Indiana University

News Release

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Last modified: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

IU agreement with AT&T, Kelley School embraces mobility with BlackBerry smartphones

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has announced a two-year pilot agreement with AT&T that will provide opportunities for business graduate students, faculty and staff to take advantage of the communications mobility provided by BlackBerry® smartphones.

This is the first such agreement between AT&T and a university. The program, negotiated through University Information Technology Services at IU, will be launched on July 1 in partnership with IU's Kelley School of Business.

"Mobility is in high demand, and mobile applications and delivery are essential for higher education," said IU Associate Vice President for Support, Sue Workman. "Indiana University is pleased to have the opportunity to engage with AT&T in this first-of-a-kind program."

Faculty and graduate students (at both masters and doctoral levels) enrolled in Kelley School of Business programs on both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses may participate in the AT&T BlackBerry program, and they will enjoy the support of dedicated higher education resources to support the program from AT&T.

In addition, participating Kelley faculty, staff and graduate students will be eligible for AT&T's University Advantage Program, which includes specially tailored pricing for participating colleges and universities.

The BlackBerry smartphones deployed in this program will use IU's Microsoft® Exchange e-mail and calendaring environment, as well as the school's existing BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. IU and the BlackBerry Professional Services® team will be creating an application for the BlackBerry smartphone to allow integration with mobile enterprise systems. This will help students and faculty to stay on top of their academics and campus life while on the go.

"This particular opportunity will allow our faculty to experiment with integrating the BlackBerry® smartphone experience into their pedagogy, and will allow our students to learn how to use this technology in managing their future business activities and their mobile lives," said Frank Acito, associate dean at the Kelley School. "The project makes this technology accessible and integrated with the enterprise mobility plans, and allows our future business leaders to utilize tools in an educational setting that they will likely use in their careers."

"When AT&T and Research In Motion approached Indiana University to discuss this program, we did so knowing Indiana's long-term strategic focus on enhancing information technology on campus," said Reed Pangborn, sales center vice president, higher education mobility solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. "Mobile applications in the higher education segment extend the classroom and improve the student learning experience by educating with real-world tools. Innovative programs like this one will soon become the standard for higher education."

"This agreement is an important step in realizing the vision of 'Empowering People,' IU's strategic plan for information technology," said Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Brad Wheeler, who also is a professor of information systems in the Kelley School.

"The plan strongly encourages the continuation and expansion of IU's highly successful collaborations with hardware, software and service vendors to enhance and augment the university's mission of teaching and learning for the 21st-century," Wheeler added.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.


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