erick@gaudi (Eric Keisler) (02/14/90)
/* */
If you've been looking for an example of just how serious CBM is about
re-establishing itself in the education market, especially in higher
education, then read on:
Our campus (CSU Fresno) is in the process of implementing a five year plan for
the provision of several computer graphics resources (mostly open-use labs).
The main thrust of the project is to make computer graphics activities
available to *all* students - from the fine arts to the sciences. Indeed, this
is a formidable task.
A committee was formed and several meetings occurred. Many graphics platforms
(software *and* hardware) were discussed. The Amiga was mentioned frequently.
The problem, though, was that nobody on the committee (save for myself) knew
*anything* about the Amiga. Such was the case for some other potential
platforms (Personal Iris, WaveFront software, etc.).
It was generally agreed that our campus needed an 'education' in graphics
technology. Thus we decided to hold a computer graphics exposition to showcase
to the decision-makers (and the campus) just what 'all this graphics stuff
is about'. I was put in charge of making the expo a reality.
Many vendors were invited, notably: Silicon Graphics, WaveFront, Sun, Apple,
IBM, and Commodore. All but IBM accepted (boy, could I inject a snide/witty
comment here!).
Many of the prospective vendors (surprisingly, Apple being one of them)
admitted to some reluctance on attending. Not Commodore though! After a plea
to the net and a FAX to West Chester, John Harrison (Mgr of Higher Ed.) quickly
responded and confirmed plans for CBM's attendance.
Liberal amounts of arm twisting and relentless prodding (via phone and FAX) was
required to get commitments from a few of the reluctant vendors.
The Expo took place on Friday, Feb. 9th (10:00am - 4:00pm). All the vendors
who planned to attend, showed up with at least two or three representatives.
But Commodore arrived IN FORCE! Five (count 'em, 5!) Commodore people arrived.
I mean these people obviously take the term "establishing a marketing
beachhead" literally! ;-) I was simply ecstatic! The CBM people were:
o Dr. John Harrison, Mgr. Higher Education Markets
o Patti Herra, West Regional Ed. Mgr.
o Allen P. Brooks, Dist. Sales Mgr., West
o John Gretz, (his title escapes me now - he was just hired by Patti and
John the day before)
o And one other representative who was so busy demoing the Amiga at the
Expo that he and I never got to talk (sorry... you did a great job
though!)
All I can say is: WOW! The CBM folks were great! Their presence really
sparked alot of interest and turned alot of heads. A few local reps for
some of those *other* computer companies looked, well... surprised!
The expo took place in a conference hall type of setting, with tables set out
for each vendor. The Amiga 'area' was directly across from the Personal
Iris running WaveFront demos. As the day progressed, the Iris/Amiga area got
the lions share of attention. CBM's demo Amiga was an A2500/30. The CBM folks
did a great job showing off the Amiga, but, being the Amiga fanatic that I
am, I gave them my DigiView to play with during the afternoon. The expo was
standing room only virtually all day. And, yes, CBM was handing out brochures
describing their new educational pricing (causing alot of wide-eyed looks
upon seeing the low price points).
The expo was a fantastic success. All the vendors were unanimously stunned at
the large crowds the expo attracted. Both the Silicon Graphics and WaveFront
teams (who've seen alot of expos) said they've *never* seen this much interest
at a campus expo, of this type, in California - ever.
The CBM folks (John Harrison, Patty Herrera, and John Gretz) spent most of the
day meeting with several key people on our campus and essentially succeeded in
laying the ground work for a continued relationship between our campus and CBM.
They impressed alot of the right people and some of our people must have
impressed the CBM gang because they're loaning us an A2500/30 to put
in our Resource Evaluation Center computer lab. :-)
I had several long discussions with the CBM crew and will pass on few bits
of interest:
John Harrison pointed out that CBM is in a unique stage in it's evolution
as a company. Many of the (new) higher management now at Commodore come from
educational support backgrounds. This is what is fueling CBM's surprisingly
aggressive moves into higher ed.
CBM is expanding it's educational support staff. For example, prior to
Harrison's arrival there was essentially one person that provided ed support
for the whole USA. Since Harrison's first 4 months with CBM, higher ed
support has been given it's own department and LARGE staff.
