1.

Funding IT

2. Administrative/ERP Information Systems

3. Security

4. Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure

5. Teaching and Learning with Technology

6. Identity/Access Management

7. Governance, Organization, and Leadership

8. Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity

9. Agility, Adaptability, and Responsiveness

10. Learning Management Systems

Issue #1: Funding IT

These are very trying economic times for higher education institutions. Diving endowments,
hiring freezes, and budget cuts are the main topics of executive focus and discussion. Not
surprisingly, the economic downturn overshadowed many of this year's top-ten issues, with the
current focus on fiscal conservatism reflected in this year's #1 issue for IT leaders: Funding IT.

Funding IT will be a challenge for most higher education IT organizations as they grapple with
fiercely competing budget priorities in the process of overall institutional budgets being reduced.
But during these difficult economic times, IT will have the opportunity to show its worth to the
institution by being able to create and/or enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiencies
while realizing cost savings. These cost savings may be accomplished through a variety of
methods and in a variety of areas.

For example, virtualization allows for optimal infrastructure utilization, efficient IT management
of hardware and services, and realized cost savings; virtualization of servers in the data center
and thin clients in labs and user desktops are also very green solutions. Virtualization has the
added benefit of running highly available, safe/secure IT environments. Another area for cost
savings is cloud/grid computing, in which scalable and elastic resources are obtained on demand
via the Internet. SaaS (Software as a Service) is one example of this paradigm. Likewise, the use
of online collaborations — web-based, open-source software applications, wikis, portals, shared
documents, shared work spaces, and web-based tele/videoconferencing — allows higher
education institutions not only to enhance employee performance but also to offer optimized
services, all while having a truly global reach in terms of both employees and students. In web-
enabled educational experiences, the CMS/LMS can be integrated with social websites such as
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace. Virtual worlds such as Second Life can be used as a
total immersion experience to test the lessons taught in both online and in-person classrooms.
These experiences can be aided with enhanced mobility. The fast adoption of iPods, iPhones,
Blackberries, and (more generically) smartphones is allowing students and employees to
collaborate on the go. Adopting a mobile paradigm increases organizational effectiveness and
efficiencies, resulting in overall cost savings for the institution. Efficiencies can also be created
through partnerships: what cannot be done internally by current IT staff creates opportunities for
partnerships with external entities. Often erroneously called "outsourcing," this is more
accurately defined as "right-sourcing." Right-sourcing IT operations frees up existing IT staff,
who can then focus on more value-added efforts for the institution as defined by the strategic
plan. Finally, key to cost savings is a highly trained and diverse staff. Now is the time for
institutions to invest in people. If there is less money to implement new IT, then IT organizations
should train their staff and prepare for the next boom cycle.

Critical questions for Funding IT include the following:

 What can an IT organization take advantage of to enhance revenue — rather than cutting
the budget — in these difficult economic times? How can IT be a viable partner in grant,
research, and government funding opportunities?
 What technologies can be implemented to assist in cost savings? Are these savings in
utility costs? Savings from increases in operational effectiveness and efficiencies? Can IT
management prove return on investment (ROI), in either the short term or the long term?
 What choices can the IT organization make to save money for the institution? What
choices should be made regarding which products and services the IT organization will
continue to provide and which it will right-source? Are there cost savings in the right-
sourcing of e-mail? In the right-sourcing of certain helpdesk functions? In the right-
sourcing of the LMS/CMS? Are there cost savings in the adoption of open-source
solutions?
 How can IT leaders coordinate IT budgeting with institutional planning and budgeting
processes to achieve economies of scale? What can IT leaders do to implement life-cycle
funding so as to leverage and maximize every budgetary dollar and maintain technology
refreshment?

Issue #2: Administrative/ERP Information Systems

In the past decade of EDUCAUSE Current Issues Surveys, few issues have been highly ranked
as consistently as Administrative/ERP Information Systems. For three of the four survey areas,
the Administrative/ERP Information Systems issue has ranked in the top three every year except
the very first. Undoubtedly, IT leaders consider administrative/ERP information systems to be
essential to higher education institutions.

Over the same time period, administrative/ERP information systems have grown beyond their
original scope of addressing financial and student information needs. The leading vendors have
developed or purchased software applications that address numerous other functions previously
separate from the administrative/ERP area. These applications include software for admissions
and enrollment management, advancement/funds management, alumni records, web front-end
applications, and business intelligence systems. Ironically, the larger these systems have grown,
the more difficult it has become for them to introduce and support features that do not rely on the
core software program — one of the reasons that ERP vendors have been criticized for their late
integration of various Web 2.0 features.

For an institution looking for a new administrative/ERP solution, the good news is that the
systems are continuing to improve. However, many agree that the selection process has become
so complex — particularly with regard to licensing — that choosing an administrative/ERP
information system requires the assistance of experienced consultants. Institutions seeking a new
administrative/ERP solution, as well as those looking to leverage previous long-standing
investments, face significant challenges.

Critical questions for Administrative/ERP Information Systems include the following:

 What is the level of executive support for the administrative/ERP information system? Is
there an awareness that executive buy-in is critical to the review of existing business
practices and workflows? Is there an understanding that failure to seize these
opportunities frequently results in the continuation and creation of shadow systems and
procedures that undermine the functionality of the new system?
 What is the commitment from senior administration to additional investments in the
administrative/ERP or the new subsystems? Are there clear ROI analyses that indicate
both the opportunities and the limits of the new system?
 What is the level of customization — if any — that is appropriate, given available staff
and financial resources? Is there administrative support to limit customization? Are there
resources to upgrade customizations?
 How are stakeholders' expectations regarding add-on applications managed? Is the need
to consider the costs of interoperability, including the potential need for additional staff
expertise or resources, clearly documented?
 Is an open-source solution appropriate? Have the advantages and disadvantages of an
open-source solution been clearly presented to all interest groups on campus?
 Has the institution considered outsourcing administrative/ERP systems? Does the
institution have the experience to negotiate a service contract that includes vendor
response time, performance standards, and protection against cost-plus upgrades? Do the
institutional leaders understand that acquiring external consultant services will be helpful
but that outsourcing does not relieve the institution of having internal staff to protect the
original investment?

