WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Companies looking to license and crunch massive amounts of data as part of their product development are turning to Purdue University for help.

Purdue has reached three new technology agreements with McGraw-Hill Education, Navistar International and a medical technology company that could bring millions in revenue to the university.

The Journal & Courier reports (http://on.jconline.com/yrC79q) the new deals give Purdue alternatives to traditional funding support from tuition and the state.

McGraw-Hill plans to license a Purdue-developed Web application that allows students to post comments during class using social media accounts. All students in the class can then view the messages as part of the discussion.

Navistar plans to buy computing services to run engineering simulations.

Vice President of Information Technology Gerry McCartney says Purdue could reap millions from the deals.