Mac Offers Best of Both Worlds

Profiles in Success: Iona College

New Rochelle, NY — When visitors trooped into Iona College’s Ryan Library in the spring of 2007, they were amazed — and delighted — to see 52 sparkling new iMac computers ready for business. Since that first rollout the systems have seen nonstop usage, and requests for more Macs are springing up all over campus — remarkable, given that Iona had maintained a Windows-based computing environment for more than 20 years. With the availability of Boot Camp on Intel-powered iMac computers running Mac OS X Leopard, faculty, students, and all users have the best of all computing worlds.

Iona College is a midsized, liberal arts institution, offering accredited undergraduate and masters programs. Its March 2007 iMac deployment followed years of dedicated PC support. According to Vice Provost for Information Technology (IT) and Chief Information Officer Joanne Steele, the single-platform strategy was meant to simplify maintenance and support issues.

“We always select universal setups,” explains Steele, “so that if someone’s using a technology in one of the labs on campus, it could also be used in the library or in any of the public computing facilities. When we started researching Boot Camp, we realized that we could give our faculty the advantages of Mac-based software while supporting our Windows-based environment all over campus. This met our goals for innovation while serving our students’ needs, which really drove our purchasing decision.”

Mac, Boot Camp Ideal for College

In addition to the availability of Boot Camp, Dimitris Halaris, Iona’s associate vice provost for IT, says there was another factor that led his team to consider the Mac: The small footprint of the iMac promised to be the perfect fit for the library. “The design of the iMac is much more efficient and attractive than a PC-based tower,” Halaris notes. “We really needed a desktop machine; the towers would have been too big. Plus, we’d have to deal with students kicking the towers, and the need to lock them down in the public spaces. The iMac is so sleek and innovative, and it’s very easy to secure it in an open space.”

Boot Camp, a feature of Leopard, Apple’s newest version of the Mac OS X operating system, enables users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation license to install Windows XP on any Intel-based Mac. With Boot Camp, users can run either Mac OS X or the Windows operating system. “This solution clearly eased our migration to the Mac,” Halaris says. “Dual boot has been critical for us: It helped us begin the adoption of Mac-based applications while enabling the campus community to support its existing Windows-based software.”

Next Page: Quick Decision to Purchase the Mac