Issue #3: Security

Security remains near the top of the list of strategic issues facing higher education institutions.
Given the increasing volume of information that needs to be protected, the expanding body of
rules, regulations, and laws governing information security and privacy, and the current
economic downturn, which makes it even harder for an institution to obtain the funding
necessary to keep up with requirements, this is not at all surprising. With these immense
challenges, Security will likely remain high on the Current Issues Survey list in the years to
come.
Security is not strictly a technology matter; indeed, it is a foundational element for almost all
institutional business. Responsibility for security needs to extend beyond information technology
to every functional office in the institution and to the highest level of management. IT
professionals can assist in this endeavor by not limiting their own perspective to IT and by
modeling behavior to treat security and privacy best practices as everybody's responsibility.

Critical questions for Security include the following:

 Do institutional leaders recognize the balance needed between privacy and security
policies? How does the institution resolve the tension between the academic
environment's commitment to openness of process and access to content and the
institution's need to protect an individual's privacy — all while securing data from
unauthorized access and use?
 How is the institution developing and implementing an information security
infrastructure? What steps are being taken to ensure that all aspects of the technology
support structure for the institution have been evaluated for security vulnerabilities and to
ensure that appropriate procedures are in place to prevent breaches from occurring and to
respond if they do occur?
 How is the institution developing campus-wide security policies, awareness, and
training? Are the security policies well-defined? How is the institution addressing
prevention of, detection of, response to, and recovery from security breaches? Do all
employees annually revisit a security training and awareness program? Do staff
understand how to prevent breaches and how to address breaches if/when they occur?
 How has the institution created a culture in which security roles and responsibilities are
understood? To what extent has management recognized information security as an issue
shared by all and not merely a technology issue borne by the IT organization? Does an
information security culture of care and vigilance exist?
 Is data being encrypted on databases, laptops, handheld/mobile devices, and portable
storage devices? Is an aggressive program of data encryption — particularly for data
handled and carried by staff with legitimate access to secure and personal data — in
place?
 What is the institution's understanding and implementation of computer forensics? Has
the institution identified firms and consultants who can be hired to assess and help
implement the forensics capability that needs to be in place to analyze breaches and help
prevent them in the future?
 Is staffing for security adequate to address the security agenda? Does the institution have
a full-time Information Security Officer and a full-time Information Privacy Officer?
What resources are assigned to implement, maintain, and enhance the security program
and conduct training and awareness classes?
 How are students being educated about the risks of social networking services? Does the
security training and awareness program include a social networking component for
students?

Issue #4: Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure

For 2009, the categories of Infrastructure and Advanced Networking were combined to create a
single category called Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure, which encompasses a more holistic
view of IT than was provided by either of the separate categories. As evidenced by the current
buzz surrounding cloud computing, stakeholders are increasingly less concerned about where the
applications end and where the network begins. In this combined category, the term
cyberinfrastructure embodies the notion of a "layer of enabling hardware, algorithms, software,
communications, institutions, and personnel"3 — a layer that makes digital scholarship possible.4

For the second year in a row, the Infrastructure category ranked in fourth place, after gaining
three positions from 2007. This reflects not only the importance of maintaining a robust
infrastructure/cyberinfrastructure but also the nascent paradigm shifts in infrastructure
technologies. It is becoming outdated to assume that college/university IT services are provided
by institutionally licensed applications running on campus-owned servers connected via higher
education networks.

Many IT leaders have chosen to outsource basic services, e-mail in particular, to third parties
such as Google and Microsoft. New sourcing models, including SaaS, are obviating the need to
acquire new hardware to run new applications. Open-source communities, including Sakai and
Moodle, are tackling inter-institutional software development and maintenance. Instructors are
not waiting for the IT organization to roll out new learning applications but instead are adopting
freely available Web 2.0 collaboration tools.

Just as server virtualization is decoupling enterprise applications from specific pieces of

hardware, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is expected to decouple personal productivity
applications from specific desktops and laptops. The consumerization of IT is resulting in
members of the campus community accessing services through a constantly evolving array of
new devices, especially smartphones and netbooks, which will likely outpace the standardization
and support initiatives of the IT organization.

Although Research Support was a separate survey issue that failed to rank in the top ten, it is
worth noting that in some disciplines, grid computing is breaking down the former relationships
determining which institutions provide computing cycles and which institutions employ the
principle investigators doing the computational research.

Critical questions for Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure include the following:

 How well is the IT organization assessing the institution's cyberinfrastructure with

respect to a recognized practice such as ITIL, COBIT, the Infrastructure Maturity Model,
or an enterprise architecture design of its own?
 How well are the privacy rights of the members of the campus community protected for
the software applications that reside "in the cloud" or on the vendor's hardware? Have
vendors been vetted for awareness of and compliance with the requirements of FERPA,
HIPAA, PCI, and GLB legislation?
 To what extent are those members of the campus community who use Web 2.0 services
aware of whether their intellectual property is adequately safeguarded by services not
provided by the institution?
  How is the institution avoiding loss of the understanding and control of its own
procedures and policies as a consequence of the adoption of third-party services?
 How well has the IT organization, along with its partners in the library, legal affairs, and
instructional design, acquired the expertise to evaluate and manage external sourcing
contracts and services?
 What are the institution's plans to authenticate members of its community with respect to
a growing set of services and applications that are sourced from multiple providers?
 What are the institution's policies for channeling community members' technology
acquisitions toward a set of supported devices versus assisting clients with whichever
devices they choose?

Issue #5: Teaching and Learning with Technology

Teaching and Learning with Technology — formerly E-Learning / Distributed Teaching and
Learning — ranked #5 this year, moving up from #9 in the 2008 survey. With the increasing
availability of technology-based learning tools both internal and external to the institution, the
role of the CIO and other IT leaders is expanding to encompass many teaching and learning
domains. The trend toward augmenting instruction with technology creates opportunities and
substantial challenges for those who must respond to increasingly diverse and fluid instructional
environments. CIOs have become crucial to instructional units because they provide leadership
in evaluating and supporting the teaching technologies that underlie multiple forms of distributed
learning.

A growing proportion of learning takes place outside the traditional boundaries of the classroom,
facilitated by applications such as social networks and technologies that support a culture in
which everyone creates and shares. In the current economic environment, IT leaders must make
decisions about whether or not to accommodate these miscellaneous technologies. Further, they
are being asked to provide technological direction for cultural transformations — such as
information fluency — that involve library faculty, department faculty, technology specialists,
and students as co-creators of knowledge. Finding the proper balance between systemic and ad
hoc technologies will be fundamental for IT leaders as they respond to a student generation that
prefers less passive and more agile learning. These instructional modalities will foster
transformational innovations such as the need for e-portfolios in a reflective, contextual,
authentic, and active learning environment.

