It's pretty amazing. Although Wake Forest administrators were able to leverage a strategic partnership to help implement Access 2000, their accomplishments should not all be attributed to Cabletron's generosity. They had the initiative to do all this. Without the initiative, the equipment we gave them could have just sat somewhere collecting dust. While more schools are working with industry to get the technology and training they need to bring these tools into their classrooms, both Benson and Rimmer said making the partnership work takes some effort.
Schools can learn a lot from private industry.
Industry usually has the experience of having done all this before. To make our partnership work meant we needed to stay in touch with the university as much as possible, help finance some of their ventures and listen to their ideas. If they come to us with an idea, we have the experience to be able to tell them if it's feasible or not. We run a very small, lean organization, and support from organizations like Cabletron allows us to do that. We've worked hard to foster and nurture the relationship.