connection, various encryption schemes, total intelligent roaming service and comprehensive system monitoring technology.
New On-line Education platform – UMMoodle was introduced to replace WebCT.
2009-2018
2009 The campus network backbone was upgraded from gigabit Ethernet to 10 Gbps high speed Ethernet.
System Virtualization Infrastructure was adopted to consolidate the physical servers for fast deployment and energy saving.
The first Macao institution participating in the international wireless roaming infrastructure, eduroam, and took the initiative in managing the infrastructure for the Macao region as well as providing the technical consultation and pre-examination for membership approval.
The Virtual Private Network service was upgraded from IP-SEC technology to SSL-VPN technology to enable teachers and students to access the UM Intranet resources securely with Web browsers.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a bill which approved the construction of UM’s new campus on Hengqin Island. Started design and planning for new campus.
2011 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) was deployed in survey laboratory to simplify the client OS management.
Remote Support Service, a secure and quick technical support method was launched.
Over 70% of IT systems had been shifted over to virtual systems which shortened the system recovery and migration time.
The operation of MONIC was handed over to Macao Government.
2012 The High Performance Computing Cluster named “Pearl” was launched.
The first UM official mobile Apps was developed.
2013 The 2nd generation UM Campus Card was issued, containing a highly secure chip based on open global standards for RF interface and cryptographic methods.
Storage tiering and flash storage technology were adopted in central storage system. It transformed traditional RAID to pool technology as storage virtualization.
Web Content Management System was introduced to host the departmental web sites. It allowed users easily update and publish information to web without knowing too much about technique of writing web pages.
2014 Took over the new campus on Hengqin.
The new IT infrastructure including two data centres (200m2 and 300m2 respectively in size), fibre connected campus network with 500 fibres, 34 zone switches and 2,300 access switches, WiFi network with 3,800 wireless access points, IP phone system with 1,932 IP phones were setup.
Employed switch virtualization technique in core networks. Multiple core switches in two data centres form a single logical fabric, thus simplifying the network complexity and daily operation across the data centres.
Established high redundant server farm network across the data centres. Network connections between server farm network and core network are highly redundant that the failure of any core switch in local data center will NOT have any impact to the operation of server farm network.
The IP address for end user was changed from static to dynamic IP assignment and with 802.1x authentication for network access control (both wired and wireless).
ICTO successfully migrated the IT infrastructure to New Campus. Totally 103 servers, 7 data storage systems and over 2,700 pieces of computer equipment were successfully relocated. No IT service down time was longer than one day during migration period.
An interactive electronic campus map was established.
2015 Built the SAN fabrics to link up four isolated SAN islands across the data centers. Storage systems can synchronize data across data centers and are redundant to each other.  Any single failure on a fabric component will NOT affect the normal operation of the storage systems.
Server farm security enhancement with deployment of Level 7 application firewall plus IPS features, replacing the traditional Level 4 ACLs.
Student email service was migrated to Public Cloud service. The Student Lifelong Email Service – UM@Connect was launched.
Lotus Notes email platform was replaced by MS Exchange platform.
Microsoft Share Point 2013 was introduced to replace the Lotus Notes document databases as a document management platform.
All ICTO staff passed ITIL Foundation Certification.
Information Security Team was formed.
A quarterly ICTO Newsletter was launched.
2016 Help Desk deployed Remedy for IT Service Management (ITSM), it was the first step to adopt the world wide ITIL best practices.
Infrastructure Performance Monitoring and Network Configuration Management System were set up to automate the campus network management works.
MobilePrint service was launched. It allowed users to print documents on their mobile device via UM Wireless LAN.
ICTO subscribed to a Zoom Cloud-Based Web Conferencing service.
File servers were migrated to storage appliances across 2 data centres with replication and versioning technology. It increased the data availability and provided self-service file restoration.
Virtual computer room based on VDI and private cloud was opened. It enabled students and staff to access the specialized software from their own personal devices remotely anytime.
