Enterprise Information Technology Services Press Release
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

OCIO > EITS > Press Releases

Monday, June 16, 2008

WRITER: Bert DeSimone,706-338-9849, bert@uga.edu
CONTACT: Shannon Marable, 706-542-9689, spruitt@uga.edu

Accolades continue for 2008 Share Award for Excellence in Technology

ATHENS, Ga.— The May/June issue of IBM System Magazine includes a case study on the highly successful EITS project to decrease costs, while increasing customer service, on the central IBM mainframe. EITS received the 2008 SHARE Award for Excellence in Technology for this initiative.

[ Video ] IBM System Magazine featured a story on the SHARE Award for Excellence in Technology received by EITS this year. [ Full story]

The case study includes an extensive interview with Shannon Marable, an IT manager in EITS, who provided insight into the cost-savings/customer service project at UGA.

"In researching for the next-generation mainframe," said Shannon Marable, an IT manager for EITS, "we discovered that running a 64-bit operation system on an IBM zSeries mainframe would enable us to take advantage of the sub-capacity pricing metric for select IBM software. Given the tight budget times, the potential for cost savings was very attractive. We discussed the potential cost savings with UGA administration and they agreed to fund the initiative. The combination of upgrading to the 64-bit machine, along with sub-capacity pricing, led to both a substantial increase in performance and a dramatic decrease in monthly costs."

Marable went on to explain, in less-technical terminology, that UGA was able to upgrade the current mainframe to a faster, state-of-the art computer while saving software costs by paying for actual use of software on a monthly basis (sub-capacity pricing).

According to information available on the SHARE Web site, the SHARE Award for Excellence in Technology has been given annually since 2001 to a SHARE member company that has demonstrated exceptional use of technology that leverages IBM products or services along with knowledge and professional connections developed through SHARE. Previous winners of the SHARE Award for Excellence in Technology include The Province of Quebec (2007), U.S. Social Security Administration (2006), MIB, Inc. (2005), Nationwide Insurance (2004), Caterpillar, Inc. (2003), Travelers Insurance (2002), and ISPW BenchMark Technologies Ltd. (2001).

IBM Systems Magazine, Mainframe edition, brings bimonthly news and information to 25,000 IBM mainframe customers. The magazine contains a mix of high-level technology overviews, how-to articles, and case studies designed to help the mainframe customer get the most from their IBM systems.

About the Office of the CIO and EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.