About CITS

The Computer Centre was born a year after the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), predecessor of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), was set up in the old campus of Nanyang University (NU). The Computer Centre was part of the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE), and was housed at the present Innovation Centre (then School of EEE building). Mr Yew Bok Chin was appointed as the EDP manager.

The 1st Information System Planning (ISP) blueprint was created. To meet the administrative needs of the then Registrar's Office and Bursar's Office, the Student Records System and Student Billing System were developed in-house using the Perkin-Elmer and NCR minicomputers respectively.

NTI was also the 1st local tertiary institution to provide all students with computer accounts.

With the growth in computing needs, the Computer Centre was established as a separate department from the School of EEE. Mr Low Kin Kiong was appointed as the Director.

The 1st tender was called to implement a massive S$10m campus-wide integrated IT infrastructure.

First issue of the quarterly IT newsletter "Computing News" was published in August 1985.

1986...

Computer Centre moved from the Innovation Centre to the North Academic Complex.

A top-of-the-line VAX system was purchased to replace the Perkin-Elmer system. It was the 1st minicomputer system that supported dual processors.

1987...

NTI became the 1st tertiary institution in South-east Asia to have successfully implemented a high-speed campus-wide computer network. It enabled NTI to become the 1st tertiary institution to successfully implement an electronic mail service and discussion forums on a campus-wide scale, linking every person on the campus via a common network.

NTI provided almost every staff with a PC. NTI quickly became a reference site and catalyst for other tertiary institutions both locally and in the region to do likewise. The ALL-IN-1 integrated Office system was also implemented to provide emailing facility, appointment and videotext facility. The system was the first among the government agencies and was soon followed by others.

NTI and Digital Equipment jointly set up the Digital-NTI Training Centre at the Computer Centre level 4 office. Free IT training courses were given to staff.

1988...

NTI took the benefits of a campus-wide network one step further by making the Library's services available online to all PCs on the campus network. Library's catalogue and book reservation were accessible online, and electronic reminders to users for late return of books were automatically generated. We implemented one of the earliest fully-automated Library system in South-east Asia.

1989...

A comprehensive financial management system was implemented, allowing distributed creation of purchase requisitions and approvals, and online access to departmental financial statements. 

The same year saw NTI having its first connection to Bitnet, the predecessor of Internet.

1990...

NTI took delivery of one of the first two VAX9000 mainframes shipped out of Digital Equipment. The computer was Digital's last system not based on microprocessor technology.

The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was inaugurated on 30 June 1991.

NTU and Digital Equipment jointly established a Network Technology Research Centre (NTRC) within NTU campus to contribute to the national IT2000 vision of National Computer Board (NCB).  Digital Equipment donated computing and networking facilities worth more than S$2m as well as consulting services and manpower. 

In the same year, NTU opened up Internet access to all students. Prior to that, Internet access was limited to staff and research students. By late 1991, NTU had computerized practically all its major administrative business processes according to its Information System Planning blueprint.

1992...

NTU made the bold move to require all students to have computer accounts with email access and to use online systems for subject registration and selection of projects. Up until then, using computer account was optional for students. This was true for both NTU and other tertiary institutions. This change significantly improved the University's administrative efficiency. Other tertiary institutions soon followed NTU's lead.

1994...

Telephone voice response system was deployed to allow students to carry out subject registration using normal telephone sets. An IT Helpdesk hotline was also launched.

NTU was also the 1st in Singapore to implement a self-service check-out system for the Library. 

1996...

In July of that year, NTU became one of the first adopter in Singapore of Microsoft Exchange email system, providing feature-rich Windows-based clients and allowing MS Office documents to be attached and sent through the email system.

One-stop e-services brands were set up for all groups of users -- staff (StaffLink), undergrads (StudentLink) and postgrads (GSLink). 

1997...

In July 1998, NTU campus network was connected to Internet2 via SingAREN, the academic and research network of Singapore. Internet2 was the highspeed network of USA/Canada for the interconnection of universities and research institutes. The connection allowed live conferencing to be used for collaboration programmes such as the Singapore-MIT Alliance programme.

1999...

Computer Centre was renamed to Centre for IT Services (CITS) on 18 Feb 1999 to better reflect the changing roles of the centre from a primarily computer power provider to a more varied IT service provider.

NTU became the 1st local institution to implement a comprehensive Digital Library services called GEMS (Gateway to Electronic Media Services). NTU also migrated its financial system to SAP R/3 system. Web-based e-Pay Advice System (ePAS) was launched to automate salary-related processes.

Early 1999 also saw the campus network extended to all halls of residence and staff quarters so that each residential unit was provided with a wired point for network access. Through this project, the switched gigabit Ethernet network backbone was deployed.

A website for Helpdesk was also launched in January 1999.

2000...

NTU implemented the world's largest campus wireless network, and also the 1st campus-wide wireless network in Asia.

e-Payment services were adopted for ATMs, self-service kiosks and online applications. Some of these payments amounted to over S$1.2m in transactions a year.

The newsletter "Computing News" was renamed "IT Zone" in January 2000.

2001...

The Digital Library services was upgraded from an Intranet service to an Internet service under the iGEMS (Intelligent Gateway to Electronic Media Services) brand name. NTU became one of the earliest local tertiary institutions to implement a campus-wide Portal providing easy access to campus information and services. 

Free email service for Alumni was launched allowing graduating students to retain their NTU email address while past graduates were able to register for new emailbox.

CITS had its first team building programme at the Service Quality Centre.

IT Zone was published entirely online since 2001 (Apr - Jun) issue.

2002...

A major upgrade of the NTU campus network was completed to provide every network user with sufficient bandwidth to receive true multimedia broadcasts. 

e-services for mobile devices were made available for certain applications. NTU also launched its 1st set of electronic greeting cards.

NTU's e-payment system won the "Intelligent20 award" given by Intelligent Enterprise Asia.

2003...

In December of that year, all staff and students accounts were extended to include online storage for personal documents. The facility allowed users to keep their documents online and with the convenience of access through the web.

A campus-wide mailing list system based on Listserv was implemented. 

The e-newsletter IT Zone was published monthly (instead of quarterly) from October 2003.

2004...

For the first time, admission system was enhanced to support separate admission applications to different local universities. By doing so, candidates could indicate more choices in their applications. 

NTU's SAP financial system was integrated with the Singapore Government's procurement system Gebiz.

Campus Buzz, a weekly electronic newsletter featuring student events was launched in May to reach out to the student community. It fast became a popular and effective channel for student organisations to publicise thier events and activities.

2005...

NTU hosted an online joint-admission acceptance system for the 3 local universities: NTU, NUS and SMU.

Mr Lau Kai Cheong came on board on 24 May 2006 as the University's first CIO (Chief Information Officer) to lead both CITS and CED (Centre for Educational Development).

Student mailboxes had a 300% quota increase to 100MB each. Overseas Internet bandwidth was doubled to 240Mbps. NTU Management Dashboard was launched for management staff.

NTU was one of the winners for the "Network World Asia Enterprise All Stars 2006" award.

Email archival system for staff mailboxes was implemented, expanding the mailbox size by 400%. Overseas Internet bandwidth was further increased to 413Mbps.

A second data centre was set up in the South Spine.

CITS celebrated its 25th anniversary with monthly events and the first ever overseas retreat to Malacca for team building. CITS also won the prestigious Nanyang Award in the Teamwork category.

2008...

In June, the Application Group and some of the Operation Group staff moved from level 4 of the North Academic Complex to level B1 of the newly-built Administration Cluster (Blk N2.1). Front desk customer service was also made available there during office hours.

NTU website and CITS website were revamped and migrated to Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) 2007 platform in June.

2009...

CITS ceased walk-in counter service at its General Office w.e.f. 1 Jan 2009. IT counter services were consolidated at 3 locations: Blk N2.1 Office, LWN Library and South Spine Computer Room.

A High Performance Computing (HPC) data centre was set up at level 4 of the North Academic Complex.

2010...

A new e-newsletter IT Connect was published on MOSS 2007 platform in January 2010, replacing IT Zone which had been in circulation from Jan 2000 to Dec 2009. It was meant to be a joint publication by the Centre for IT Services, Centre for Educational Development and NIE Computer Services Centre.

As part of the Cool Campus initiatives, the South Spine Computer Terminal Room was renovated and renamed "Learning Pod @ South Spine" in March.

With effect from March 2010, all students' mailboxes are on Microsoft Windows Live.

Mr Tay Kheng Tiong, an ITIL expert, was appointed as the new CIO on 15 October 2010. By end 2010, almost all CITS staff obtained ITIL version 3 Foundation certification.