IBM and Metropolitan Community College of Omaha Collaborate on First Green Data Center Degree
September 02 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
ARMONK, N.Y. and OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM
(NYSE: IBM) today announced a collaboration with Metropolitan
Community College (MCC) in Omaha, Nebraska, to develop a
first-of-its-kind green data center management degree using IBM
hardware, software and online skills training resources. The
two-year associates degree includes courses to help students gain
technical and business skills to prepare them for careers in the
design and management of energy efficient data centers. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO ) The new
degree comes at a time when U.S. colleges and universities are
expected to lead the way in preparing the future workforce with
innovative new skills to help boost the economy. For example, in
July, President Obama launched the American Graduation Initiative,
a 10-year, $12 billion plan to provide community colleges
nationwide with funding for new scholarships and online classes for
students, and to modernize aging facilities and infrastructures. As
part of the new MCC degree, students have the opportunity to learn
virtualization and server consolidation, energy efficiency,
business resiliency, and security and compliance skills through a
new, real-world enterprise data center on campus. The center is
built upon IBM Power Systems servers running AIX, IBM i and Linux
environments. IBM technologies used in this program allow MCC to
extend the degree to other colleges through a virtual learning
program. As a result, all courses in the green data center
management track will be offered online where remote students can
gain the same skills as those on campus including virtual access to
the physical data center itself. MCC developed the curriculum with
the help of the IBM Academic Initiative, an innovative program that
now provides nearly 4,000 colleges and universities worldwide with
no-charge access to online skills resources including tutorials and
courseware. "IBM's Academic Initiative will further help ensure
that MCC students are developing technology skills that bring
together computer science, engineering and sustainability," said
Tom Pensabene, Dean of Information Technology of Metropolitan
Community College. "We're seeing a dramatic increase in demand here
in Nebraska for specialists who understand how to help companies
reduce the costs associated with running an energy-intensive data
center. Now, our students are getting exposure to leading edge IBM
technologies, increasing their chances of being hired for jobs in
this growing area." Until now there has been no comprehensive,
real-world learning environment for students to get green data
center skills at the undergraduate level. Beginning December 2009,
students can enroll in the new "Associate Degree in Information
Technology - Data Center Management" degree and take 36 credit
hours of courses including: -- Hardware, Disaster Recovery, &
Troubleshooting - Designed to teach students how to identify and
follow best practices when working with hardware components and
systems found in an enterprise environment. Focus is on the
hardware and software used to create a fault-tolerant, redundant
configuration that meets the requirements of a company's Disaster
Recovery (DRP) or Business Continuity Plan (BCP). -- Introduction
to Data Center Management - The student learns about data center
design, support, management, and maintenance while working in a
server environment. Topics also include daily operations of a data
center, such as monitoring power requirements and safety
regulations. -- Virtualization, Remote Access, & Monitoring -
Introduces students to both hardware and software methods used to
implement virtualization and the server specifications required to
implement it. Multiple vendor solutions are explored. -- Data
Center Racks & Cabling - Introduces students to the basics of
rack and cabling infrastructure in a data center. Topics include
cabling installation practices, management strategies, maintenance
practices, and certification. -- Building a Secure Environment -
Students explore methods to mitigate vulnerabilities of
Internet/Intranet applications while maintaining web servers and
workstations based on installation. Discussion centers on best
practices and a variety of methods to build, test, and defend all
computers in the enterprise environment. -- Applied Data Center
Management - Students define project requirements, researches
issues, and designs a data center project that meets the goals.
Projects include all aspects of the Data Center such as facilities,
infrastructure, servers and security. -- Networking Security -
Provides students with the knowledge of network security and the
skills necessary to install, configure, manage, monitor, and
troubleshoot security services/servers on multiple platforms in an
enterprise environment. Security areas include DNS, Web servers,
Encryption, IPSec, PKS, VPNs, and Network Address Translation
(NAT). -- Data Center Internship - Provides students with the
opportunity to apply his/her knowledge, learn new techniques, and
get hands-on experience managing a data center. Students work in
the Information Technology Data Center on campus and access the
data center remotely. For the past 12 years, MCC has often ranked
in the top 20 community colleges nationwide for number of IT
graduates, and the college's computer classes are the mainstay of
its offerings. One reason for their success is that Omaha is one of
only a few U.S. cities that sits at the intersection of both
east-west and north-south fiber optic networks -- attracting a
large number of communications and information services companies
and putting IT-savvy employees in high demand for data center jobs.
"IBM is proud to be a key partner in helping Metropolitan Community
College of Omaha develop the first program of its kind based on the
transformational work IBM is undertaking with clients and cities
world-wide," said Jim Corgel, General Manager of ISV and Developer
Relations at IBM. "As companies look to improve service, reduce
cost and manage risk, students educated through MCC's new program
will be well-positioned for IT careers that help businesses address
these challenges." MCC's data center is funded through a three year
$1.8 million grant that MCC received from the U.S. Department of
Labor with the goal of increasing the number of students in IT
education. For more information on the MCC data center management
degree, visit: http://staffshare.mccneb.edu/mccadc/. For more
information on IBM's Academic Initiative, visit:
http://www.ibm.com/academicinitiative. Contact: Jennifer Clemente,
IBM Software Group Media Relations, 919 418 6169,
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO DATASOURCE:
IBM CONTACT: Jennifer Clemente, IBM Software Group Media Relations,
+1-919-418-6169, Web Site: http://www.ibm.com/
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