innovative technology services
Eduserv Software Messenger 23 October 2008
Featured in this issue:
- Education Support Centre (ESC) renewal – greater discounts if more than 30 sites join
- Kaspersky Agreement includes new product
- Microsoft Campus agreement delivers savings of £1.2m in less than a year
- eLearning software – feedback sought
- Invitation to the Anti-Virus Software Focus Group
- Mathematical and Statistical Software Working Group Meeting
- News about Adobe
- Eduserv visit Educause 2008
- QSR Nvivo Workshops
- Register for our free seminars at Online 2008, London Olympia, 2-4th Dec 2008
- OpenAthens Administrator Seminars
- Your software wishes
1. Education Support Centre (ESC) renewal – greater discounts if more than 30 sites join
The Chest Agreement with the Education Support Centre is being renewed for 2009 to 2011 (subject to signing of the contract). ESC provides frontline technical support on Microsoft technologies, including all products covered by Campus and Select agreements.
Benefits of the new Agreement will include:
Savings of 10% off the ESC list prices, rising to 15% discount for years 2 and 3 if more than 30 sites join the Agreement in its first year
Sites who do not require extensive support can now purchase a 12 Incident Package under the Chest Agreement with 10% discount off of the list price
There is currently a Limited Time Special Offer to encourage more sites to join the Agreement with the expectation that all sites will benefit with reduced pricing when the 30 site threshold is reached. New sites joining the Agreement before January 2009 will receive full ESC support for December 2008 free-of-charge.
The ESC Website and Agreement Overview are in the process of being updated. For further details please contact Eduserv Help at help@eduserv.org.uk.
2. Kaspersky Agreement includes new product
Our current Chest Agreement with Kaspersky for their anti-virus software has been updated to reflect Kaspersky product naming and also includes a new product. The new product, Kaspersky Total Space Security, includes all the functionality of the Enterprise Space range as well as Internet Gateway protection and Kaspersky Mobile Security. For full details please visit the Total Space Security website.
Subscribing to the Kaspersky Chest Agreement is the only way that HE and FE sites can purchase an unlimited site licence. By using the Chest Agreement sites receive a discount of between 67% and 87% off the listed educational discounts of resellers.
The Kaspersky Agreement Overview is in the process of being updated to reflect these changes. For further details please contact Eduserv Help at help@eduserv.org.uk.
3. Microsoft Campus agreement delivers savings of £1.2m in less than a year
Eduserv launched a new Campus Agreement to deliver preferential prices on a range of Microsoft products in November 2007. Since then more than 290 institutions have benefited from the new agreement saving over £1,200,000 over its life.
The Eduserv Microsoft Campus Agreement enables all institutions regardless of their staff FTE count to take advantage of preferential pricing obtained by sites with over 3,000 FTE. The agreement harnesses the purchasing power of the community to benefit all participating institutions.
To secure preferential pricing on behalf of your institution for your Microsoft licences please see
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/chest/agreements/software/existing/mscampus
Or contact the Eduserv Help Desk by email help@eduserv.org.uk
4. eLearning software – feedback sought
Eduserv currently provide agreements for ViewLetBuilder and MindGenius. Eduserv now has the opportunity to negotiate for two other educational packages and would like to know if agreements for these products would be useful to the community.
Raptivity (www.raptivity.com) is an interactivity builder which helps to create learning interactions. The learning interactions created can be easily used with hundreds of eLearning tools. Since its launch in 2006, Raptivity is now used in 41 countries worldwide. Raptivity can be used with ViewLetBuilder and Elicitus.
Elicitus (www.elicitus.com) is a desktop based authoring tool which helps users to create highly interactive courses quickly and easily. Elicitus Suite also has Elicitus SlideConverter which helps users to leverage existing PowerPoint presentations and convert them into eLearning courses. Creating courses with Elicitus requires no programming. Even users with no page design experience can create visually appealing courses with Elicitus.
If your institution would be interested in a Chest Agreement for either of these products, or any others, then please contact Nicola.garwood@eduserv.org.uk indicating if your institution might be interested in a site licence or a limited number of copies, at what terms, and also at what price. Your feedback will be treated in confidence. Please respond by Monday 3 November 2008.
5. Invitation to the Anti-Virus Software Focus Group
Eduserv would like to invite you and your colleagues to the first meeting of the Anti-Virus Software Focus Group
On: Tuesday 25 November 2008
At the University of York, Heslington Hall University of York, Room H/G19
Start: 10:30am coffee/tea with 11:00am start
Finish: 3:00pm (flexible)
Lunch will be provided by Eduserv.
The meeting will start with a presentation by David Harley, Director of Malware Intelligence, ESET. David will be presenting on the types of testing available and how to distinguish good tests from not-so-good tests. After lunch the meeting will continue with discussion on products and suppliers, licence terms, costs, the needs of different institutions, and how Eduserv can best negotiate Chest Agreements for the community. Please send any items for the agenda in advance of the meeting to Nicola Garwood.
A full agenda will be circulated closer to the time.
To find out more, join the Focus Group or add items to the agenda, please contact to Nicola Garwood (Nicola.Garwood@eduserv.org.uk) by Thursday 6 November 2008.
6. Mathematical and Statistical Software Working Group Meeting
This group was formed in 2007 with the specific purpose to advise Eduserv about the key issues around licensing terms and conditions of mathematical and statistical software. The advice of members on proposals from suppliers and practical advice on the licence terms and conditions of existing agreements have proved invaluable to Eduserv in our negotiations for new agreements and the renewal of existing ones.
The Group meets next in London on 16th December at University College London in Room G23, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Location:http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/about-the-department/contacts-and-location/maps
The meeting will start at 11:00 and finish around 15:00. Lunch will be provided.
