BIG DATA

At today's grand opening of its new Computer Science Building, Colorado State University announced it received monitors, servers and peripherals from Sun Microsystems to help furnish its state-of-the-art computer science center with leading-edge technology that will help empower students with the skill set and expertise needed to compete in the global economy.

The value of the donation is more than $233,000 in refurbished furnishings and equipment. Among the items donated are 30 Sun Fire X 4100 servers, 24 Sun Ray monitors and peripherals, and 200 chairs, 30 tables and 60 cubicles.

"Sun was one of the first companies to step up and say they would help with the new Computer Science Building," said Darrell Whitley, chairman of the Computer Science Department. "The cubicles they donated make great workspaces for our graduate students. The Sun Ray thin clients will provide access to all students and are campus compatible. And the recently donated servers will be configured into a High Performance Computing cluster to support research and teaching."

Sun Microsystems develops technologies that power the global marketplace. The company has been one of the most generous donors to Colorado State. Over the past 20 years, Sun has consistently contributed refurbished equipment to the university to help enhance its computer science program.

"We are extremely grateful to Sun Microsystems for their enduring support of academic programs on our campus," said Janice Nerger, interim dean of the College of Natural Sciences. "This latest donation to our world-class Computer Science building will affect the education of students from across campus and will help launch a new era of computational sciences here at Colorado State."

The new four-story, 45,000 square foot Computer Science building sits immediately east of the Colorado State University Plaza, across from the Lory Student Center and Morgan Library. The Department of Computer Science began offering classes to students in the building in January.

A grand opening for the Computer Science Building is scheduled today from 4-5:30 p.m.