All of these developments play out in a landscape where IT leaders bear responsibility for
systems that support institutional functionality, that protect the privacy and security of faculty
members, students, administrators, and staff, that safeguard information and intellectual
property, that respond to the data and information needs of the institution, and that provide
effective means of communication. This responsibility forces IT leaders to function in a
mediated environment — one in which they must manage dwindling resources, increasing
demands, and the necessity for a collaborative establishment of effective priorities with
administrative and academic constituencies.

Critical questions for Teaching and Learning with Technology include the following:
  To what extent are IT leaders involved in active communities of practice, sharing ideas
that facilitate consensus for information and instructional technology?
 What mechanisms are used to provide information about the effectiveness and possible
reformulation of institutional technology? Are evaluation results shared on an institution-
wide basis with opportunities for reflection?
 How are IT leaders taking an active role in informing key stakeholders about the
necessary policy realignments caused by emerging technologies?
 What mechanisms are in place for faculty development? How are faculty members
involved in the process?
 What system is in place to examine and reevaluate institutional structures for campus
technology on a regular basis?

Issue # 6: Identity/Access Management

In recent years, many higher education institutions have created or acquired institutional
resources requiring restricted electronic access, including databases and intellectual property.
Moreover, state laws and agencies often require limiting access to non-public resources. These
expectations support strong institutional identity/access management (I/AM) strategies. Initially,
many campuses start with I/AM by strongly connecting it to e-mail service, whereas others
educate campus constituents in understanding that an electronic identity is more than just an e-
mail address or an ERP logon.

Issues surrounding I/AM include developing strong vetting, credentialing, and provisioning
processes for all constituents (including guests), inventorying and integrating all decentralized
systems into a centralized I/AM strategy; and ensuring the federation of identity. In addition,
I/AM solutions must be flexible and easily scalable over time.

Outsourcing, hosted, and cloud computing solutions present new challenges. Keeping identity
credentialing systems on campus is still a preferred architecture. A separate identity system for
the outsourced system can be used, but doing so presents significant challenges — for example,
another password for the user to manage or another identity vetting process. As campuses
evaluate outsourced e-mail systems, allowing identity credentials to be stored by a vendor
service provider causes concern. Institutions must consider whether they should have outsourced
e-mail providers authenticate against an in-house system or whether they should outsource
credentials.

Federation of identity serves to enable the portability of identity information across security
domains, including institutional, agency, and corporate service providers. The need for
federation grows as resources, particularly academic research resources, require remote access
by trusted associates. Faculty and students are increasingly mobile among campuses, and service
solutions must be mobile between campus and vendor. The ultimate goal of identity federation is
to enable users of one domain to securely access data or systems of another domain, with vetting
and authenticating a user done once and with full trust of credentials presented through the
federation.

Critical questions for Identity/Access Management include the following:

  What is the institution's documented process for vetting the identity of individuals?
 Can other colleges and universities trust the electronic identities and the vetting process
behind those identities, if presented in a federation?
 Can access be defined by role and accommodate role changes over time?
 Should all campus systems be part of a single-sign-on environment?
 As systems move to hosted, cloud, and outsourced solutions, what I/AM plan does the
institution have for handling credentials?
 Will outsourced system access be included in the single-sign-on strategy?
 What role will federation play in I/AM solutions?

Issue #7: Governance, Organization, and Leadership

IT leaders continue to rate the issue of Governance, Organization, and Leadership as a top-ten
concern. Challenges related to the topic include the lack of standardization of roles and
responsibilities of CIOs and IT organizations within institutions, campus politics, changing
expectations of constituents, and resource constraints, especially in the face of the recent
economic crisis.

From a governance perspective, the recent downturn in the economy has created new
opportunities for some CIOs and IT leaders as their expertise — along with that of other senior
administrators — is sought to address urgent needs to increase efficiency and effectiveness
across campus. The trend to involve IT leaders in broadly based institutional decisions may
continue as the percentage of the top technology administrators reporting directly to the president
or chancellor continues to increase.5 However, even though advances are being seen on some
campuses, other technology organizations are struggling to change the perception of IT as an
ever-growing expense rather than a potential solution to critical campus issues.

From an organization perspective, widespread budget cuts are negatively affecting IT leaders'
ability to fill open positions, advance professional development, and support projects and
equipment replacement. IT leaders will need to use strong communication skills to update
constituents' expectations for service delivery, staff workload, and purchasing capabilities.

From a leadership perspective, CIOs will face difficult decisions stemming from resource
constraints and other aspects of the economic crisis, including dealing with increased staff stress.
However, visionary leaders will undoubtedly leverage this time of hardship to uncover new
possibilities. They will inspire staff to discover more original solutions, target new collaborations
in alignment with institutional priorities, and use creativity to tackle seemingly impossible
problems. After all, this is where technology leaders have proven their competence time and
again: in the ability to go off the beaten path, to recognize the need for change, and to find
breakthroughs where none existed before.

Critical questions for Governance, Organization, and Leadership include the following:
  In an age of increased scrutiny of budgets and priorities, what committees, processes, and
procedures are in place to share technology information, discuss priorities, and collect
feedback from the campus community?
 Are IT leaders seeking opportunities to understand the broad concerns of the institution
and determine how technology might offer solutions?
 Are IT leaders reviewing multi-year technology plans (both strategic and project) in the
context of the latest changes to the economy and challenges to the institution?
 How are IT leaders helping staff to manage expectations? Are IT leaders anticipating and
preparing to address increased staff stress given the climate of reduced and/or eliminated
staff/hiring, professional development, capital budgets, and projects?
 How are IT leaders motivating staff not only to search for cost efficiencies but also to
leverage new opportunities that tighter economies encourage, including advancing
discussions on integrated service offerings, forging new partnerships, and fostering
environments that allow for more innovative solutions?

Issue #8: Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity

Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity (DR/BC) continues to be on the top-ten list of IT issues,
and if a major disaster strikes an institution, it will undoubtedly move up the list of IT leaders'
concerns. Business continuity can be defined as an institution's ability to maintain or restore its
business and academic services when some circumstance disrupts normal operations. BC
involves disaster recovery (DR), which encompasses the many activities that are necessary to
restore the institution to operational status after a disaster. BC planning is an institution-wide
responsibility and needs a champion at the executive level to be successful. Ideally, in an
integrated approach, every campus department will understand and prepare for the role it will
play in keeping the institution functional in a crisis and operational long-term. Planning includes
the identification and alignment of institutional vulnerabilities, priorities, and dependencies, as
well as the measures to be taken to facilitate continuity and recovery before, during, and after a
crisis. Even more broadly, institutions need to plan for the overall resilience of the infrastructure
that supports their teaching, learning, and research activities.

