November 30, 2007

Intel Donates Equipment to State-of-the-Art Computing System at NC State

Intel is donating $2.4 million in computer equipment to a next-generation computing system at N.C. State University. The company is making the donation to the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL), a first-of-its-kind computing development that is boosting the University’s efforts to provide greater access to technology for the people of North Carolina.

Developed by the College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and Office of Information Technology and Engineering Computer Services (ITECS) and the university’s Information Technology Division (ITD) in partnership with companies like SAS and IBM, the VCL was first tested by small groups of engineering students at NC State in 2004. The system allows students and researchers to access powerful computing software and hardware remotely.

The gift will boost the University’s computing capacity, but its benefits will extend well beyond the campus boundaries. The VCL is part of a broader effort to bring affordable computing resources to K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, as well as high-performance resources to university researchers. Students and teachers will be able to log in to a central computer located hundreds of miles away and access state-of-the-art computing software.

This aligns perfectly with the University’s mission of serving not only its own students, but also the people of North Carolina through the integration of teaching, research, extension and engagement.

The University is also grateful to IBM, which is complementing the Intel gift with a donation of about $1.2 million, and to NetApp, which is providing a gift of storage. Other partners and supporters include SAS Institute, the Friday Institute and the new Secure Open Systems Institute.

The gift will be announced at 2 p.m. at the Progress Energy Conference Center, Room 3002, at Engineering Building II on the University’s Centennial Campus. University Provost Larry Nielsen, Dean of Engineering Louis Martin-Vega and Vice Provost Sam Averitt are scheduled to speak.

— degraff —

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