Various gadgets and electronics are set for a raffle at Wednesday's Tech Fair.

Technology Fair Draws Hundreds

By: Freesia Singngam

Posted: 11/29/07

Vendors covered their display tables with computers, speakers, MP3 accessories, video game consoles, giveaways and raffles, attracting hundreds of students and faculty to the third annual Technology Fair held in the Student Union Ballroom Thursday.

But the fair was not used solely for advertising space.

Sponsored by the UConn Co-op and Sony, the fair allowed students and faculty to see new technology from these vendors as well as learn about the technology UConn is using. This was especially relevant this year as the Co-op and University Information Technology Services (UITS) are partnering with Apple and Dell to form Husky PC, a deal in which Apple and Dell will provide computers loaded with all the software the university needs, according to Chris Burch, a buyer in the technology department at the Co-op who helped organize the event.

Both the Apple and Dell representatives seemed pleased with the Husky PC deal.

"The process with institutional buyers will be uniform [with Husky PC]," said Paul O'Brien, an account executive representing Apple. "We greatly appreciate the partnership with all parties."

"We're working with procurement and UITS to finalize the agreement," said Tom Schardt, an account executive with Dell. "It entails university specific configurations for Dell Latitude and OptiPlex. ITS will bundle those with their image."

Schardt said he received some questions about Husky PC and about laptops and availability. He brought a convertible tablet notebook that will not be released until next week.

The fair offered vendors available to answer questions about products. Nothing was for sale.

The UITS table was appropriately set up between Apple and Dell.

Lisa Mikolinski, a representative from UITS, said a lot of faculty members stopped to ask about both UITS services and Husky PC.

"We support mostly faculty and staff," Mikolinski said. "We're here to remind them that we're here to help them with their computers."

UITS also gave out Frisbees, rubber ducks and pens.

Burch said the event has been popular here and has even attracted outside schools. Faculty from the UConn Health Center, Eastern Connecticut State University, Wesleyan University and Smith College had stopped by, he said.

The Co-op had its own table displaying items it sells. It was raffling all those items off.

UConn ResNet/Student Affairs Information Technology (SAIT) also had a table. They gave out screen cleaners and told students about their services.

"We're basically here for students to see us," said David Arena, a 7th-semester economics major who works for Resnet/SAIT. He said they help with any non-hardware related problems.

Many other tables had giveaways, such as the Griffin Technologies table, which gave out T-shirts and iSqueeze - car cup-holder inserts to hold iPods.

While she was working at the information desk on the first floor of the Student Union, people kept asking Emilia Szeligowska, a 7th-semester economics major, where the Technology Fair was. After she got out of work, she visited the fair to see what it was all about.

"It's really cool," Szeligowska said while looking around the fair. "Love the free stuff."

She was with Kelsey Leach, a 3rd-semester pre-teaching major.

"It's interesting," Leach said after leaving the Sony table. "I didn't know you can trade in your laptops for Sony."

The Sony table, which was the biggest in the room because Sony was the premiere sponsor of the fair, received the most traffic. It displayed an all-in-one desktop computer and raffled off a notebook as well as two PlayStation 3 consoles.

"It's fantastic," said Carol O'Neil, a key account manager from the New England Business Solutions and Systems Company who was a representative at the Sony table. "It's been great for us. The Co-op does a great job for Sony."

Bill Simpson, president and general manager of the Co-op, was pleased to see the turnout at the fair and all the people talking to the vendors.

"It's an opportunity for us to show all the partnerships we've developed for the benefit of the students and staff at UConn," Simpson said.

Contact Freesia Singngam at Freesia.Singngam@UConn.edu.