Senior administration should understand the high risk of not being prepared, including damage to
institutional reputation, loss of students, and the overall lost opportunity costs of operating
reactively. The case for DR/BC readiness needs to be tied to the academic mission; using
terminology such as "academic sustainability," "high availability," and "resilience" may be better
than "business continuity" when having conversations on campus. Indeed, academic
sustainability must be at the forefront of institutional DR/BC planning.

An assessment of risks, including determining acceptable levels of risk and the right levels of
investment, is often the place to begin to address DR/BC. Additionally, identification of key
systems can ensure that the relevant operational units involved have robust DR/BC plans in place
and the funding to accomplish and maintain them. Without risk assessment, there is no good way
to understand where the institution stands with regard to BC readiness. Results from risk
assessment must be addressed to avoid additional liabilities for the institution.
The process of planning is as valuable as the plan itself. The planning process directs continuing
attention to the issues, brings awareness to risks, and identifies key players, relationships, and
understandings to coordinate a recovery effort. Planning is key and fosters confidence. Training,
simulation, and testing of the plan must be ongoing. Lessons learned locally or elsewhere should
be incorporated into the plan. A profile describing the institution's ability to respond and to
deliver services with high availability should also be part of the plan, which must be widely
communicated. DR/BC planning and overall resilience need to be integrated into institutional
thinking on an ongoing basis and in all aspects of campus activity: in designing systems and
buildings, in practicing alternate ways of delivering classes, in considering research data, and in
undertaking normal operations.

Critical questions for Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity include the following:

 Has the institution assigned responsibility for coordinating DR/BC planning to a specific
individual or office? How are all critical departments involved in the planning?
 Has the institution conducted a risk assessment to determine likely threats and mitigation
factors? How much of a risk are the current operating methods?
 Has the institution conducted a business impact analysis to determine mission-critical
applications and restoration priorities?
 Does the institution have a documented and tested DR/BC plan for each mission-critical
application? Is there a program in place for continuous revision and testing of the plans?
 What processes and capabilities are needed to make the institution resilient? What is the
IT organization's plan for building and testing these capabilities?
 What opportunities for partnership exist within the state or region to provide resilience to
the institution and a partner institution (e.g., a shared regional data center, cross-training,
joint testing exercises)?
 Does it make sense for the institution to outsource some DR/BC functions?
 Are issues of DR/BC and resilience routinely included in every discussion about new
technologies at the institution?

Issue #9: Agility, Adaptability, and Responsiveness

In the 2008 Current Issues Survey, the issue of Change Management — referring to the ability of
an IT organization to drive change within an institution — appeared as #8. The committee re-
titled the issue this year as Agility, Adaptability, and Responsiveness, which includes not only the
ability to drive change but also, and especially important in the present fiscal climate, the ability
of an IT organization to react to a changing landscape. Current times call for an IT organization
and leadership that is able to quickly understand the frequently changing realities of the present
environment so as to be able to adapt services and, if needed, restructure to meet those needs.

Being agile during times of relative calm is challenging enough, but doing so in a rapidly
changing environment requires IT leaders to be aware of the challenges facing the institution at
large and of how their services can help meet those challenges. Doing so requires IT leaders to
create an organizational culture in which information is freely, honestly, and quickly shared and
in which flexibility in work assignments is encouraged by management and accepted by staff. IT
leaders also need to be an integral part of campus-wide discussions about how the institution
needs to adapt and respond to the changing world. Many of the "efficiencies" that other
departments will seek in times of downsizing will likely involve technology, thus adding
additional work to the IT organization. Having the IT leaders present during those discussions
and decisions will allow the institution to seek even more efficient solutions while at the same
time minimizing the chances that unfunded mandates will be passed to IT.

IT organizations simply cannot change on a dime because they are, after all, part of educational
institutions, which value the time-consuming goals of ensuring broad understanding and creating
consensus. But IT organizations must be able to evolve, spending less time on protecting past
accomplishments and focusing instead on how to do what needs to be done today and in the
future.

Critical questions for Agility, Adaptability, and Responsiveness include the following:

 Are IT leaders present during campus-wide discussions about how the institution needs to
adapt and respond to the changing world?
 To what extent do other campus leaders view the IT leader as a strategic partner who can
help them adapt to the realities they face?
 How does the IT organization foster a climate where change is, if not embraced, at least
accepted and understood?
 Do IT leaders fully understand the institutional context of the changes they are being
asked to make?
 How are IT leaders taking advantage of the tools available to them to gain a quick read
on how others are addressing similar issues? For example, have they used the various
EDUCAUSE Constituent Group Lists to conduct quick surveys of their peers regarding
specific issues?

Issue #10: Learning Management Systems

The learning management system (LMS) has become a mission-critical enterprise system for
higher education institutions. According to the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service: Fiscal Year
2007 Summary Report, 93 percent of all campuses responding to the survey supported at least
one LMS. In fact, only 0.5 percent of respondents did not deploy and had no plans to deploy
such a system.6 In Campus Computing 2008, Kenneth C. Green reports that the percentage of
college/university courses that use an LMS has risen from 14.7 percent in 2000 to 53.5 percent in
2008.7 Accordingly, the LMS faces challenges and concerns similar to all other enterprise
systems: acquisition strategy, local needs, rising costs, data migration, system integrity,
integration/interoperability with other campus resources, and expansion to purposes for which it
was not initially intended.

Although the commercial LMS providers (e.g., Blackboard/Angel Learning and Desire2Learn)
dominate higher education, the percentage of campuses using open-source applications (e.g.,
Moodle and Sakai) has nearly doubled in the last two years.8 Given the rising cost of the
commercial LMS, the current economic climate, and the pattern of consolidations in the
commercial LMS market, the open-source LMS may be a viable alternative for some institutions.
For those institutions with an already established LMS, however, the human and technical
resources needed to migrate to a new system may be a concern.

