Buckeyes will buy from Big Blue

Big Blue announced on Monday that it signed a three-year, $75 million contract to provide server computers and PCs to Ohio State University.

IBM said it beat out competition from Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Gateway to win the account. The university wanted to reduce overall information technology costs by establishing a long-term relationship with a single vendor, according to IBM.

"IBM offered the full spectrum of systems, services and support that we were looking for," Joanne Markiewicz, director of purchasing at Ohio State University, said in a statement.

The university will upgrade its IT infrastructure with IBM servers and personal computers, and it also plans to offer students, faculty, staff and alumni the ability to purchase IBM ThinkCentre desktop, ThinkPad laptop and eServer xSeries systems at discounts, according to IBM.

IBM also announced a program set up through the university for discounted computer purchases by local communities, school boards and businesses.

Ohio State has 45,000 students, 20,000 faculty and staff, and a worldwide alumni population of more than 300,000, according to IBM.

The Ohio State deal adds momentum to IBM's server efforts. The company extended its lead in the server market in the second quarter of 2003, stealing a sizable slice of the worldwide market for the powerful computers away from Sun Microsystems, according to a report from research firm IDC.