Because CBM has never adequately kept track of where their ed markets are
at, Harrison is essentially starting from scratch. He has been literally
been living out of a suitcase, jetting all over the US, visiting campuses and
generally building a 'network' of initial targeted campuses from which to
launch his efforts and expand.
We discussed many more things, and I'd rather not waste the net bandwidth
attempting to cover everything. If you or your campus are interested in
establishing (or strengthening) an Amiga presence at your site, then I
strongly suggest you contact Dr. Harrison's office at CBM:
Dr. John H. Harrison, Manager of Higher Education Markets
1200 Wilson Drive, West Chester, PA 19380
(215) 431-9476 FAX: (215) 431-9156
For 'best results' draw-up a document which outlines your intentions/desires
and mail/FAX it to him. You may find him difficult to reach for a while
as he currently has numerous campuses and events on his agenda. Be patient,
believe me, he'll see to it that you 'connect'.
In summary, we were *very* impressed at the efforts of the CBM crew at our
expo. Simply put, John Harrison and the rest of his gang made CBM really
look good. And the Amiga, in a room filled with high end graphics workstations
(and 'maxed out 24bit high res MacII's) costing *many* thousands more,
impressed all who saw it (e.g.:power + flexibility + lowcost = I'm_Impressed!).
And if you're listening out there Commodore:
THANKS! Great job gang... keep up the good work!
---
erick@csufres.CSUFresno.EDU
Eric Keisler, Systems Specialist and Graphics Consultant
Computer Services (Mail Stop 93), CSU Fresno, Fresno CA 93740
Voice: (209) 294-3923 FAX: (209) 294-4660
Classic_-_Concepts@cup.portal.com (02/19/90)
> Because CBM has never adequately kept track of where their ed markets are > at, Harrison is essentially starting from scratch. He has been literally > been living out of a suitcase, jetting all over the US, visiting campuses and > generally building a 'network' of initial targeted campuses from which to > launch his efforts and expand. Well FYI, the Western Washington University campus in Bellingham already has Amigas in several departments: 1. History and language department 2. Theatre and dance department 3. Art department (an Amiga lab has been there for about 3 years) There may be others. They've done this on their own, but probably would greatly appreciate help, support and info from Commodore. Significantly, the campus bookstore has a computer section. It ALWAYS carries info/pamphlets on educational discounts for Apple computers. I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST Commodore send printed information or a poster or something ON A REGULAR BASIS to campus bookstores announcing Amiga info and discounts, because I know the bookstore staff are happy to display it. The address is: Coop Bookstore Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225 It seems to me also, that it's easier to promote Amigas on a campus where some are already being used successfully than ones which have strongly resisted them. Julie (LadyHawke@cup.portal.com)
vmr@psuhcx.psu.edu (Victor M. Ricker) (02/20/90)
You know what I think is strange? Here in Pennsylvania, home of Commodore, the don't seem to be pushing their machines at all. PSU just recently bought millions of those horrible IBM PS/2's. We also have millions of Apple Macintrash's. We do have an Amiga lab. Its a small classroom. They have about 5 500's, and about 4 2000's. One or two may be 2500's... The lab is only for use by a few classes... It might be a good idea for them to give some kind of special deals to the universities.... just a thought...
840445m@aucs.uucp (Alan McKay) (02/21/90)
In article <2119@psuhcx.psu.edu> vmr@psuhcx.psu.edu (Victor M. Ricker) writes: > [ ... stuff ... ] >It might be a good idea for them to give some kind of special deals >to the universities.... just a thought... Yeah, I think they are called *educational discounts* which is what everyone and his dog has been ranting and raving about the last few weeks. :-) :-)
nfs1675@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil ( Michael S Figg) (02/23/90)
In article <2119@psuhcx.psu.edu>, vmr@psuhcx.psu.edu (Victor M. Ricker) writes: > > It might be a good idea for them to give some kind of special deals > to the universities.... just a thought... They do have a special deal for Universities, called the educational discount. I believe the discount for schools is even better than that for students. Look into it and tell Penn State about it. -- "Could we be the bellwether | Michael Figg DSAC-FSD of major societal shifts?" | DLA Systems Automation Center - Columbus,Oh mfigg@dsacg2.dsac.dla.mil CIS: 73777,360