Over the years, the LMS has evolved from a content (course) management system (CMS)9 to a
more all-encompassing system that includes groupware and social networking tools, as well as
assessment and e-portfolios to track learning across courses and semesters. Although the LMS
needs to continue serving as an enterprise CMS, it also needs to be a student-centered application
that gives students greater control over content and learning. Hence, there is continual pressure
for the LMS to utilize and integrate with many of the Web 2.0 tools that students already use
freely on the Internet and that they expect to find in this kind of system. Some educators even
argue that the next requirement is a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that interoperates
with an LMS.10

At the same time, the question remains: is the LMS being used effectively at the institution, by
both faculty and students? Institutions need to ensure that there are quality guidelines for the
LMS, that both faculty and staff receive training,11 and that assessment is conducted regularly.

Critical questions for Learning Management Systems include the following:

 What factors at the institution favor buying a commercial LMS or supporting an open-
source application?
 What systems need to be integrated with the LMS: portal? e-portfolio? ERP? library
resources? Does the LMS support the integration of these systems?
 Does the institution have the development and support expertise either to support an
open-source LMS or to integrate open-source components into a commercial LMS?
 Has the institution conducted, or is it planning to conduct, an assessment of how
effectively the LMS is being used? What training/support resources are available to help
faculty and students make better use of the LMS features?
 If a change will be made to a new system, what plan is in place to ensure the smooth
migration of existing materials to the new system?

A Decade of Surveys
The first annual EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey was conducted in 2000, making this the
tenth anniversary. The decade of surveys has revealed, perhaps not surprisingly, a consistency in
the issues that IT leaders consider to be critical for the strategic success of their institutions. In
these ten years, only three issues have held the #1 spot: Funding IT has been the #1 issue six
times; Administrative/ ERP Information Systems and Security have each held the top position
twice. Indeed, since 2003, these three issues have always held the top-three spots, in various
ranking order. (The only other issues to reach the top three were Faculty Development and
Training in 2000, 2001, and 2002 and Distance Education in 2000.) Critical benchmarks for IT
in higher education, the issues of Funding IT, Administrative/ ERP Information Systems, and
Security are closely aligned with internal and external perceptions of an IT organization's overall
efficiency and effectiveness.
Funding IT has appeared consistently not only as a strategic issue but also as an issue with the
potential to become more significant and as an issue demanding a large amount of the IT leader's
time. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, Funding IT also showed up as an issue that demanded the most
expenditure of institutional resources. But Administrative/ERP Information Systems has been
even more ubiquitous in the survey. In every year except 2000, this issue has been in the top ten
for all four questions, and it has been the #1 issue every year in terms of expenditure of
institutional resources. Although Security did not make the top-ten list in the first Current Issues
Survey, by 2001 Security Management was ranked #3 in the list of issues with the potential to
become more significant. It has remained as one of the top-two issues on that list ever since.

Issues related to teaching and learning have always occupied a high place in the survey. In the
first survey, issues related to teaching and learning held three of the top-ten slots for issues of
strategic importance: Faculty Development, Support, and Training was #2; Distance Education
was #3; and E-Learning Environments was #4. The same three issues appeared in the top ten for
issues with potential to become more significant, and the first two were also on the lists for
demanding the IT leader's time and expenditure of institutional resources. Distance Education
and E-Learning Environments went through several name changes and gradually morphed into
Teaching and Learning with Technology by 2009. By whatever name, this category has shown
up regularly not only as a strategic issue but also as an issue with the potential to become more
significant and as an issue that demands expenditure of institutional resources.

Meanwhile, Faculty Development and Training continued to appear in the top-ten strategic
issues list through the 2007 survey. Although Faculty Development, Support, and Training
remained as a separate issue in the 2009 survey, many of the subissues were subsumed into the
new Teaching and Learning with Technology category, which may explain why Faculty
Development, Support, and Training did not show up as a top-ten strategic issue on its own.
Finally, ever since Electronic Classrooms and Technology Buildings was added to the survey in
2001 (changed to Technology-Enhanced Classrooms and Other Learning Spaces in 2009), it has
ranked in the top ten in terms of demand for institutional resources. Since 2003,
Instructional/Course Management Systems (changed to Learning Management Systems in 2009)
has joined it there. Clearly, the increasing influence of teaching and learning as a key element of
the IT organization's mission and as an expanding function of the profession is reflected in the
rise of the Teaching and Learning with Technology issue from #9 in strategic importance in 2008
to #5 in 2009 and to the reappearance of the enterprise-focused Learning Management Systems at
#10 in strategic importance.

Infrastructure is another category that has consistently placed in the top-ten list of issues of
strategic importance, although the definition has morphed somewhat over the decade. In 2000,
this issue was called Advanced Networking Challenges (#9). The following year, Building and
Maintaining Network and IT Infrastructure was #9, and by 2002, both Maintaining Network
Infrastructure (#9) and Emerging Network Technologies (#10) were in the top ten. Infrastructure
Management has consistently shown up as a top-ten issue for demanding the IT leader's time and
for expenditure of institutional resources. In 2009, these infrastructure concerns were expressed
in the Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure category, which ranked #4 in strategic importance. The
persistence of this issue indicates that faculty and research computing issues and support
continue to demand considerable attention from IT leaders.
Strategic Planning held a place in the top-ten list of strategic issues until 2008, when,
interestingly, Change Management made its first appearance on the list. For 2009, the Current
Issues Committee recast the Change Management issue as Agility, Adaptability, and
Responsiveness, and it again appeared in the list of top issues for strategic success. Although
Strategic Planning continues to hold a top place as an issue that demands the IT leader's time,
more focus is being placed on Agility, Adaptability, and Responsiveness and on Governance,
Organization and Leadership — #9 and #7, respectively, in the 2009 list of issues of strategic
importance. Institutional funding challenges may be forcing campus IT leaders to quickly adapt
and alter long-term plans to align with new institutional imperatives.

The EDUCAUSE Current Issues Surveys continue to provide insight into how IT leaders
perceive their major challenges and opportunities. Over the past decade, the surveys have
reflected the evolution and maturation of higher education information technology as a whole.
As IT organizations have become a critical component of the business of the institution,
organizational issues surrounding governance, alignment, accountability, and nimbleness have
increased in strategic importance. As interest in integrating technology into instruction has
spread, issues focused on teaching and learning with technology have likewise emerged as key to
institutional success. And through it all, the traditional top-three issues — Funding IT,
Administrative/ERP Information Systems, and Security — have remained the same. By ranking
these issues high in strategic importance and by giving them the attention needed, IT leaders
have provided a solid foundation on which to build new services.

