Further establishing itself as a leader in state and national technology initiatives, Case Western Reserve University's Information Technology Services announced the formation of a consortium of education, health care and non-profit organizations in Northeast Ohio who are working together to create a more robust regional infrastructure, leverage group purchasing opportunities and creating strategic relationships with technology industry leaders like Cisco, EMC, Dell, Sprint and others.

"More than 35 educational, health care, cultural and research organizations are actively reviewing the legal work associated with joining the effort," said Dell Klingensmith, CWRU's director of strategic partnerships and alliances. "Indeed, 12 institutions are already on board representing the key educational and many of the important cultural organizations in the region."

The affiliation program provides three core services. First, the technology architects of Cleveland's non-profit community are working together to raise the overall technical infrastructure of the region. This focuses on network and core application services.

"We are commonly committed to creating a seamless technology environment that enables for the community a robust infrastructure and extensive access to services from our respective organizations," said Tom Horn, director of information technology at the Cleveland Institute of Art. "The affiliate program has been an open and inclusive process that serves as a consortium of technology leaders in the region."

The second service of the affiliate program is the common buying program. Through contracts negotiated by CWRU explicitly for the purpose of the affiliates, members receive access to highly preferential pricing and support programs from Dell Computers, Cisco Systems, Netgear, Symantec, EMC and Sprint.

"Over time, we hope to conclude partnerships with another half dozen or so name brand technology firms," Klingensmith said.

Mike Droney, chief information officer at Cleveland State University said he is particularly enthusiastic about the buying power of the affiliation program.

"We're all under non-disclosure agreements, but, I can tell you that the terms and conditions are exceptional," Droney said. "We welcome the opportunity to participate and grow the affiliation program."

The third core service of the initiative is the strategic relationship between the vendor community and members of the affiliation program.

According to Liz Madigan, CWRU faculty liaison to ITS and associate dean of the Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing, the nursing school has been able to support joint proposals for scholarly research from the University's relationship with both Sprint and Cisco.

"We're hoping that technology relationships with EMC and Dell will lead to active research in the storage arena as well as in the mobile and ubiquitous computing arenas," Madigan said.

The University also is looking to specific faculty sabbatical programs and student summer internship programs, along with additional joint research and development efforts, according to Klingensmith.

More information about the Strategic Alliance and Partnership Program is available online at http://www.cwru.edu/its/strategic/index.htm.

In addition to CWRU, the list of current signed affiliates includes Baldwin Wallace, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Institute of Music, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland State University, Health Museum of Cleveland, John Caroll University, Ideastream (WCLV/WCPN), Lorain County Community College, MetroHealth Systems, Nature Center of Shaker Lakes and Western Historical Society.

 

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