In 1959, Rice’s first computer adhered to no campus-wide standards, but one of the main purposes of the Rice Institute Computer was to “provide a platform on which members of the Rice community could do research that would have been impossibly time-consuming without access to a computer.”
Fifty-five years later, desktops, laptops and mobile devices provide the platforms on which members of the Rice community perform research as well as daily tasks –all impossibly time-consuming without access to a computer. In those five decades, standardization has become common, affecting everything from chips and operating systems to touch screen interfaces and web site designs.
At Rice, the most recent standard applies to the purchase of desktop and laptop computers in offices, labs and classrooms across the campus. Research-specific computers are exempt from the Campus Laptop/Desktop Standards (PDF), which was distributed by the Office of the President on September, 15, 2014.
A result of two years of study by the Information Technology Advisory Committee and various working groups, the new standards introduce economies of scale for both procurement and support. Economies of scale became critical as IT infrastructure investments increased. Rice is not alone in grappling with rising IT costs; many of Rice’s peer institutions have already standardized desktop and laptop purchases and support. In fact, EDUCAUSE surveys of IT leaders showed that “strategically funding IT” was the number one issue facing IT for six of the last 10 years. Not until 2012 would IT funding concerns drop to the bottom half of the top 10 IT issues faced by higher education institutions.
Links to more details on the new procurement standards, and to start the computer purchasing process:
- Frequently Asked Questions –FAQs– on the Procurement web site: https://procurement.rice.edu/content.aspx?id=2147484169
- Begin the computer purchaing process: http://purchasing.rice.edu/computers/
Note: These links are only available to Rice community members on the Rice University network.