University of Memphis Deploys Xythos Campus-Wide

Xythos-Powered UMdrive Has Highest Adoption Rate of Any Instructional Technology on Campus

San Francisco, CA, January 25, 2007— Xythos Software, a leading developer of Basic Content Services solutions, today announced that the University of Memphis (UM) has successfully deployed its technology to UM faculty and students. The new Xythos service, named UMdrive, is designed to simplify online collaboration and research, as well as support departmental web sites and personal file storage. The introduction of UMdrive has also allowed UM to eliminate aging file servers, reduce paper and printing costs and increase productivity.

“Xythos-powered UMdrive has been phenomenal technology for the University of Memphis—it has changed the way we work and collaborate on campus,” said Sandy Schaeffer, Director of the Advanced Learning Center at the FedEx Institute of Technology, University of Memphis. “Xythos has had the highest adoption rate of any instructional technology we have offered to our campus and it has become integral to our teaching and learning environment.”

Minimal Support and Training
As a metropolitan-based campus, the University of Memphis student body is mobile and scattered. UM needed a way to push information across its distributed campus and facilitate online collaboration between students and faculty.

The IT team at the University of Memphis embarked on an extensive search for a Basic Content Services solution to meet its needs. Key solution requirements included being able to deploy and administer the system without increasing technical staff, and delivering an intuitive application interface which would require minimal user training and support. After a pilot deployment with Xythos, the IT team found that ongoing maintenance and support of the Xythos system would be minimal. They also determined that the Xythos interface was easy for users to understand and use, maintaining a low learning curve for the new technology. As a result of the pilot program’s success, the University purchased a 25,000 user license and began rolling out Xythos to the entire campus.

UMdrive Adoption
With the Xythos solution, faculty members impacted by budget cutbacks were able to reduce printing costs by uploading assignments and course syllabi to UMdrive for electronic distribution. Students who wanted to access their files from any workstation or coffee house could now store their work on UMdrive and access it anytime. In addition, the first electronic dissertation completed at the University of Memphis was made possible because of UMdrive.

UMdrive is also being used to:  

  • Collaborate on research with faculty outside the University
  • Share syllabi and course assignments in a high percentage of undergraduate and graduate classes on campus
  • Locate administrative training documentation and agendas
  • Host student web sites
  • Store personal files and work of faculty members
  • Manage departmental web sites and shared files

UMdrive Benefits
UMdrive has experienced widespread adoption across the entire campus because it resolved specific problems experienced by faculty members and students. It was also easy to use and required minimal training.

The IT team now maintains UMdrive with less than one full-time employee. UMdrive is also being used to replace aging technology at the University including old departmental file servers. Other benefits of UMdrive include:

  • Enabling online collaboration between students and faculty
  • Eliminating extensive investments in zip drives, RW-CDs and floppy drives in student labs across campus
  • Reducing paper and printing costs
  • Improving productivity by saving faculty and students time locating the information they need
  • Widespread adoption and use by students and faculty

For more information about the University of Memphis and other Xythos education customers, visit: www.xythos.com/education

About Xythos Software
Xythos Software is a leading developer of Basic Content Services software for enterprise organizations. Xythos’ open standards-based document and content management applications and its WebFile Server development platform help customers safely capture, manage, store and share content throughout its lifecycle. Xythos products are licensed to over three million users at commercial, education and government organizations around the world. To learn more about Xythos, visit www.xythos.com or call 1-888-4XYTHOS.