Vanderbilt School of Nursing has Close Encounter of the Alienware Kind
by Lindsay Maresh
With a history dating back to 1909, Vanderbilt University School of
Nursing (VUSN) has understandably established a reputation as one of
the best universities for nursing education. It was one of the first five
schools to receive Rockefeller funding to implement the Goldmark Report
of 1923, establishing a trend of keeping ahead of the curve in education
and technology.
Today, VUSN continues that tradition, constantly advancing the nature of
nursing education. The school has a unique partnership with Vanderbilt
University Medical Center to provide students with opportunities for
research and clinical practice, and students come from all over the
country to be a part of it. The University currently offers a Master of
Science in Nursing and a Ph.D. of Nursing Science, and the school will
add a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in 2008.
The Problem: Time for the computers to say,
"Aaaaaaaaaah"
Running one of the nation's premier nursing schools requires quite a bit of
behind-the-scenes work, from managing the school's network and coding
database applications to programming inventory scripts and designing
the school's Web sites. Each and every one of those tasks requires a great
deal of processing power, and, simply put, the university staff's existing
computers just didn't have enough. After three years with no upgrades to
the computers' processors, hard drives or memory, VUSN decided it was
time to find a computer that had what they were looking for.
The Solution: Diagnosis: Alienware (cont'd.)
The School of Nursing prides itself on its multimedia development and
demonstrations, particularly in the very timely area of mass casualty
education. It turns out that the technology components that make a great
gaming computer are precisely the components one needs for a great
multimedia computer.
VUSN personnel looked to all of the usual suspects for new systems, but not
one had the processing power the university needed. Vanderbilt University
School of Nursing LAN Manager Ryan McNew had seen an article about
Alienware computers in a magazine and had wanted one ever since, so he
figured, "why not?" McNew pulled up Alienware's Web site and found he could
not only build a better machine than the major computer manufacturers, but
he also could customize each system to have the power, speed and hard drive
space needed for each individual staff or faculty member. Furthermore, he
could do it all for less money than the major manufacturers.
The Solution: Diagnosis: Alienware
"We need computers that can not only be used to develop high quality
multimedia applications, but they need to be able to play them back in classes
and at presentations at conferences," says Dr. Betsy Weiner, Senior Associate
Dean for Informatics. "Video, graphics rendering and audio are important to us.
Alienware computers were the natural choice."
Throughout the past two years, VUSN has purchased 11 Alienware systems,
running the gamut from the Sentia 233 and the Sentia m3400 to the Area-
51 m5790 and the Aurora m9700. VUSN continually pushes the envelope
on what its machines can do, and the new Alienware systems allow them to
continue doing just that.
The Results: The prognosis is excellent (cont'd.)
With the processing power of the Alienware computers, VUSN is able to
complete a range of intensive tasks, including graphics rendering, multimedia
development and playback, coding applications (both Web and PDA) and
communication with students in other locations using built-in Webcams.
VUSN staff members are able to better serve the university’s students since
the new computers shorten rendering times and help staff members complete
projects more quickly.
Maintaining its reputation for staying at the forefront of nursing education,
the university has also commenced using distance learning applications
such as Centra Live Desktop Conferencing and Webcams for peer to peer
communications. Even students are taking notice, often asking staff and
faculty about their unique notebooks. Airport security personnel have also
been known to comment and want the Alienware laptops.
The Results: The prognosis is excellent
"We needed new laptops to handle media intensive applications and felt that
none of the other companies could handle the power we needed," McNew
said. "We decided to give Alienware a try, and we have never looked back. The
machines are powerhouses and haven't let us down once in the two years
we've had them. We also just love the style of the actual machine. When we
bring out an Alienware machine at a conference or demonstration, there are
always people that stay after the session asking about the machine. With
Alienware, you know you are getting the power and newest technologies, and
that is something that we value very highly at Vanderbilt."
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