Major agreement announced between IU and Microsoft

IU to become the first university in the United States to make Microsoft's software available to students, faculty and staff

In the first software deal of its kind for higher education, Indiana University and the Microsoft Corp. have announced a major new agreement under which IU will become the first university in the United States to make Microsoft's most popular software products available to all of the university's students, faculty and staff.

The agreement arose from an initiative of the IU Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and the IU Purchasing Department. The Enterprise Licensing Agreement (ELA) between IU and Microsoft is a four-year contract giving IU's computer-using students, faculty and staff access to the most widely used software, including operating systems, desktop productivity tools, and infrastructure server and messaging products. Under the terms of the agreement, IU affiliates can run the same Microsoft software at home and at work.

Brand

"This agreement will be of enormous benefit to IU students, who will have access to industry-standard Microsoft software at no additional cost during their academic careers here," said IU President Myles Brand. "Microsoft's most popular products are part of the agreement, as are free future upgrades. Our students, faculty and staff now have the latest information technology at their disposal."

Gates

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates commented on the strategic importance of the agreement. "Microsoft believes that the most important use of information technology is to improve education," Gates said. "IU is a prime example of a university where technology is revolutionizing the teaching and learning experience. We commend you for your outstanding investment in the future of your university, and most importantly, in the lives of your students."

The agreement represents a pioneering effort between IU and the Redmond, Washington-based software giant.

"This is a first agreement of its kind for Microsoft, and IU was key in helping Microsoft understand the needs of higher education institutions and their constituent populations of students, faculty and staff," said Michael McRobbie, vice president for information technology at IU. "No longer will IU schools, departments or faculty, staff or students have to purchase and maintain Microsoft products individually with all administrative overheads and duplication that this entails. Now the whole university community will have access to all of Microsoft's most popular products in their most recent versions under vastly simplified arrangements."

McRobbie

The agreement will potentially save IU and its students, faculty and staff more than $20 million over the next four years, compared with purchases made without this new type of licensing agreement. Use of Microsoft products have increased considerably in recent years as tools of preference at IU, particularly among students who will likely use the same products upon their entry into the workforce.

McRobbie said that the agreement applied to both PC and Apple platforms and was not exclusive. "The university will continue to support a diversity of software packages in all areas," he said.

At negotiations at Microsoft headquarters earlier this year, it also was decided that IU and Microsoft would define a joint research and development program. Further details of this program will be finalized during the next few months, but it is expected to include research on high performance NT supercomputing clusters and trials of new-generation residential network connections such as ADSL, McRobbie said.

IU will be making a major effort to ensure maximum value is obtained from the agreement. Starting April 1, special Microsoft editions of the CD will be available at the UITS Support Center and IU Bookstore in Bloom ington; the IUPUI Bookstore, Library and Medical Libraries in Indianapolis; and from each campus computing center on IU's other campuses. In addition to CD distribution, the same Microsoft products will be available on line via IU's existing SoftServe system. (A special pre-distribution event is scheduled at IUB and IUPUI March 31.)

The current student technology fee at IU will not increase to pay for the ELA.

Some of the software available under the ELA, for both PC and Macintosh platforms:

• Desktop Suite: Microsoft Office Professional for Windows (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access) database as well as client access licenses for the various groupware, local area network, mail/messaging, and database server products included in the agreement);

• Microsoft Internet Explorer- 32-bit OS upgrades for Windows95 and NT;

• Microsoft FrontPage Web Page Development software;

• Microsoft Visual Studio -- a developer's toolkit of products.

Return to Table of Contents