How to help remove some obstacles to its success, the students of the university project by Rice University (www.rice.edu) engaged in research and business development will receive free access to 50 servers available IT hosting provider on the planet (www.theplanet. com).

The association with rice project is part of Planet Sand Castle, which is designed to eliminate the costs associated with technology startup companies to enable the creation of employment in the midst of what is known as a recovery the economy “jobless.” The planet will support qualified individuals with great ideas and vision, providing free servers for a full year. The Metro started in January Sand Castle, which offers 500 servers that are obsolete for the purposes of the planet, however, remains useful for people who have a great idea, but lack the budget to pay for offerings Planet server payment.

“We created a Sand Castle with the sole purpose of people to initiate projects that may not have been possible without this technology we are offering free,” said Metro President and CEO of J. Douglas Erwin in a statement. “In turn, we hope that will create new jobs. We have eight data centers and more than 50,000 servers with excess capacity to help those capable of rice throughout the country engaged in business activities. ”

Among the first to benefit from free hosts are the students of Jesse H. Rice Jones Graduate School of Business, which ranked fifth in the U.S. in graduate entrepreneurship in a 2009 survey by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine.

“Rice MBA students have an incredible career in entrepreneurship,” said William Glick, dean of the Jones School. “An impressive 22 percent of our graduates have started one or several companies – mostly in Houston – and estimated total income of these companies is approximately $ 1.5 billion. Gift of the planet is valuable not only an investment in the future Rice entrepreneurs, is also an investment in the economy of Houston. ”

Information Technology Vice Chancellor Rice, Kamran Khan said, however, that students from other disciplines that businesses can also take advantage of free servers in the world. “There is a multidisciplinary design projects in many schools and institutes in rice, focusing on everything from computer games to global health technologies,” said Khan. “Education is a priority for Rice, and additional server resources” The planet we can help provide a richer experience for students at Rice. ”

The planet is encouraging interested persons and companies to evaluate the criteria for Sand Castle project and apply online.