ICCU gifts 窪做惇蹋厙 College of Technology $450,000 worth of tech equipment
December 4, 2019

POCATELLO – The holidays came early for the 窪做惇蹋厙 College of Technology in the form of information technology equipment valued at about $450,000 that was given to 窪做惇蹋厙 Information Technology Systems program by Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) in mid-November.
This equipment will benefit multitudes of students for many years to come, said Scott Rasmussen, dean of the 窪做惇蹋厙 College of Technology. Donations like this allow us to train students on state-of-the-art equipment that will prepare them to go to work on like equipment when they graduate. This is of great benefit to industry as well as students.
The gift includes all the equipment from two ICCU data centers including CISCO network equipment, switches, routers, and firewalls. It also includes a massive amount of network disk storage and Dell servers.
All of the equipment that weve donated, all of it was being used to run Idaho Central 100 percent six months ago, said Mark Willden, ICCU chief information officer. With over 380,000 members and 1,300 employees we were dependent upon that equipment and it did a nice job for us. We just had an opportunity to go to this brand-new data center and we wanted the latest technology.
ICCU could have sold the equipment, but wanted to strengthen its relationship with 窪做惇蹋厙.
We love 窪做惇蹋厙, Willden said. A lot of our employees have graduated from 窪做惇蹋厙, and we have a number of employees going to 窪做惇蹋厙 right now. It is our desire and our wish to see Idaho Central be a great partner with 窪做惇蹋厙 and we want to see 窪做惇蹋厙 be very successful.
The other part of it is, he continued, we want to take 窪做惇蹋厙 graduates and make them part of the Idaho Central family and use them for jobs in IT.
Both ICCU and 窪做惇蹋厙 touted the benefits the equipment will provide 窪做惇蹋厙 students.
This equipment will give 窪做惇蹋厙 the ability to get hands-on experience with all of the latest technologies, Willden said. They will come out of school and be able to contribute to businesses like Idaho Central much quicker.
John Baker, instructor in the 窪做惇蹋厙 Information Technology Systems program, said the gift will be transformative for the program.
ICCU has given the ITS program a great deal of hardware that will enable us to improve the students experience in the program, Baker said. We now have newer CISCO network equipment to be used by the students during their lab activities, enabling them to learn on more up-to-date equipment. These newer switches, routers and firewalls will especially be helpful as we transition to the new CISCO curriculum next fall.
The network disk storage and Dell servers will be purposed by the 窪做惇蹋厙 ITS program to host virtualized environments for the current Linux and Windows desktop and server classes, Baker said. In addition, next fall, 窪做惇蹋厙 will be adding new VMware virtualization classes and these too will benefit from the new hardware.
Chase Nieffenegger, a native of Malad, has a unique perspective on the ICCU gift to 窪做惇蹋厙. Nieffenegger graduated from the 窪做惇蹋厙 Information Technology System and now works at ICCU as a network technician.
In my opinion, the equipment is top of the line. It is more modern and is the latest and greatest technology, Nieffenegger said. As a student, it is nice to know about and see devices that are actually being used in the real world. Seeing these devices and how they work will help students broaden their knowledge. In other programs Ive gone through it is all virtual, you dont get the hands-on benefit of seeing the equipment, plugging it in and using it.
Donating current equipment that students can learn on is an amazing way that industry partners can support 窪做惇蹋厙 programs, Rasmussen said.
The College of Technology values its relationships with industry partners, he said. Our relationship with Idaho Central Credit Union is a great example of these win-win relationships. We thank ICCU for their generous support of 窪做惇蹋厙 and the College of Technologys students.
Categories: