STC Hardware Partnership Agreement

The UITS Student Technology Centers (STCs), located on the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses, provide Indiana University students access to a broad range of applications in support of the academic mission of IU. Academic departments wishing to offer student access to these applications in a departmentally funded, discipline-specific setting are encouraged do so.

This access is provided by deploying the standard STC Build on departmentally owned workstations. Use of the STC Build in this setting constitutes a hardware partnership between UITS and the academic department.

Four basic criteria exist for participation in the STC Hardware Partnership Agreement:

• A suitable Ethernet connection to the IUB network
• A suitable location accessible to all IU students in the department
• Workstations deemed suitable for running the current STC Build
• A willingness to adhere to the terms and conditions below

In order to participate in a hardware partnership with the STCs, the partnering department agrees to establish a suitable group username to serve as a single point of contact. The partnering department also agrees to accept and endorse terms and conditions designed to ensure the success of the partnership while providing students with the same high-quality computing experience that they have come to expect when they visit any STC.

Note: Since the terms and conditions outlined below are subject to change without notice, continued use of the STC Build following such a change constitutes acceptance of the new terms.

1. The STC Build may only be deployed in facilities intended primarily for use by students. As a matter of policy, student-funded facilities are intended for the exclusive use of students. While occasional use by faculty for preparing course materials is to be expected, no other use of the STC Build is permitted.
   
   
2. Departments will be asked to fund any discipline-specific application they wish to add to the STC Build. Similarly, departments may be asked to contribute to the funding of other departmentally sponsored applications if their participation affects the original requesters' use of that application. This determination will be made based upon:
   
   
   • The terms of applicable license agreements
   • Significant changes in launch statistics
   • The presence of non-standard hardware components
   • The local deployment of UITS-funded applications
   
   
3. The department agrees to fund licenses supporting special hardware configurations. OEM-provided applications intended to support special hardware or promote the OEM or its partners may not always be suitable for deployment in the STC Build. In the event that superior alternatives are already available or can be acquired under reasonable terms, the STCs may elect not to deploy such OEM-provided applications.
   
   
4. Username and password authentication against UITS-managed accounts is required. This capability is fully integrated into the STC system software we provide, and this architecture may not be modified by the partnering department in any way.
   
   
5. Departments are urged to acquire systems that are recommended by the responsible STC technical team. The use of non-standard hardware must be pre-approved by the technical team managing the Build. Changes will not be made to the STC Build to accommodate non-standard workstations. Departments are expected to provide a sample workstation to remain in the possession of the STC technical team for the duration of the deployment.
   
   
6. Departments running the STC Build should expect to replace their hardware on a three-year lifecycle. Departments entering into a hardware partnership using outdated workstation technology will be urged to upgrade their hardware at the earliest opportunity. UITS is not responsible for substandard performance due to outdated hardware.
   
   
7. The department retains responsibility for maintenance of hardware running the STC Build. Workstation configuration requirements are reviewed annually to ensure the best user experience. The department will be responsible for funding configuration upgrades. On occasion, the STC technical teams may deem that a particular hardware configuration can no longer be supported. Any costs associated with a workstation upgrade and recertification will be incurred by the partnering department.
   
   
8. The department agrees to provide and maintain a suitable connection to the IUB network. This includes support for network protocols, which may change from time to time to meet the changing needs of the STCs. Currently, a 10Base-T Ethernet LAN with sufficient bandwidth to ensure ongoing nightly maintenance of the STC Build is required. If your network is deemed insufficient to handle STC installation, the STCs may be willing to provide a Build service at the charge of $90 per seat per year.
   
   
9. The partnering department agrees to make every effort to accommodate STC nightly maintenance procedures. This includes leaving the workstations on and booted to the STC Build partition every evening. Failure to follow this procedure may result in loss of user data, system corruption, or loss of functionality. The STCs are not responsible for losses resulting from failure to follow nightly maintenance procedures.
   
   
10. The department agrees to handle all special software requests through the appropriate STC process. We will make every effort to meet such departmental requirements whenever possible. For more information, see the STC web site.
    
    
11. The department agrees not to make unauthorized modifications to the STC Build.
    
    
12. The department agrees to designate a local support provider (LSP) who will act as a primary point of contact. The LSP will be considered the authoritative source of information regarding the partnered site. Units whose designated LSP is not an IU faculty or staff member will designate an IU faculty or staff sponsor, or other full-time employee to act as a permanent point of contact.
    
    
13. It will be the responsibility of the LSP to install or rebuild the systems as needed. The STC technical team will provide to the department instructions and any necessary files to allow the LSP to install the STC Build on the departmental hardware.
    
    
14. The STCs may grant administrator privileges to the departmental LSP who is designated as responsible for the department's workstations. With these privileges the LSP will be able to make changes to departmental systems, including installing, uninstalling, and hiding applications. While UITS does not discourage such actions in order to address departmental needs, departments do so at their own risk. The appropriate technical team reserves the right to override these changes in order to meet its obligations. In all cases, a system re-build will restore STC defaults.
    
    
15. The STC technical teams encourage Hardware Partners to strongly consider entering into a Printing Partnership with the STCs. While a Printing Partnership is not required, it will provide users with a consistent printing environment with all of the privileges and responsibilities associated with the STC Printing Services. In lieu of such a partnership, the partnering department will be expected to provide a suitable network-accessible printing environment utilizing tools consistent with the STC model. Workstation connected printers will not be supported in the STC Build.

This partnership agreement addresses a number of contingencies, but circumstances may require unique partnership arrangements. The Hardware Partnership Agreement may be modified to reflect those changes which can be applied broadly. Interested departments are encouraged to contact the STCs with questions or concerns.

For more information, please see Student Technology Centers standards and practices or visit the STC web pages at:

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