January 2026 CIO Updates
A compiled monthly view of Enterprise Technology work across instructional innovation, infrastructure, modernization, and engagement. This format is designed as a standing newsroom style for leadership updates.
The CIO updates provide an overview of accomplishments and ongoing efforts within Enterprise Technology, highlighting key projects, services, and initiatives to communicate their value and impact to university leaders and stakeholders.
For the post engine, this monthly digest format is intentionally different from a standard feature story. It is built to scan quickly, foreground metrics, and give each update its own structured card without losing the editorial feel of the newsroom.
Enterprise Technology staff presents about UT Sage at AWS Bedrock Workshop
The session highlighted how UT Austin is using AWS services to support instructional innovation through Enterprise Technology-developed solutions.
The appearance also strengthened ET’s visibility in a high-profile industry setting and demonstrated to internal and external audiences how institutional technology work at UT can translate into a credible, production-scale use case.
UT Sage continues to show strong adoption. In Fall 2025, more than 2,100 students used 366 tutors across 90 Canvas courses, generating 128,000 interactions.
F5 deployment significantly reduces bot traffic and stabilizes library services
After tuning, the solution blocked 98 to 99 percent of malicious traffic during peak surges and filtered roughly 80 percent of inbound requests daily.
UT Libraries experienced zero outages after implementation and saw reduced compute demand, improving reliability for high-visibility academic resources.
The deployment used a dedicated virtual F5 Web Application Firewall and try-before-buy licensing to validate advanced modules before a broader campus rollout.
Successful demonstration of the new web page for ID Card Services to the ID Center team
The demonstration showcased secure SSO, role-based administration, verified data migration, streamlined self-service, and reliable integrations.
Feedback from the ID Center team has already been incorporated, with enhancements being prioritized by criticality.
The broader project creates a lower-risk path to cutover while advancing the university’s digital modernization agenda.
Successful migration to new IBM z16 mainframe
The new platform delivers faster processing and I/O performance, lower latency, and modern AI capabilities for mission-critical university workloads.
The migration depended on collaboration across ET, especially with University Data Center and Networking teams, plus leadership support for planning, communications, outreach, and vendor alignment.
More than 50 partners from Enterprise Technology and across campus contributed to testing and validation.
January digital engagement
ET Informational sent 10 emails with a 54 percent open rate and a 12 percent click rate, while three UT Works emails achieved a 37 percent open rate.
Instagram generated 617 views and reached 389 accounts. LinkedIn produced 3,667 impressions and eight new followers, bringing the audience to 331.
The tech website recorded 31,308 sessions and 26,370 unique users, with News as the top page.