UF Enters Negotiations To Provide "Gator-Ready" Computers To Students

April 23, 1998

GAINESVILLE — The University of Florida this week selected three national companies to provide “Gator-Ready” computers for students entering the university under its new computer access requirement.

A university committee of students, faculty and staff selected Gateway 2000, Inc., Digital Equipment Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. as the companies best suited to provide computers and computer-related support. The so-called “Gator-Ready” computers will be fast, easily upgradable, suitable for most of UF’s classes and come with programming designed to easily plug into any residence hall or classroom and run on UF’s networks. Contract negotiations to work out the specifics are under way.

“The fact that the biggest and best computer companies in the country want to work with us is proof that, like (UF) President John Lombardi said, the future of education is computers,” said student body President Chris Dorworth, who chaired the committee that first began soliciting information for the new computer requirement.

The three companies were selected from 15 firms that submitted bids in response to UF’s request for proposals, the latest step in instituting UF’s computer requirement.

The policy says that effective with the Summer B 1998 term, each student entering the junior year, as well as each student new to the university, is expected to have access to computer hardware and software appropriate to his or her degree program. Competency in the basic use of a computer is a requirement for graduation. UF is the largest university in the country to implement such a requirement.

“We all remembered through this process that the students’ interest came first,” said John McGovern, UF’s student body president-elect who sat on the committee that reviewed the proposals. “That was a big thing for the students, and the faculty was very deferential

to the students through the process.”

As UF geared up for implementing the new requirement, about 200 proposals were sent out, first for information, then requests for proposals (R.F.P.) for companies bidding for UF’s business, said Ed Poppell, UF’s administrative affairs associate vice president.

“We got 15 responses which, in your typical R.F.P. process, is a large number,” he said.

He said students on the committee went into the process believing they wanted the best value for their money.

He expects that when all the contracts are signed, the vendors will be charging about $1,300 for a Pentium 200 MMX computer, with a 2 gigabyte hard drive, 32 megabytes of RAM and a 56k modem. Those minimum standards will change as technology continues to improve, Poppell said.

McGovern said students can be assured of “getting a high-quality computer that meets all of the needs of the university, starting this summer.”

Also with this deal, Digital will provide a convenient location, possibly on campus, to service the computers they sell, as well as other name brand computers.

Poppell said contracts with Dell, Gateway and Digital do not mean UF students must buy computers from these three companies.

“It means that if you get a ‘Gator-Ready’ computer, you are assured that compatibility will be good with UF systems,” Poppell said.

Dorworth said the computer requirement will pay off for UF students.

“I think in the long-term, it will have a profound impact on the value of an education from the University of Florida.”