Last modified: Monday, August 1, 2011
IU and Ivy Tech implement data center partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 1, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS -- Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana is now providing most of its IT services out of the Indiana University Data Center in Indianapolis, fulfilling an agreement signed in April by IU President Michael A. McRobbie and Ivy Tech President Thomas J. Snyder.
The highly complex move was completed on schedule, and officials from both institutions praised the planning and implementation as smooth and seamless.
"Everyone wins when Indiana's institutions of higher education collaborate to share resources and improve efficiency," McRobbie said. "Students will benefit from this project, and so will the taxpayers of the state of Indiana. Its smooth and timely implementation is a credit to the professionalism of the IT staff at Indiana University and Ivy Tech."
An employee checks servers at the IUPUI data center.
"The move allows Ivy Tech to utilize a modern, state-of-the-art facility rather than attempting to retro-fit our old facility or rebuild a new facility in order to meet our growing IT demands," said Snyder. "We have partnered with Indiana University on a number of programs and we are pleased to partner with them again on this important cost saving initiative for the state of Indiana."
The data center on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) opened in 2004 as part of the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex, and the university opened a second data center at IU Bloomington in 2009. The addition of the second center, coupled with improved efficiencies in technology, provided an opportunity for Ivy Tech to use part of the IUPUI data center for its critical IT systems.
Ivy Tech, meanwhile, had been seeking ways to address problems with its aging data center. Rather than invest millions to build a new center for its own use, Ivy Tech worked with IU on a collaboration that saves money and brings the institutions together. Ivy Tech is also moving its mainframe equipment to the State of Indiana's data center, and IU and the State of Indiana have long partnered on backup IT services.
"This bold move by Ivy Tech and IU combines our 40-campus scale to make IT for higher education more efficient," said Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and chief information officer. "Our effective collaboration on this and also connecting all Ivy Tech campuses to the fast and efficient I-Light fiber optic network exemplify our joint progress for the good of the state."
All Ivy Tech campuses will soon be connected to the IU-operated I-Light high-speed network through a commercial partnership with Zayo Bandwidth. Zayo was awarded a $25.1 million federal broadband grant to build high-speed Internet connections to unserved and underserved Indiana communities. IU, Ivy Tech and Ball State partnered in that grant to connect all Ivy Tech campuses and further reduce computer network costs for education and research.
"Our collaboration with Indiana University continues to allow for a more efficient and cost-effective system of higher education in the state," said Anne Brinson, Ivy Tech chief information officer. "The end result is better service and continued affordability for our students."
The IT collaborations are another part of expanding academic partnerships between Indiana University and Ivy Tech. Last week, for example, officials announced an agreement that will enable students who transfer from Ivy Tech to IUPUI before completing an associate degree to still earn that important credential, as credits the students earn at IUPUI after transferring will also count toward an associate degree from Ivy Tech.
For more information, contact Mark Land, Indiana University, at 812-856-1172 or mdland@indiana.edu, or Kelly Hauflaire, Ivy Tech Community College, at 317-417-3582 or khauflaire@ivytech.edu.
