Dell releases its Statistica software for free to American university students
Dell has launched a free version of its Statistica advanced analytics software for college students and Professors in the United States. In addition to the analytics software, the Dell Statistica Free Academic Programme features a variety of support materials, including a free online statistics textbook, how-to videos, and access to a growing community of college and professional users in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) fields.

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at EDUCAUSE 2015, Dell announced the Dell Statistica Free Academic Program, a free version of its award-winning Statistica advanced analytics software now available to all U.S. college students and professors, to help boost interest in and preparedness for data analytics careers. Also at EDUCAUSE, Dell unveiled new security survey results showing that cybersecurity ranks as the number one concern among higher education IT professionals. To help the education community learn about cybersecurity issues and how best to protect against them, Dell will highlight the new survey findings at an EDUCAUSE session led by Dell customer Pepperdine University CISO.

Dell Statistica Free Academic Program designed to bolster college students’ interest in data analytics

Recognizing the nationwide shortage of data scientists and other professionals with data analytics skills, and the increasing importance of employees with analytical skills in our data-driven economy, Dell has made its leading advanced analytics software free for college students and professors in U.S. through the Dell Statistica Free Academic Program.

An easy-to-use solution that does not require coding and integrates seamlessly with open source R, Dell Statistica delivers a full range of advanced and predictive analytics tools that help organizations predict future trends, identify new customers and sales opportunities, forecast industry shifts, explore “what-if” scenarios, and reduce the occurrence of fraud and other business risks.

The Dell Statistica Free Academic Program provides college students with free access to industry-leading advanced analytics technology, as a well as a host of support materials, including a free online statistics textbook, how-to-videos, and access to a growing base of collegiate and professional users in the broader STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) community. The free offering also applies to all college and university professors, enabling them to make hands-on practicum a more relevant part of their curriculum, and to aid in their own research endeavors.

Dell EDUCAUSE session explores security challenges faced by higher education IT professionals

Dell also revealed the results of a security survey conducted by the Center for Digital Education, which found that while organizations in the higher education industry are now better aware of the latest threats and vulnerabilities, numerous challenges still remain. Dell will highlight the survey findings in a session titled, “Enable Better Student Outcomes Without Sacrificing Security,” where EDUCAUSE attendees will hear from Kim Cary, CISO, Pepperdine University, about how his organization is leveraging Dell’s comprehensive security solutions to address these requirements.

In the session, participants also will learn how to securely collaborate within their institution and with other institutions to transcend organizational silos while protecting infrastructure from the endpoint to the data center to the cloud. Notable survey findings to be discussed include:

73 percent of respondents rank cybersecurity high or very high among their institution's technology priorities;

While institutions rank their ability to detect and block cyber-attacks relatively high, with 65 percent citing their abilities as good or excellent, only 17 percent indicate they have not experienced a network breach/incident in the past year; and,

77 percent of respondents expect to spend more on network security in the next 12 months and 63 percent expect to spend more on secure access to data and applications.

Supporting Quotes:

Jon Phillips, managing director - Worldwide Education Strategy, Dell

“Today’s organizations, including institutions of higher education, depend on advanced technologies in security, data analytics and mobility to stay ahead of student and faculty needs. At the same time, they realize that students who gain knowledge and expertise in these technologies learn critical career-enhancing skills. Today, we see a dangerous nationwide shortage in professionals with data analytics skills, which has prompted Dell to offer our award-winning Statistica advanced analytics software free for all U.S. college students and professors. Dell sees EDUCAUSE as an opportunity to share with academic institutions knowledge about ways they can leverage the latest technologies to enable better student outcomes without sacrificing security, while also empowering the next generation of technologists.”

Kim Cary, CISO, Pepperdine University

“A university’s network needs are different from those of the typical business in that most of the endpoints on our network are not owned by us, but rather, are BYOD for students, conference guests, invited speakers and contracted services. When it comes to those endpoints the university does own, a simple ‘only what the company installs on it’ strategy for security doesn’t work, particularly with faculty. The security baseline must be mandatory to be effective and automation is required, since every other form of maintenance — including posture checking, user education, technicians using flash drives, and even concierge service for executives and high-profile faculty — has been shown to fail. We’ve used KACE to successfully bring security to the diverse University endpoint, and, because input from our colleagues at other schools also has helped build our security success, I’m looking forward to sharing with them at EDUCAUSE what we’ve learned using KACE.”

At EDUCAUSE 2015, join Pepperdine University CISO Kim Cary in a breakfast breakout session titled, “Enable Better Student Outcomes Without Sacrificing Security,” Wednesday, Oct. 28, 7:00 - 7:45 a.m. EDT.

Paul Dupree, CIO, Asbury University

“Any mobile security strategy for dealing with the variety of laptops, smartphones, tablets and other devices used to access the campus network today – and the threats they introduce – needs to be grounded in strong foundational network security that blocks those threats from entering the network. Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive next-generation firewalls protect our network from even the most sophisticated threats introduced by mobile devices. EDUCAUSE 2015 is an ideal environment and opportunity for me to share my experiences with implementing working mobile security solutions, while gaining knowledge on the latest advances to stay ahead of our security needs.”

Join Pepperdine University CISO Kim Cary, Asbury University CIO Paul Dupree and University of Massachusetts Medical School director of Research and Scientific Computing Alan Ritacco to explore how to achieve the ideal balance between endpoint device management and campus network access in a session titled, “Mobile Security: Endpoint to Perimeter Protection,” Wednesday, Oct. 28, 3:40 - 4:30 p.m. EDT.

Vince Kellen, CIO and senior vice provost, Analytics and Technologies, University of Kentucky

“Our top priority over the past several years has been to transform our IT operations and strategy to better support the business objectives of the university. This has meant modernizing IT and leveraging predictive analytics to gain insights from our data so we can make the best decisions for our university. As a flagship research university and healthcare system, we recognized the need to assess our security posture as we modernize our IT, identifying next-generation firewalls that could scale with us to ensure security well into the future. At EDUCAUSE 2015, we look forward to sharing what we have learned over the course of our technology evolution and how we worked with Dell to leverage technology to fuel student achievement and success.”

Patrick Bauer, chief information officer, Harper College

“The use of predictive analytics is key for us as we continue to work at improving student retention rates. Our model leverages analytics to pull disparate data sources together to provide a reporting framework, so at-risk students can be identified quickly and early intervention can increase student success.”

Join University of Kentucky CIO and senior vice provost of Analytics and Technologies Vince Kellen, Independent Colleges of Indiana Director of Policy and Research Scott Feeny and Harper College CIO Patrick Bauer in an EDUCAUSE session titled, “The Science of Predictive Analytics in Education,” Wednesday, Oct. 28, 11:40 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EDT.

At EDUCAUSE 2015, Dell also will host a Think Tank, “The Business of Learning – Designing the Next Generation Institution,” on Thursday, Oct. 29, 3:40 - 4:15 p.m. EDT. This session will feature University of Pennsylvania Wharton Computing and Information Technology CIO Dan Alig, University of Texas at Dallas vice president and CIO David Crain, University of Oklahoma university vice president and CIO Loretta Early, Austin Community College director of HLC ACCelerator Stacey Guney, and Intel Corporation business development manager Julie McRoberts.

About Dell in Education

Dell Inc. is committed to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to learn and succeed in an increasingly digital world and a globally competitive workforce. As a top provider of technology and services to schools, Dell listens to and works with students, educators, administrators, parents and community members around the world to deliver innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more in and out of the classroom. Learn more about Dell in Education at www.dell.com. Follow us on Twitter @DellEDU.

Supporting Resources:

About Dell

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