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Modernization of all desktop computers completed; IU addresses ongoing tech needs with life-cycle funding
Nov. 15, 2000
NOTE: More information on the Information Technology Strategic Plan is available online. The May 1998 plan, "Architecture for the 21st Century: An Information Technology Strategic Plan for Indiana University," can be accessed on the Web at http://www.indiana.edu/~ovpit/strategic/. Also, "UITS Accomplishments Report: FY 1999-2000" can be read at http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/cpo/accomplish/
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University faculty and staff desktop computers will be replaced every three years, thanks to a life-cycle funding program that was a top priority recommendation of the IU Information Technology Strategic Plan.
As a result of this program, 10,000 desktop computers have been replaced and now all 15,000 IU faculty and staff desktop systems university-wide are less than three years old and capable of running the most current software.
Each desktop computer will be replaced every three years with a current-technology computer. This will be funded from a life-cycle funding pool accrued over the three years of the computer's service. Printers and servers also come under this program, and desktop computers in the public Student Technology Centers came under it some years ago.
IU may well be the first university in the United States of its size to have put in place institution-wide, life-cycle funding for desktop computing.
"Information technology has become fundamental to teaching, learning and research at Indiana University and throughout higher education," said Michael McRobbie, IU's vice president for information technology and chief information officer.
"Information technology is just as vital to the attraction, support and retention of top faculty and staff as are such traditional considerations as competitive salaries, fringe benefits, offices, research and teaching support, telephones and parking spaces," McRobbie continued.
"Success at using information technology requires a constant updating of hardware, software, methods and support models. These costs, however, have historically been addressed with one-time funding and other ad hoc, crisis-based approaches. Such funding approaches thwart the long range planning and modernization efforts that are vital to the successful integration of IT into the fabric of the university," he said.
The program also has achieved substantial savings for the university through aggregating large equipment orders and negotiating volume pricing agreements with vendors. Savings to date are estimated at $5 million.
Such uniform, university-wide access to current technology would have been all but unimaginable five years ago. One faculty member said, "Now I can truly concentrate on the work of teaching and not be hampered by obsolete technology."
As part of its five-year Information Technology Strategic Plan, IU is working to build life-cycle replacement funding of desktop, departmental and central systems and network hardware and software into its planning at every level of investment in information technology. This model incorporates plans not only for replacing today's technical resources, but also for accommodating the ongoing increase in computational power and communication bandwidth.
(Christine Y. Fitzpatrick, 317-278-1818, cfitzpat@iupui.edu)