WiFi network expanded to 7,000 access points.
The Academic Staff Portfolio System for academic staff was launched to establish a centralized database of individual academic portfolio for all faculty members of the University.
Launched the Research Grant Management System (RGMS) for the academic staff to apply for research grant online and streamline operations in external review and assessment processes.
Launched the Student Housing System (HS) for all RCs and SAO to manage the student residential activities.
Released the 2nd generation of High Performance Computing Cluster, Jade, with High-end GPU.
2017 Revamped the Admission system to handle all student admission processes and added features to cope with the launch of Joint Admission Examination for Macao Four Higher Education Institutions.
Launched the Budgeting System (BGT) for management of budget by all departmental users.
A data warehouse was built for data analysis and reporting to facilitate decision making.
Launched the Identity and Access Management (ACM) which allow departments to manage the access rights of their groups for certain applications.
Launched UMPASS for single sign on to web applications.
Started deploy Windows 10 and provided VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) as alternate environment for running applications.
Deployment of Macau Pass and Quick Pass for electronic payment service.
Launched the Unified Communication client Cisco Jabber to improve staff mobility and productivity by providing instant messaging, voice and video calls, voice messaging, desktop sharing, conferencing, and presence, enabling them to collaborate effectively at all times, both in and out of campus.
2018 Launched the Open Data API Platform for UM members to access public data published by UM.
Launched the Online Payment Service (OPS) for students to proceed online applications with online payment by credit cards.
Launched a new Resource Booking System to provide UM members with a modern user interface for resource reservation such as rooms and equipment.
Launched myUM Portal for quick and easy access to various web-based services through desktop and mobile devices.
Launched eForm on the SharePoint platform for simple creation and distribution of electronic forms for activity registrations.
Deployed Change Management for IT Service Management (ITSM), one step forward to the world wide ITIL best practices.
Change of UM Domain Name to um.edu.mo.
2019-2023
2019 Release the third generation HPCC (Coral), its computing power is increased by 12.5 times compared with last generation, to fulfill the growth of research projects.
Launched a new version of Student Information App (SI App) to replace SI Web with mobile-friendly interface and enriched features.
Successful upgrade and migration from SharePoint 2013 to 2016.
UMDrive as an on-premises cloud storage system is newly released, it lets our staff access the documents in a convenient and safe environment, on any device, anytime, from anywhere.
Establish the Virtual Desktop Service (VDS), it provides users with another desktop environment operation, improving their user experience and efficiency in teaching, research and administration.
2020 Awarded ISO 27001:2013 ISMS Certification for Data Centre Services including Server Hosting Services and Facility Management Services.
2021 Successful upgrade and migration from MS Exchange 2013 to 2019.
Launch Self-Service Kiosk for Printing of Testimonial and Transcript.
Launched New eProcurement System.
UM payment gateway integrated with GovPay.
Facility Network core switch upgraded to support 40 Gigabit, to cope with the growth of campus development.
2022 Wi-Fi 6 standard was introduced for wireless network to provide a wireless experience with high density, faster throughput and higher reliability.
Internet bandwidth was increased from 7Gbps to 10Gbps.
Student Exchange and Scholarship Application System was integrated into the Agreement Management System. Students can apply for exchange programme and scholarship online.
New E-Bulletin Board platform was launched.
2023 More than 2,800 Wireless Access Points (AP) were installed in Staff Quarters and other buildings to extend the Wi-Fi coverage and support Wi-Fi 6 standard.
  New All-flash central storage was deployed with active-active data center design to improve access performance, maximize data availability, and reduce power consumption and rack space.
  New information services were introduced to support administrative operations in various units, including Course Proposal and Assessment System, E-Leave Application for PhD Students, Student Checkout Application, Event Management System, ICTO Account Information, Facility Access Card Management, etc.
  More than 1,500 forms & reports and 60 applications were upgraded.

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