No matter how many car washes or bake sales schools host to raise money, adding funds to their coffers is a recurring problem. This perpetual financial difficulty makes expansive technology purchases or changes seem like a pipe dream for school CIOs and has education technologists searching for ways to stretch money. In 2005, state K-12 school leaders recognized the need to expand technology services while their budgets tightened and they had less money to spend on technology. Some schools were already working with consultants from technology vendor CDW for advice on IT strategy, which led to the project's creation. IlliniCloud, a nonprofit consortium, launched in February 2009, is a cloud network supported by servers located in three different school districts across the state. The annual fee for IlliniCloud is based on district size. John Pellettiere, CDW's director of K-12 education said that the IlliniCloud creators were able to leverage a pay-as-you-go model for disaster recovery. The pay-as-you-go model is suited for schools of various sizes and needs. Most districts using IlliniCloud are seeing a 30% to 60% percent reduction in costs.