In their book Reframing Organizations, Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal state: "Like surfers,
leaders must always ride the waves of change. If they get too far ahead, they will be crushed. If
they fall behind, they will become irrelevant."12 By examining the relevant issues of yesterday,
today, and tomorrow, IT leaders will find the knowledge, patience, and balance necessary to
successfully ride the waves of present-day events.
Running a business and overseeing IT is a tough task in the best of times. But in today’s
environment—with consumer and business spending shrinking, budgets declining, the stock
market sinking, and the pressure to adopt new tools and technologies growing—many
organizations are finding themselves stretched to the limit.

As 2009 unfolds, it’s clear that enterprises with a forward-thinking approach and a solid grasp of
technology trends will have a distinct competitive advantage. The following technologies are
likely to shape IT and business organizations in the coming year, and they can give your
company the tools it needs to do business in this challenging economic environment.

1. Software as a Service (SaaS)

A few years ago, the idea of running software remotely seemed preposterous. Bandwidth
limitations, performance obstacles and IT administration issues made hosted software
impractical. But times change. Today, software as a service (SaaS) is growing at an annual rate
exceeding 40 percent. In fact, it is expected to command a 23 percent share of the $120 billion
U.S. software market by 2010, according to RBC Capital Markets.

Rob DeSisto, vice president and distinguished analyst for Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner, says
organizations increasingly see the benefits of moving large-scale software expenses from their
capital budget to their operating budget.

Tom Kelly, CFO and CIO at Second Wind Exercise, a $100 million Eden Prairie, Minn., athletic
equipment manufacturer, points out that SaaS providers frequently offer better security and
uptime than organizations can achieve internally. “This is particularly true in the small and
midsize markets,” he says. Second Wind has moved heavily onto a SaaS platform, including
using NetSuite for ERP, Adaptive Planning for budgeting and forecasting, and Google Apps for
e-mail and word processing.

This cloud computing environment—which makes software ubiquitous across desktops,

notebooks and mobile devices—will contribute to the expansion of SaaS into areas beyond ERP,
CRM and HR management systems, according to Gartner’s DeSisto. “SaaS is moving beyond
formal business applications and expanding into the realm of social networking sites and various
Internet applications,” he says. “All the lines are becoming blurred, as salespeople turn to sites
such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to supplement enterprise applications.” In addition, Web
conferencing applications are moving into the mainstream of SaaS, as organizations look to
simplify connections.

2. Virtualization
This technology has already made its mark on the data center. According to various industry
estimates, between 50 percent and 60 percent of all servers are now virtualized. The goal, of
course, is to reduce server sprawl—and the inefficiencies and higher costs associated with it.

Virtualization is continuing to grow. “It is now moving into the realm of SMBs [small and
medium businesses], and is also extending into storage and onto the desktop,” says Moosa
Matariyeh, enterprise storage specialist for computer reseller and systems integrator CDW.

While storage virtualization has been available for several years, more sophisticated software is
making it easier to provision resources on the fly. In addition, the increase in open systems is
making it easier to integrate virtualization software with existing IT storage environments.

Meanwhile, on the desktop, the ability to adopt templates and a thin-client approach makes it
easier to manage computers, patches, security and more. Some are also pushing virtualization out
to notebook computers in order to create a more secure environment. “Government is turning to
desktop virtualization in a major way because of the security advantages,” says Vincent
Biddlecombe, executive vice president and CTO at Transplace, a supply-chain and logistics-
services provider.

In fact, as wireless networks become more widespread, the use of virtualization on notebooks is
likely to spread with them. CDW’s Matariyeh expects to see it take off in a big way by late 2009
or early 2010.

The challenge for all companies using virtualization is to manage it effectively—and that’s not
easy. “We are now seeing virtual server sprawl, and organizations must address it as a real
problem,” he notes.

Despite the challenges, the virtualization trend is unmistakable, according to Transplace’s

Biddlecombe. “Virtualization is moving into the mainstream,” he says, “and it will continue to
impact the way business and IT decision-makers manage their infrastructure and environments.”
(See “Energy-Efficient Data Centers,” at right.)

3. Enterprise Mobility

It’s easy to forget that only a few years ago the typical office worker was bolted to a desk and
connected to data by wires, cords and cables. Over the last few years, wireless technology—
including 3G cellular data networks and widespread Wi-Fi—has opened the door to an anytime,
anywhere business model.

The major drawback has been the necessity to grab data as needed and ensure that all data is
synchronized on a real-time—or, at least, a near real-time—basis. “Ensuring that data is
available when and where it’s needed has been an ongoing challenge,” says Bob Laliberte, an
analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass.

However, that situation is changing rapidly. Although BlackBerry devices have made it far easier
to tackle e-mail and hop onto the Web, newer units such as the Apple iPhone are completely
breaking down the boundaries between traditional computers and pocket computing. Already,
firms such as Salesforce.com and Oracle have adapted enterprise apps for the iPhone.

In addition, more robust Web browsers for PDAs and the expansion of “push” technology are
making it possible to keep contacts, calendars and data synced at all times. “The technology is
now completely there for true mobility,” observes Cindy Auten, general manager of Telework
Exchange, an Alexandria, Va.-based public-private partnership that promotes teleworking and
mobility.

In fact, the concept will likely gain momentum in 2009, as cloud computing becomes more
widely accepted. More bandwidth, better software and concerns for security are also leading
more firms to adopt thin-client computing. These systems access data as needed and store it on a
remote server.

“Technology has changed the entire business model and made telework and mobility a strategic
advantage,” Auten concludes.

4. Energy-Efficient Data Centers

It seems like only months ago that “green” represented little more than a nice idea and a noble
cause. That’s until energy prices shot skyward and cost-cutting took on a sense of urgency due to
deteriorating economic conditions. Now, “Green is on every company’s radar,” according to
Daniel Starz, author of Greening Your Business and a lecturer on sustainability and
environmental issues at Southern Illinois University. “Organizations understand how important it
is from a basic business perspective.”

Chip and PC manufacturers are moving toward more energy-efficient components—including

improved memory and resource management—but the big action in 2009 will be in the areas of
virtualization and storage, Starz predicts. “Virtualization eliminates energy costs, maintenance
outlays, cooling expenses and data center costs by as much as 90 percent,” he notes. “The
payback is enormous, and it’s something organizations can no longer afford to ignore.”

