At UAB, IT spins and supports a network that connects everyone together, optimizing communication and collaboration from avenues in the city to remote offices in rural Alabama. This all thanks to the Infrastructure and Operations team.
By definition, “infrastructure” is a set of components that sets the foundation for IT services. It encompasses not only physical attributes like computers, facilities and hardware, but also software and network.
UAB IT is home to four teams under the Infrastructure & Operations unit: application services, core infrastructure, database services, and operations. These teams work under Associate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Brian Rivers and Executive Director Rachel Moorehead.
“These teams work hard to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. They are the ones implementing the updates, fielding the questions, and finding the bugs when something goes off course," Rivers said.
The Applications Services team handles everything from Box to Microsoft. They assist with large file migrations, implement changes to software, and write many of the self-help articles that campus users can find in the IT Service Portal’s knowledge base.
"Infrastructure is vital to campus because our teams manage critical resources like the network, servers, and applications used by everyone at UAB every day,” said Bradford Bondurant, system analyst architect. “I'm glad to be part of that by leading the Application Services team, where we manage critical applications.”
Bondurant and his team start each day by meeting to get a picture of what needs to be handled in a timely manner. An essential part of the job is project management, said Systems Analyst Allie King said. On top of their own projects, Applications Services team members work to handle incoming tickets from the AskIT help desk and collaborate across IT to support campus innovations.
"In my role as a systems analyst, I help my team ensure applications are secure, integrated, and functioning smoothly,” King said. “This is essential for reliable communication, data security, and efficient workflows across the campus community. By analyzing user needs and implementing solutions, I not only enhance the user experience but also drive innovation and support the university’s digital transformation.”
One of the bigger projects Application Services is undertaking is a large file migration with the Innovate Together project. As teams from distributed IT move under the central UAB IT umbrella, large data quantities have to be moved from servers across campus into the Microsoft environment.
"This is one of the most important projects that has landed in my lap," said Brett Bates, a system analyst. "Moving these servers into Microsoft will allow easier access to our customers. Teams and OneDrive are much easier to access from different devices and allow for things like simultaneous editing that file servers can't do."
While Bates and his team focus on moving items from one server to another, another team is working on keeping the servers up to date. Brandon Hawkins is part of the Core Infrastructure team, who spends many days bringing new servers online.
"My role in the core team is focused on hypervisor platforms,” Hawkins said. “I make sure that virtualization software is running and up to date. When we bring a new server online, I assist with integrating the operating systems and any applications our customers may want.”
The core team is also working on a new venture with the Innovate Together Project, migrating distributed IT infrastructure into central IT. So far, the team has brought in data from the UAB School of Dentistry, School of Engineering, Collat School of Business, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The move took items from their virtualization platforms to central IT servers, and the core team was able to innovate that process.
"Once we moved their VMWare into our VMWare, we wanted to transition over to using Hyper V. When we moved over the School of Engineering, I was able to use a tool developed in PowerShell to help the migration and automate the process,” Hawkins said.
The Innovate Together project is not only bringing new projects to the group, but new faces as well. Mat Thompson started off in the College of Arts and Sciences IT department eight years ago. After CAS IT moved into central, Mat wanted to challenge himself with a new role in the IT realm.
"After the transition to central IT, and with the certifications I had earned over the years, I felt that it was time for something new,” Thompson said. “Bradford Bondurant, who was the previous manager of CAS IT, had recently moved into his role on this team as systems analyst architect, so when an analyst role opened up on this team, I made sure to apply. I'm still learning the ropes of this new role, but it has been very rewarding so far.”
Any day with this group is never boring: There are updates to implement, servers to construct, and if you’re lucky you may have a once in a lifetime opportunity come to fruition — including the new data hall in UAB IT’s newest building, the Technology Innovation Center.
“Who gets to say on a day-to-day basis that they built a data hall from scratch? We often look at what others may think is impossible, and find a way to make it possible,” Moorehead said.