Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/61371
ature, but hasn't really made its way out of the ivory tower," says Mor- gan. "With XLab, we assess whether the theory works in practice and whether it will have a big strategic payoff in the marketplace." $4 Million Software Gift for Iowa State OPNET Technologies, a Bethesda, Maryland, software firm, recently donated more that $4 million in software, licenses, and upgrades to Iowa State Univer- sity's College of Business in Ames. Students will use the software, which includes licenses to OPNET's IT Guru and Modeler products, to design and study communication networks, diagnose application per- formance problems, and plan for network growth and high availabil- ity. In addition, graduate students and faculty will use the software to conduct advanced telecommunica- tions research, such as modeling wireless security systems and study- ing the impact of paperless environ- ment installations. Iowa State University is among a provides ISU's telecommunications laboratory with critical software to keep its business students up-to-date with corporate technology, says Labh Hira, dean of ISU's College of Business. "It sends a clear message that Iowa State is focused on provid- ing a technology- and information- based business program." Hira adds that this type of external support is vital in outfitting Iowa State's new Gerdin Business Building with the latest technologies. number of institutions that have received academic grants from OPNET. Other software recipients include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge; Stan- ford University in Oakland, Califor- nia; the University of California at Berkeley; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The software gift from OPNET Tony Townsend and Brian Men- necke, have been working with OPNET Technologies for several months regarding the software acquisition. "Students will have the same computer tools used by IT professionals in Fortune 100 com- panies such as AT&T, MCI, Veri- zon, Accenture, Oracle, and NCR," says Townsend. OPNET's gift to the College of Two MIS associate professors, Business was made through the Iowa State University Foundation. This gift includes licenses, future licenses, and future maintenance. Sports Car or SUV? Ask the Software professor of management science and systems, and JingguoWang, a doc- toral student, WEBAim asks users to specify their levels of aspirations and then uses their responses to compare products. WEBAim then determines whether one product is at least as good as, or better than, another. If it is, it deems that product the "supe- rior" choice, and the one the user should consider purchasing. "What makes WEBAim unique is With more products than ever available to consumers, the process of deciding which product to buy has become more complex. Researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Man- agement, part of the State University of New York system, have developed a new software program called WEBAim to help make that process a little easier. Developed by Stanley Zionts, a ISU's telecommunications lab, where OPNET's software gift will be used to study communication networks. that users determine which factors are included in the analysis," Zionts says. "They can evaluate products and services using their personal prefer- ences, which may not correspond to BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 49