SAP Selects UWM to be University Competency Center
Sun Microsystems chosen as hardware technology partnerMILWAUKEE - Continuing the relationship between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and SAP, UWM has been selected as one of only three universities that will serve as a SAP University Competency Center and run both R/3 and mySAP products as part of SAP's University Alliance Program. The hardware technology partner selected for UWM's School of Business Administration is Sun Microsystems.
As a University Competency Center, UWM will "host" 10 other universities, and act as the single site (for the America's) to collect, store and distribute curriculum developed by member schools.
The agreement establishing the UCC will be formally signed on Friday, Dec. 7 at 3:30 p.m. in the Regent's Room, Chapman Hall, 2310 E. Hartford Ave. Those participating include Nancy L. Zimpher, UWM chancellor; Kanti Prasad, interim dean, School of Business Administration; Rita Cheng, associate dean, School of Business Administration; Dave Haseman, director, CTI; Daniel C. Pantaleo, vice president, SAP Innovation Institute; Amelia Maurizio, director, Higher Learning Initiatives, SAP America; and Paul A. Stieman, higher education specialist, global education and research, Sun Microsystems.
"The total value to UWM for hardware discounts, software, and subsidies is approximately $4 million over three years," says Haseman.
"UWM continues to find creative ways to respond to Wisconsin's intense technology-related economic and workforce development needs," says Zimpher. "This partnership with two global technology leaders will immediately benefit our students, faculty, and staff, and help many area organizations in the years to come."
Pantaleo says, "SAP is the world's leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySap.com e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe improve relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains."
SAP's University Alliance Program provides universities with copies of SAP software for educational use and trains faculty. In turn, participating universities design a curriculum that uses the software, acquire the necessary hardware, and hire technical staff to install and maintain the system. The SAP University Alliance is providing additional resources for participating colleges and universities to operate SAP's full suite of e-business solutions.
"To provide universities with the support they need to work with the full functionality of SAP's e-business platform, we are designating certain universities as 'hosting' institutions. These universities install and maintain a large computer facility capable of running the entire suite of SAP e-business solutions. Other universities then access SAP Solutions running on the 'host machine' through the internet," says Pantaleo.
The Sun Microsystems platform is often used in commercial SAP installations. Sun was approached jointly by UWM and SAP, and provided the hardware and installation at a substantial discount. UWM's competency center will include a vast array of Sun systems, from the Sun Blade Workstation up through the Netra and Sun FireT Midframe Server Lines, Sun StoredgeT T3 arrays, and all running on the SolarisT Operating Environment. The program will be located in the University Competency Center (UCC) in the School of Business Administration's Center for Technology Innovation (CTI).
"Sun is a leading provider of open network computing solutions to colleges and universities around the world, powering academic, research and high performance computing systems, campus administration, digital libraries and student instruction systems. In addition, Sun is committed to connecting the world's students to the Internet, beginning with primary and secondary schools and extending to all levels of higher education," says Stieman
According to Stieman, the actual hardware configuration selected for UWM was a joint effort between designers from both Sun's and SAP's technical staff. "This installation was unique in that it needed to serve 10 Universities in an educational role. As part of the design, we worked with other centers in Australia and Europe."
UWM's CTI is a joint venture between the School of Business Administration and the Milwaukee business community. The center is involved in research, service and custom educational programs.
"This relationship with SAP and Sun expands our membership to include some international corporations," says Cheng. "A number of the Milwaukee area corporate members of CTI are themselves users of the SAP software and are very excited about graduates coming from UWM with exposure to the SAP software."
CONTACTS:
Dave Haseman, UWM School of Business, daveh@uwm.edu, Phone: 414-229-4357, Web site: www.cti.sba.uwm.edu.
Daniel C. Pantaleo, Ph.D., SAP, daniel.pantaleo@sap.com, Phone: 610-661-3005.
Paul A. Stieman, Ph.D., Sun Microsystems, Phone: 412-369-4341.
