IT introduces Office 365 and App-J to staff and students

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

IT are in the process of introducing Office 365 and App-J to staff and students at the University of Reading. 

The team has recently completed the first of two rollout phases to bring Office 365 to staff and students.

The first phase has introduced online Office software and OneDrive for Business to staff and students, plus Skype for Business for staff and enhanced email and calendar functionality for students.

In the second phase, students will receive Skype for Business and the improvements introduced to student email and calendars will be rolled out to staff.  

Full benefits of each service are outlined on the IT Office 365 page – highlights include:

• Word, PowerPoint and Excel now available online.
• Office software installed onto personal PCs/laptops, tablets and phones via the ProPlus extension.
• OneDrive provides 1 TB storage per colleague / student and enables collaborative working and sharing. 
• Emails upgraded to 50 GB storage per colleague / student. 
• Skype for Business introduces instant messaging, online meetings and document collaboration. 

Along with the rollout of Office 365, IT are also carrying out a beta-launch of App-J, a new application deployment service.

Following requests from students, App-J will enable applications to be streamed and cached without full installation, opening many new prospects for ways in which students and staff can access University software. 

The programme has initially been rolled out to centrally-booked PC labs and classrooms – later phases aim to introduce App-J to personal PCs and laptops, on and off campus.

See the App-J information page for full details.