IBM Helps University of Arkansas Equip Students with 21st Century Computing Skills

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. and ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM and the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas announced a new collaboration to promote academic curricula on the latest technologies and hardware systems to prepare students for 21^st century jobs.

Through its Academic Initiative, IBM is providing the Walton College access to its IBM System z900 mainframe and related software. The technology upgrades the college’s current mainframe curricula to help students gain important marketplace skills that can be learned on the System z, including open source environments such as Linux. Access to this platform will give students experience in real-world business computing environments. This technology also offers students new opportunities to collaborate on virtual projects and lab assignments - at the University of Arkansas and with other Academic Initiative universities, which are expected to participate in the University of Arkansas System z hub.

The IBM System z delivery was announced today during a meeting of business, IT and education leaders held at an event hosted by the University of Arkansas. The new mainframe resources will also help students better understand how data warehousing, e-commerce, and business intelligence technologies work together.

IBM mainframes support large companies world-wide and form the computing backbone of most Fortune 500 companies. On a daily basis, these computers handle more than 80 billion transactions and $4 trillion (US) worth of credit card purchases. It is estimated that about half of the world’s structured data is housed on the mainframe platform. 

“Our standing commitment is to advance and evolve our curriculum to give students a competitive edge when they graduate and join the workforce,” said David Douglas, Walton College University Professor in Information Systems. “Working with IBM, we offer students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the technologies, tools and trends that drive businesses today. The new System z-based courseware is designed to help students qualify for higher skilled jobs.”

The Walton College’s focus on providing the latest IT curriculum has led to a significant increase in job placements from companies such as Dillard’s Inc., Data-Tronics Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. over the past years. University of Arkansas alumni have gained top jobs in enterprise system management, software development, and systems development.

“We feel like we need to get people trained coming out of school and the enterprise curriculum at the University of Arkansas is very important to us. We are looking forward to a lot of success from it," said Bill Holder, vice president and CIO at Dillard’s. “Students get very excited about their future and what they are going to be doing. The enterprise curriculum provides great opportunities for them."

“By increasing its focus on information technology, the Walton College is building a strong reputation for being a source of strong technical talent attracting a growing number of corporate recruiters to its campus every year,” said Paul Cronan, Walton College professor and director of Enterprise Computing. “Access to the System z adds significantly to our enterprise resources; the major winners are students and industry,”

“As businesses increase their reliance on technology, there is a greater demand for skilled employees to manage these complex processes and functions,” said Gina Poole, vice president, Innovation and University Relations. “Our work with the Walton College showcases how business can help academia deliver the skills that their graduates will need to be competitive in the marketplace.”

IBM and the Walton College plan to extend the teaching and learning benefits of the System z server with universities world-wide. The College plans to share its technology resources with other schools by serving as an IBM z Series “hub.” As a result, universities globally will be granted access to a wide range of course material, modern software development tools and enterprise hardware resources. In May 2006, the Walton College, through an academic network, began allowing university information systems and computer science departments around the world access to massive databases housed on the IBM System and NCR Teradata Server.

The primary objective of this enterprise system hub is to enable the use of industry-leading IT tools and technologies to reinvigorate curricula and help educators build a critical mass of future technology professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs requiring science, engineering and technical training will increase 51 percent through 2008. This increase could lead to six million job openings for openings in the technology arena.