Renewed computer deals to save students, University money

IU plans to save more than $4 million while extending additional savings to students, faculty and staff with its announcement Tuesday that University Information Technology Services has renewed and restructured its landmark deals with Dell and Microsoft. \nUnder the new three-year Microsoft and two-year Dell extended contracts, Sue Workman, director of user support for IU, said that students would see even greater institutional discounts than they have previously had.\n"What we basically did was renegotiate the contracts and we were able to leverage and take advantage of our mass purchasing power to provide software (and hardware) to students, faculty and staff," Workman said. \nShe added that students can now expect to see an approximate extra $50 taken off previous IU discounts for Dell desktops and notebooks, while Microsoft software plans have been renewed to allow for free or discounted rates for downloads of software including Microsoft Office, Front Page, Visual Studio, Microsoft Publisher and operating system updates that will include Window's upcoming Vista release. Also there will be further discounts from the entire Dell catalog, she said. \n"These two (Microsoft and Dell deals) together really do contribute to the reason that IU has the 'Red Hot' kind of thing," Workman said. "It helps keep technology current, cheap or even at the least free." \nIn 1998 IU and Microsoft made history by making the University the first in the nation to offer popular software products, such as Microsoft Office, available to all of the University's students, faculty and staff. IU's 2003 agreement with Dell created significant discounts on all Dell products and large discounts on select computers.\n"I'm very pleased that the University is able to extend these two important information technology-related purchase agreements that will benefit the students, faculty and staff at IU," said IU Chief Information Officer Brad Wheeler, who was unable to be reached for comment by press time, in a statement. "These agreements again demonstrate our commitment to providing the best information technology resources and prices for our community."\nWorkman added that in the University's eighty-year history working with Microsoft, this is by far its best deal to date. Through its educational pricing savings to the University will accrue into the millions over its term.\nAnother benefit to the new contracts, Workman said, was that students, faculty and staff can use the savings for home, work or school related purchases. Also before graduating, students can have the ability to purchase reasonably priced equipment and software. \n"This puts us a real step ahead when we have these types of agreements available," Workman said. "It really does make a difference, when others have to pay $300 to $400 a pop for Microsoft Office"