Company Success Stories - Goshen College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Company Success Stories - Higher Education Institutions Embrace AMD
Profile
Goshen College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College
http://www.goshen.edu/
"Students, faculty and IT staff who know technology love these AMD Athlon™ processor-based systems"
Since the launch of the PC twenty years ago, information technology has played an increasingly critical role in higher education. As technology leaps forward year by year, managers of information technology must strike a delicate balance to ensure performance and at the same time, extend their budget. Decision makers at Goshen College in Indiana and Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Minnesota have found that utilizing AMD Athlon™ processor-based systems has helped them meet this ongoing challenge.
Goshen College, a national liberal arts college widely recognized for academic excellence, has worked hard to stay abreast of technology. In fact, they have been acknowledged by Yahoo as a “most Wired” college for two years in a row. This fall, all Goshen College students using public and departmental PC labs will enjoy systems powered by AMD processors. “The price/performance of the AMD Athlon processor-based systems can’t be beat,” said IT Director Michael Sherer. “These are great systems, and our PC vendor, One Source Micro, helped get us there without sacrificing component quality.”
Anoka-Ramsey Community College has been educating students for 35 years, and they have learned to evolve along with the outside world. “The college has kept abreast of changes in technology, with updated computer labs and courses designed to help prepare our students for new fields,” said Patrick M. Johns, President of the college. The College established a 4-year rotation schedule to upgrade the 1,000 systems they use for classrooms, labs, and administrative purposes.
Anoka-Ramsey contacted Reason Computers who urged the college to consider systems using 1 GHz AMD Athlon processors. “We tested these machines hard, because we had some AMD skeptics,” said Mike Seymour, Director of Technology. ”AMD’s processors met and exceeded our specs. Based on our experience, in four years, we’ll be totally AMD.”
Sherer reported that Goshen College had no problems with either reliability or compatibility. “The software template for this year’s AMD Athlon processor-based systems run unmodified on last year’s systems. This switch says we know technology, not just ad campaigns. These are great systems.”
Improving the ratio of students to PCs is a driving force among education’s IT managers. However, AMD-processor based systems can also expand other options. “By going with AMD, we have resources available to do things like improve infrastructure and increase bandwidth,” said Anoka-Ramsey's Seymour.
When making a purchase, whether the purchaser is an individual, a business, or an institution, the bottom line is always quality. No one ever got a good deal on a bad product. As Michael Sherer put it, “To stay on top of this business, you must continually test your assumptions to see if reality has changed. Well, reality has changed. The AMD Athlon™ processor is a better product.”
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