Throughout this section of the report, the necessity for established standards has been a significant issue in both academic and administrative computing and networking.
Standards are important in two significant ways.
First, in the present decentralized mode of acquisition, the university is passing up significant volume discounts that are available on large purchases. Second, the problem of maintenance is complicated and made more costly by having many devices that require larger parts inventory and more complicated problem diagnosis. This is also true when maintaining network hardware. In all areas where standards are applicable, purchases should be made universitywide. This should be an open contract that every office of the university would use.