“We mandated [acting collectively] in central administration, and all the other schools decided to opt in,” Moriarty said.

This degree of voluntary cooperation between all the schools is unusual, Davis said.

“This is a really unique arrangement for Harvard, where technology is always decentralized in so many ways,” Davis said.

Because WinTel systems have become largely generic, the group compared proposals from different vendors under the assumption that the products were essentially equivalent.

“To the average user, they are commodity products,” Moriarty said. “That’s why competitive sourcing is the right thing to do—because they are all very similar products.”

The group chose IBM unanimously based on its pricing and service strategies, Moriarty said.

“IBM really proposed the most aggressive and reproducible price,” Moriarty said. “They were also already the number one choice for laptops in the College.”

But the committee also noted IBM’s commitment to product development, Moriarty said.

“The strategy of IBM is to be a market leader,” Moriarty said. “People are going to be able to get access to more innovative products, particularly for personal purchases.”

The prices and purchasing options for IBM and Apple specials are available on the UIS Technology Services Web site at www.uis.harvard.edu/technology_services/.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Kaplan can be reached at kkaplan@fas.harvard.edu.