Kutztown University Uses Hitachi OneVision Rewards Program to Extend Projector Life and Save on Replacements

	Kutztown University

This year, Kutztown University celebrates its 150th anniversary. A lot has changed since 1866; Kutztown enrolls around 10,000 students, offers 220 classrooms, labs, and lecture halls and offers dozens of Hitachi projectors for student benefit. Earlier this year, Kutztown's operations manager, Troy Weidner, registered Kutztown University as a Hitachi OneVision program member. Weidner, who oversees all presentation technology campus-wide, was interested in OneVision for the savings, but found the extended warranty especially attractive.

Each of the university's classrooms has a standardized audio/video (AV) setup with one projector and a simple user interface for instructor and student use. Each lecture hall has two projectors and a touch screen control panel, and, depending on the hall, additional controls and a sound system. Additionally, the labs at Kutztown have a different AV setup depending on the purpose of the specific lab. The university also uses Hitachi projectors for several unique projects around campus.

"I'm specifying a new install right now for our planetarium dome," says Weidner. "Hitachi support has been incredible. We shared information for the project, and Hitachi engineers helped get all the settings to work for the exact specifications of the dome. We're ordering the projector now, and we'll soon be able to project straight onto the dome instead of having to install a screen."

Direct access to sales representatives is just one of the benefits of being a member of the Hitachi OneVision program. Members also receive advanced replacement support, specialized pricing, purchasing rewards including the "buy 10 projectors, get one free" program, or "buy three projectors, get one lamp free," as well as an extended five-year warranty on projectors, and one-year warranty on lamps. At Kutztown University the extended warranty was one of the program's biggest selling points.

"We've already earned a free projector from the program, which is really nice, but the extended warranty is the real perk," says Weidner. "We want to get five years of performance from our projectors, and with the extended warranty I know that we'll not only get the five years, but the projectors will be covered the entire time. That's hard to beat."

Weidner was purchasing Hitachi projectors for Kutztown long before becoming a member of the OneVision program. But now that the university has signed up, he says he knows that Kutztown will be sticking with Hitachi for a long time.

"I didn't discover Hitachi through the OneVision program, I've actually been using Hitachi projectors for a long time," says Weidner. "But the program and the support have been amazing and very easy to work with. OneVision is the icing on the cake."

For more information on Kutztown University, please visit http://www.kutztown.edu/