Tech Alerts

The issue preventing some FDU users from accessing Outlook on the web has been resolved. Microsoft determined that recent backend code changes caused the disruption and restored service by reverting those changes.

FDU users can now resume accessing Office 365 through office365.fdu.edu.

If You Continue to Experience Issues

If you continue to experience difficulty accessing Outlook on the web, clear your browser cache, close and reopen your browser, and try again.

We are currently experiencing intermittent issues affecting access to Office 365 services through office365.fdu.edu. You may encounter errors or delays when attempting to sign in.

Temporary Workaround

If you need to access your University email on the web, go directly to Outlook on the web.

Current Status

This disruption is related to ongoing service interruptions reported by external providers. We are actively investigating alongside our vendors to restore full access as quickly as possible.

Next Steps

We will share further updates as soon as more information becomes available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

When a new operating system is released, the USAN team performs various tests to ensure that it is fully compatible with the FDU environment. As this process is still ongoing for macOS Golden Gate (macOS 27), please do not upgrade your FDU-issued computer to macOS Golden Gate at this time.

We will send another alert to the University community as soon as macOS Golden Gate is fully vetted and approved for installation.

Between Thursday, July 16 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Friday, July 17 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, FDU will perform a firmware upgrade on its network access control systems.

We do not expect this maintenance to affect users. However, on-campus users may experience intermittent wireless network outages during the maintenance window. Off-campus users may also experience intermittent VPN outages.

If you have trouble connecting to the wireless network or VPN after the update is complete, restart your device.

On Tuesday June 30th, between 7AM and 9AM ET, USAN will be performing an unscheduled network hardware replacement. While our expectation is that this work will not be user impacting, please be aware that network interruptions, while highly unlikely, are possible during this window.

On June 16, OIRT announced a series of upgrades to the virtual agent used for SAMI Service Desk phone support. That update introduced changes to make the agent more conversational, with additional improvements planned. Today, we are announcing the second upgrade.

Starting June 24, the virtual agent will ask whether your inquiry relates to one of the three most common support requests:

• Resetting your FDU NetID password
• Receiving a bypass code or other assistance with Duo multifactor authentication
• Getting back into a locked or disabled account

After the virtual agent completes standard identity verification, you will hear the following prompt:

Before we get started, let me see if I can quickly point you in the right direction. What are you calling about today? Say ‘Password reset’ if you need help resetting your FDU NetID password. Say ‘Multifactor Authentication’ if you are calling about a bypass code or Duo multifactor authentication. Say ‘Locked account’ if your account has been locked or disabled. Or say ‘Different question’ if your reason for calling is not listed here.

This feature is expected to improve the virtual agent experience for these common support needs and help callers reach a live agent more quickly when needed.

Another upgrade is already in progress. We will share an update as soon as it is ready to implement.

Ordering surveys were circulated to department heads prior to the submission of desktop refresh orders. Users who have been approved to receive new desktops will be contacted by Computing Services to schedule their deployment appointments.

User attendance is required during the refresh appointment to ensure the following configurations are completed within the allotted timeframe:

• Login credentials
• Duo
• Printer requirements
• Data transfer validation
• Zoom
• Other necessary configurations

Desktops scheduled for replacement will have their data backed up and recovered by Computing Services once the appointment has concluded.

Beginning this week, Computing Services staff will begin scheduling refresh appointments and equipment pickups with department members.

The scheduling and coordination process will take several weeks. We appreciate the cooperation and patience of all community members as this project is rolled out.

Questions regarding the desktop refresh may be directed to Lisa Stadler-Kay at stadler@fdu.edu or Peter Mannarino at p.mannarino@fdu.edu.

Since launching the SAMI Service Desk in August, OIRT has been diligently monitoring performance with a focus on continuous improvement. With that goal in mind, several major upgrades to the SAMI Virtual Agent system are on the way, and we are excited to announce the first enhancement today.

Starting June 17, interactions with the SAMI Virtual Agent will feel significantly more natural and conversational. Instead of using your dial pad to respond, you can simply speak your answers based on the options provided. The SAMI Virtual Agent can understand spoken responses and performs even better when you respond using complete sentences.

Going forward, the dial pad will only be needed when entering your FDU ID number or, if applicable, an existing ticket number.

During testing, this update proved to be a major step toward a more seamless virtual agent experience. Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback about their SAMI Service Desk experience. We look forward to introducing additional enhancements in the near future.

On Tuesday evening, May 26, starting at approximately 6 p.m. Eastern Time, FredGPT will be offline briefly while server updates and new features are implemented.

What’s New

Enhanced Features and Interface

The most noticeable change is to the Large Language Model (LLM). Llama 4 will be replaced with Gemma 4, developed by Google. GPT-OSS will still be available.

This upgrade will also allow FredGPT to connect to more potential data sources as needed.

The upgrade to Self-Service has been completed and the system is now available.