Industry Briefs
NEWS
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION.
Product distribution in higher education allows students and educators to collaborate
and connect in ways they never have before. The Douglas Stewart Company (www.dstewart.com),
distributor and marketer of computer products, has distributed ACD System (www.acdsystems.com)
products (digital imaging software) as well as Internet messaging and firewall
software from Kerio Technologies (www.kerio.com)
to academic resellers throughout North America.
MANAGING TECHNOLOGY.
As Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) grows in enrollment and staff,
so d'es the institution’s need to maintain and manage IT on campus. NWTC
has selected an operating unit from SunGard Collegis (www.sungardcollegis.com),
a services provider to help the delivery of education. SunGard will also help
NWTC with “strategic and project planning, as well as 24/7 student help
desk support for its CMS,” says a SunGard Collegis spokesperson. M&A
etc.
EXCHANGE & DEVELOPMENT.
In an effort to provide users with a large-scale repository of customized online
courses, Desire2Learn (www.desire2learn.com),
provider of enterprise learning systems, and Merlot (www.merlot.org),
international cooperative with more than 10,000 online teaching and learning
materials, have partnered to improve online teaching and learning. This partnership
will “leverage Merlot’s vast resources” by allowing D2L users
“access to reusable learning objects within the D2L environment,”
say D2L spokespeople.
PRODUCT INTEGRATION.
Faculty, staff, and students at Tennessee Technological University report they
have greatly benefited from the partnership of WebCT (www.webct.com),
provider of eLearning solutions, and Macromedia (www.macromedia.com),
the design and Web content software provider. The two firms have teamed up to
enable users to publish content in a “single operation” with Macromedia’s
current eLearning tools.
TRAINING FOR STUDENTS.
Helping to connect engineering students to the “real world,” California
State University-Los Angeles has received for its starter program 20 licenses
of software from Delmia (www.delmia.com),
provider of lean digital manufacturing solutions. Delmia’s software will
be used in the Department of Technology, helping to prepare students for aerospace
and automotive careers through computer simulation.
PEOPLE
SAS EXECUTIVE APPOINTED.
Recently, Mark David Milliron, executive director of the SAS Education Practice,
has been appointed to the Board of Trustees for Western Governors University
(UT), a non-profit that helps busy, working adults attend college. Prior to
joining SAS (
www.sas.com),
a business intelligence software and services provider in education, Milliron
was at the League for Innovation (www.league.org),
an international consortium for community colleges, for eight years. “Given
the leadership in place, the support from the western governors, and WGU’s
recent success with the national Teachers College, I look forward to serve on
the Board of Trustees,” says Milliron.
GUIDING LIGHT.
Ajei S. Gopal, former IBM (www.ibm.com)
exec and co-founder/CEO of ReefEdge Networks (www.reefedge.com),
has been appointed senior vice president of Symantec (www.symantec.com).
ReefEdge Networks is a provider of wireless LAN systems; Symantec is an information
security provider. Gopal is now responsible for guiding the company’s
technology strategy, integrating with technology partners, and leading the firm’s
merger and acquisition activities.