New members with knowledge of this important subject area are welcome so please circulate this invitation to your colleagues. If you would like to join the group then please contact jenny.carroll@eduserv.org.uk. Notes from previous meetings can be provided.
7. News about Adobe
Representatives from UCISA Software Procurement Group including Eduserv met with Adobe's Global Academic Head last week to raise Community concerns around a number of issues including:
- Creative Suite 4 pricing (as highlighted in the last edition of the Messenger)
- Acrobat Standard v9 being removed from the Academic CLP price list
- Sites nearing the end of their existing Macromedia Site Licences
We will be meeting with Adobe again next week at Educause 2008 to review progress.
8. Eduserv visit Educause 2008
Educause is probably the largest Higher Education IT Conference in the world and is held annually in the United States. It provides an excellent opportunity for Eduserv to meet representatives with global responsibilities from major software vendors. This is a valuable chance for Eduserv to influence the people who will be ultimately responsible for signing of some contracts negotiated by Eduserv for institutions in the UK.
Next week Eduserv staff will be heading off to Orlando to meet with representatives from Microsoft, Techsmith, Turnitin, Nuance and other software vendors. We will report back in the next issue.
9. QSR Nvivo Workshops
QSR International is hosting a series of two day workshops on the latest version of their qualitative analysis product, NVivo 8. The software is designed for decision makers and researchers in a wide variety of fields enabling users to analyse audio, video, pictures or documents.
For more information on the workshop format and costs, and to download an enrolment form, click the relevant link below:
Birmingham 6 - 7 November:
http://www.qsrinternational.com/training-and-events_conferences-and-events_detail.aspx?view=687
Edinburgh 13 – 14 November:
http://www.qsrinternational.com/training-and-events_conferences-and-events_detail.aspx?view=688
These workshops are ideal for people using research software for the first time, or for those who have used previous versions of QSR software.
Workshop costs include lunch, morning and afternoon refreshments. Desktop computers are provided and you’ll receive your own comprehensive workbook.
QSR International has also just scheduled a series of workshops for early 2009, please see below the workshop dates and venues.
Glasgow 21 – 22 January: QA-IQ Glasgow, 17 Renfield Street, Glasgow, G2 5AH.
Bristol 27 – 28 February: QA-IQ Learning Ltd, c/o – Computacenter, 1 Westpoint Court, Great Park Road, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4PS.
Manchester 3 – 4 February: New Horizons, Fourth Floor, Arthur House, Chorlton St, Manchester, Lancashire, M1 3FH.
Birmingham 23 – 24 February: 10th Floor, Centre City, 5-7 Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4UA.
These workshops are not yet on the QSR website, however you will be able to view them and other workshops scheduled in your area in the near future at: http://www.qsrinternational.com/training-and-events_conferences-and-events.aspx
For any questions regarding either of these workshops, email: training@qsrinternational.com
For details of the QSR Chest Agreement please see: http://www.eduserv.org.uk/chest/agreements/software/existing/qsr
10. Register for our free seminars at Online 2008, London Olympia, 2-4th Dec 2008
The Online Information 2008 conference and exhibition covers the full spectrum of online content and information management solutions.
Eduserv will be delivering two free seminars at Online 2008.
The fist seminar will start at 10.30am on Wed 3rd Dec and will be relevant for anyone that wishes to take advantage of the latest open standards and new technologies in providing secure access to their protected online resources. This seminar would be useful for
Commercial publishers
Institutions wishing to share internal resources
Different institutions sharing resources within collaborative projects.
Our second seminar will commence at 2pm on Wed 3rd Dec and will provide a valuable insight into the best practice in managing content on your web site.
Places at these seminars are limited, to reserve your place at either seminar please email andrew.tavener@eduserv.org.uk
Full details will be sent to registered delegates in advance of the event.
We look forward to seeing you there!
11. OpenAthens Administrator Seminars
Our previous OpenAthens administrator seminars in July attracted well over 100 delegates. We know that a number of people were unable to make it and we intend to arrange another round of these in the New Year. Until then, we are looking at organising a half day event in November.
This event is intended to be non-technical and aimed at the library-based Athens administrators.
We plan to cover the following topics:
The OpenAthens Experience
Common Administrator queries on topics such as bulk uploads and data downloads
Support processes and updates
Lunch
Since this day is going to be for you we are seeking feedback on any areas or issues you would find useful. For example you might like us to include:
Using OpenAthens SP
Permission sets and their additional functions
If you feel that there is a requirement for a more technical session then please let us know.
If you would interested in attending this event or have any questions or suggestions, please drop us a line at: openathens@eduserv.org.uk.
12. Your software wishes
If you would like Eduserv to investigate an agreement for software that would benefit your institution, why not make a wish? Wishes are the best way for you to tell us which products we should be negotiating for on your behalf.
If you would like to make a wish for a new products then please complete our online Wish form:
To view the complete software wish list and wish for products on it please visit the Future Agreements page
We would like to hear of more interest in the following products:
MATLAB - software for technical computing and model-based design - 59 wishes – Eduserv continues to investigate opportunities
Origin data analysis and graphing software - 10 wishes
MySource Matrix - an enterprise class open source content management system - 5 wishes
Sun Secure Global Desktop - core platform and other server based products- 3 wishes - Eduserv anticipates receiving proposal from supplier soon
VMWare - computing enterprise management - 108 wishes - Eduserv and VMWare met late last month and negotiations continue for an agreement for this virtualization software. It seems unlikely that there will be an agreement this calendar year.
WinRAR archiving software- 7 wishes