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From: riordanmr@clvax1.cl.msu.edu (Mark Riordan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Your school doesn't have a contract, you say?
Message-ID: <1990Nov7.172831.16256@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu>
Date: 7 Nov 90 17:28:31 GMT
References: <4846@rex.cs.tulane.edu> <1005@toaster.SFSU.EDU>
Sender: news@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu
Organization: Michigan State University
Lines: 21

In article <1005@toaster.SFSU.EDU>, eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) says:
>When I spoke with our bookstore manager, he said our campus had
>been designated a "hub"--i.e., able to sell at educational prices
>to other schools, but the details hadn't been finalized.  Does
>this sound familiar to anyone?
>                                        -=EPS=-

Michigan State University is in the process of becoming a "hub school".
The concept has been around for a while, but when we first started 
talking with NeXT about it about half a year ago, there were
very few schools in the hub school program.  I think that Ohio State
was one of the first, but I could have that wrong.
"Hub" schools provide support to smaller institutions that couldn't
be provided by those small institutions, and couldn't be provided by
NeXT's currently rather small and few field offices.  Being able
to sell at educational prices is just one part of the "hub" concept.
The intended client institutions are those who are unwilling or 
unable to sign the usual contract with NeXT, which requires certain
commitments in terms of staffing, training, support, and so on.

Mark Riordan  Mich State Univ.   riordanmr@clvax1.cl.msu.edu