Jackson National Life Insurance, which runs a regional headquarters in Cool Springs, is giving Lipscomb University leaders a big help in building out their computing and informatics offerings by cutting a check to fund the launch of an information technology laboratory. The facility will help Lipscomb model how IT is used in corporate settings, including via analytics and data mining.

The fundraising campaign to complete the ITM lab is ongoing. The Jackson donation will go toward the purchase of a server for virtualization, said SCI director Fortune Mhlanga. Additional equipment needed for the lab includes Windows OS and software licensing, a server UPS and switch, device switches and cabling, student laptops, LCD displays and virtualization software licensing.