Another development is the Department of Energy’s Data Center Efficiency program. Last
summer, the agency introduced an application called DC Pro, which helps organizations quickly
determine how energy is being used by their data centers and how they might be able to save
energy and money. The tool is available as a free download.

Part of the problem in the past has been that the people buying equipment aren’t the same ones
who are managing energy costs. But that’s a luxury organizations can no longer afford.
“Businesses are quickly recognizing that they have little margin for error, and energy costs are
now a huge variable,” says Anil Desai, an independent IT consultant based in Austin, Texas:

5. Security, Risk and Compliance

In the constantly evolving areas of security, risk and compliance, there are no simple solutions.
With each passing day, threats and challenges become more complex, and compliance becomes
more of a concern.

Smart IT executives are beginning to recognize that having a tangle of systems and processes
spells trouble. “Regulations are pushing organizations to change and be more in control of their
systems and business processes,” says Anthony Noble, vice president of IT Audit, at Viacom in
New York City.

He and others in the IT industry believe that automation is essential—particularly on the risk and
security compliance side of things. This includes everything from intrusion detection to
authentication; from patch management to analytics used for security. A growing number of
organizations are turning to self-encrypting hard drives, two-factor authentication (to replace
simple passwords) and security suites that provide central control panels. This trend will
continue into 2009, as continuous-monitoring tools become standard in the enterprise.

Compliance tools are also becoming more powerful. “We now have the ability to see the big
picture but monitor at the transactional level,” Noble says. “It is possible to keep a continuous
eye on all the transactions and events taking place within a system and inside an organization.”

Savvy IT managers are now looking for ways to automate and embed these processes across the
value chain, including on mobile devices. That’s significant, says David Ferris, principal at San
Francisco-based Ferris Research, because mobile devices “are frequently hard to monitor and
control from an IT perspective.”

Surprisingly, a key challenge is one of perception, not technology. “Companies must get over the
idea that security and compliance systems are simply insurance against problems, and that they
don’t improve the business in any measurable way,” says Viacom’s Noble.

6. Social Networking

LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and a spate of similar sites have transformed social networking
from a buzzword into a business buzz saw. Companies as diverse as American Express, Del
Monte and Cisco Systems have unleashed powerful social networking tools, including wikis,
blogs, discussion groups, collaborative filtering, and even applets and games. The concept is
allowing these companies to tap into the power of human connections and knowledge in ways
that were unimaginable only a few years ago.

In reality, social networking is nothing new. E-mail, chat and instant messaging are more basic
forms of the concept. But, as Web 2.0 tools have emerged and other software has matured,
“Social networking has become a way for organizations to leverage enterprise knowledge,
customer-based business intelligence and more,” says Ralph Barber, CTO of Holland & Knight,
a Tampa, Fla., law firm that uses Contact Networks software to analyze and manage internal
knowledge and find relationships that benefit the company.
To be sure, the concept continues to evolve. Organizations are increasingly looking to next-
generation social networking tools to conduct sophisticated business intelligence and analytics.
In many cases, they are mining data and looking for trends and patterns, such as which
salesperson has the relationships to pull off a deal or which customers seem to have the biggest
influence with others online. Some are building LinkedIn- and Facebook-type applications to
keep people in touch and ratchet up knowledge management initiatives.

“The goal is to do things faster, better and more profit-ably,” Barber says. “That’s where the
social networking light is shining. The tools are improving to the point where it’s possible to put
information and resources to work in new ways and build greater value.”

7. Web 2.0

The evolution of the Web has been nothing short of amazing. Though each generation of tools
creates new opportunities, the current and emerging array of Web 2.0 applications is completely
revolutionizing the enterprise.

“We’re seeing the lines blur between devices and functionality,” says Michael Gartenberg of
Mediabistro.com, a division of Jupitermedia in New York. “Web 2.0 is beginning to deliver on
the promise of providing rich content in a seamless and ubiquitous way.”

The growing use of interactive maps, blogs, wikis, mashups, social bookmarking, enhanced
search engines, RSS feeds and social networking is only the start. Web 2.0 tools are also making
it easier to manage data, tasks and business processes.

Some organizations are now exploring Twitter- or Facebook-like applications that allow
individuals to push information out to followers and create a simpler, organic communications
structure. Others are using Web 2.0 tools to handle everything from institutional asset
management to business intelligence and analytics.

The common thread, according to Gartenberg, is that organizations are turning to an increasingly
Web-centric computing model. Google (Chrome browser), Apple (MobileMe) and Microsoft
(LiveMesh) have all recognized this fact. “People are far more dependent on connectivity,” he
says. “Rich Web-based applications change the dynamics of how and where they can work.”

Although conventional operating systems aren’t going to disappear anytime soon, Gartenberg
says that

Web 2.0 is further enabling mobility and more seamless access to pertinent information. Adds
Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media in Sebastopol, Calif., “We are seeing the
Internet become a preferred platform for application development.”

8. Document Management and E-Discovery

Managing business documents has traditionally been a sore point for many organizations.
Although file cabinets have been replaced by databases, being able to find relevant documents
when and where they’re needed remains a huge challenge for business.

As Kyle McNabb, principal analyst and research director for Cambridge, Mass., Forrester
Research, puts it: “It’s not as simple as switching on a document management system and having
everything at your fingertips.” Indeed, organizations are recognizing that document management
and e-discovery ripple into areas as diverse as IT storage, mobile devices and business processes.

Although vendors are adding more sophisticated capabilities to their applications—including the
ability to track text messages, IMs and other types of unstructured data—the main challenge is
figuring out how to develop systems that retain, manage, and retrieve documents and data
quickly and seamlessly.

“Today, anything electronic is discoverable as part of litigation,” McNabb points out.

“Developing rules and procedures is essential, and it is going to receive a lot more attention in
the coming year.” Not surprisingly, the focus is rapidly moving beyond ERP and enterprise
systems and onto the broader realm of all documents and communications.

At the same time, organizations are learning that electronic discovery (e-discovery) is a process,
not a technology. “It [e-discovery] increasingly includes a whole range of tools and technologies
that create a complete solution,” McNabb says.

Nevertheless, for both document management and e-discovery, new vendors are pouring into the
market, with industry behemoths such as Oracle and Microsoft making their own forays. There’s
some good news for enterprises looking to put solutions in place: “It is likely to be a buyer’s
market in 2009,” McNabb concludes. “Vendors entering the market are introducing products and
solutions at a much lower price point than they were in the past.”

