UW College of Business Receives $5 Million in Software Donations

Dec. 14, 2001 -- Leading technology corporations have contributed software they value at $5 million to the University of Wyoming College of Business.

The software initially will be used in the College of Business' Solomon D. Trujillo Center for e.Business Master of Science in e.Business program and subsequently in other business degree courses. Corporate contributors include PeopleSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq:PSFT), MIS AG and InStranet, Inc.

The latest contributions bring to more than $8 million the company-estimated value of software gifts received by the college this year. Alliances between the UW College of Business and IBM, DataFlux, and Rational Software Corporations were announced in October.

"We are one of a few universities in the world that has put together a business technology program of this kind," says Kenton Walker, director of the Trujillo Center. "It is both encouraging and essential to have industry support for a quality program. With their gifts, these companies are making a very positive statement about the importance of what we want to accomplish with this degree. The gifts also substantially enhance our students' educational experience and marketability."

The College of Business recently joined the PeopleSoft, Inc.'s On Campus Program and received four suites of the Internet PeopleSoft software. The software includes supply chain, financial, human resource, and customer relationship management applications, and all are completely Web based, requiring only a standard Web browser for access. PeopleSoft estimates the combined commercial value of the software and training materials at $3.97 million.

"These investments will benefit the university, faculty and students today and, by producing graduates knowledgeable about enterprise e business systems, will assist our customers and partners over time," says Mark Conway, director of academic programs at PeopleSoft. "We are thrilled that this initiative has moved forward so quickly at UW. The plans and vision for this program are very exciting."

PeopleSoft, Inc., headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., is the world's leading provider of collaborative enterprise software. The ability of company's software to handle business transactions and communications through the Internet is an especially attractive feature.

"Employers need skilled individuals who understand enterprise resource planning systems and their potential to leverage human and technology resources and improve profitability," Walker says. "Using this software in the classroom will help increase the placement of UW College of Business graduates; there is great demand for individuals with knowledge of PeopleSoft."

InStranet Inc., a New York based company specializing in information exchange and collaboration, presented a one year site license of their newly released InStranet 2.0 to the university. InStranet's technology enables secure management and execution of electronic information and content exchange between customers, suppliers, and business partners. The gift, of a non disclosed value, can be used in the classroom, for faculty research, or to support UW administrative functions.

MIS AG, the leading European provider of business intelligence solutions, contributed 50 licenses of their MIS DecisionWare Solutions software package. The package provides integrated software tools to extract information from operational data and deliver it to decision makers, increasing an organization's capabilities for business intelligence and knowledge management. The company's estimated value for this gift is more than $900,000.

Empower Solutions and Sun Microsystems, Inc. joined the effort to build UW's business technology infrastructure. Empower Solutions is contributing technical advice and support, including assistance in facilitating connections for the new software. Sun Microsystems, Inc. provided more than $43,000 in hardware grants supporting UW's purchase of a state of the art Sun Fire server to host the new applications and Sun Ray appliances to be placed in the e.Business classroom.

The gifts will also enhance university administrative systems, says Daniel Ewart, UW Information Services director

"UW Information Technology (IT)'s experience with PeopleSoft, Oracle and Sun products will greatly aid the implementation of these products into the academic environment," Ewart says. "Additionally, these gifts provide an opportunity for IT to gain experience in advance of system upgrades planned for the coming years."

Posted on Friday, December 14, 2001