9. Project Management and Project Portfolio Management

In today’s time-sensitive and budget-conscious world, getting projects finished on time is

paramount. Not surprisingly, more and more organizations are turning to structured systems and
software to track all the details. Consequently, project management (PM) and project portfolio
management (PPM) have moved into the spotlight.

“Many businesses are turning to more formal tools,” says Jeff Oltmann, principal at Synergy
Professional Services, a Portland, Ore.-based consulting firm. “They are hoping to work in a
more iterative yet structured way.”

Within the project management space, many organizations are migrating from spreadsheets and
e-mail to formal applications that track timelines, budgets, messages, key documents and much
more. Microsoft, Intellisys, OpenMind, AtTask and others are adding document-management
features, collaboration tools, business-process rules support, advanced reporting capabilities and
governance tools in response to organizations that “need better information [focusing on]
resource utilization—including time, dollars and people,” says Mike Notarius, CTO for the
Information Technology Exchange Center of the State University of New York (SUNY).
Organizations “need to be able to analyze the impact of decisions quickly,” he adds.

Meanwhile, PPM is evolving and bringing greater order to business-level decision making.
Applications such as Daptiv PPM and Primavera (recently purchased by Oracle) are providing
tools to mesh diverse workgroups, such as finance, marketing, human resources and IT—all
while viewing groups of initiatives, conducting detailed analyses on them, and understanding the
underlying relationships across organizational roles and teams.

As organizations embrace PPM, Synergy’s Oltmann says, they are becoming far better equipped
to react to rapidly changing business and industry conditions. “At this point, it is important for IT
to develop PM and PPM expertise,” he says. “These started as business initiatives, but they have
become a crucial part of IT.”

10. Web and Video Collaboration

Not so long ago, the idea of a workgroup collaborating over the Web was unthinkable. Over the
last few years, however, applications like WebEx and NetMeeting have revolutionized the way
people interact—at least within some companies and in certain situations.

Today, collaboration tools are poised to go mainstream and further change the way business is
conducted. According to the Boston-based research firm Aberdeen Group, 63 percent of
companies say they will be using videoconferencing and so-called telepresence systems
(essentially, a form of videoconferencing with high-quality images and audio) by the end of
2010. Only 18 percent say they have no plans to adopt these systems.

Driving this phenomenon are bigger pipes and converged data and voice networks within
enterprises. “Organizations are beginning to realize that collaborative applications can serve as a
significant competitive advantage,” observes Bojan Simic, a research analyst in the Network and
Application Performance Management Group at the Aberdeen Group. “The technology has the
ability to shift the balance of power. Many organizations are turning to these applications for
their mission-critical activities.”

Video and telepresence are also growing more sophisticated. For example, Cisco has introduced
a telepresence system that generates high-definition, life-size images on one or more video
screens. Using high-fidelity audio and sophisticated lighting, it creates the impression of talking
to someone in the same room.

Other vendors are marrying conferencing and collaboration with Web 2.0. KZO offers a system
that creates up to a six-way conference without charge and requires only a Web browser. It also
allows keyword tagging and provides for live comments from people watching the video.

Meanwhile, the mobile-video market is also gaining momentum. In-Stat, a market research firm
in Scottsdale, Ariz., predicts that 160 million devices for viewing mobile video (not including
mobile phones) will be sold over the next five years.
“We are entering a new era of video and Web collaboration,” predicts Simic of the Aberdeen
Group.

Bubble sensing

A Search Engine for 3D Models

Self Healing Robots

Honeypots

Tripwire

Visions of 4G

E-Intelligence

Simple SAN & Storage Resource Management in Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2

Artificial passenger

Cloud computing

Model checking for Securing E-commerce transaction

SMARTSHADER

Adding Intelligence to Internet

Iris Scanning

Brain Machine Interface

SMART CARD

Light Emitting Polymers

An Energy Aware Framework for Dynamic Software Management in Mobile Computing Systems

iSCSI

Bio Inspired Computing

Image Compression Using Wedgelets

Java Ring

OpenSocial
PILL CAMERA

LOGARITHMIC KEYING

Robotic Surgery

Smart Note Taker

Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

Multi Touch

DNSSEC: A Protocol towards securing the Internet Infrastructure

Grid Network

RFID

CONTEXT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING

Autonomic Computing

Advancements Towards 4G

Blu-ray Disc

Cellular Digital Packet Data

WiMAX

Crusoe processor

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

HPJava

Hurd

FACE RECOGNITION USING Neural Network

Hyper Threading

Imode

IP spoofing

LwIP

IEEE 802.11n –New Generation Wireless Standard

 Mobile IP

NRAM

Project Oxygen

Survivable Networks Systems

Reconstruction of Recorded Sound

Self Organizing Maps

Ubiquitous Networking

Virtual Keyboard

Cell Phone Virus and Security

The Artificial Brain

Extreme Programming

FRAM

Free Space Optics

Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

Java Card

Light tree

 Driving Optical Network Evolution

 Fiber Distributed Data Interface
 Ipv6 - The Next Generation Protocol
 Quadrics Interconnection Network
 Quantum Information Technology
 PON Topologies
  Quadrics Interconnection Network
 Inverse Multiplexing
 Adding Intelligence to Internet
 Unicode And Multilingual Computing
 Resilient Packet Ring Technology
 Storage Area Networks
 Significance of real-time transport Protocol in VOIP
 Optical Free Space Communication
 Dynamic Synchronous Transfer Mode
 Compact peripheral component interconnect
 Broad Band Over Power Line
 Virtual LAN Technology
 Ethernet Passive Optical Network
 Dynamic Cache Management Technique
 IP spoofing
 Mobile Virtual Reality Service
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplplexing
 X- Internet
 corDECT Wireless in Local Loop System
 Dynamically Reconfigurability Computing
 Fiber Distributed Data Interface
 IP Telephony

 Free Space Laser Communications

 Extreme Programming (XP)

 Analysis on Performance of Freeware Tools
 Embedded Technology
 Internet Access via Cable TV Network
 Radio Network Controller
 X- Internet
 Use of information technology for rural development
 DNA Based Computing
 Freenet
 Synchronous Optical Networking
 Optical Free Space Communication
 Sense-Response Applications
 Virtual Instrumentation
 Access gateways
 Virtual LAN Technology
 Generic Framing Procedure
 Software Testing
 Innovative Application Development using J2EE Architecture
 Dynamic Memory Allocation
 Cable Modems
 Verification & Validation