Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and IT Funding

This session will summarize the highlights from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey data. These analyses will identify key findings, important trends, and similarities and differences across different types of institutions. This year more than 940 institutions participated in this collaborative effort. A discussion period will conclude this session to understand concerns and issues from the audience, as well as discussion of future directions.

This session presents findings from the 2007 ECAR survey on IT help desk management in the U.S. and Canada. Using assessment methods derived from IT service management standards and the broader IT help desk literature, ECAR has developed a robust view of the state of the practice in this highly significant service area.

Surveying current trends in information security, it’s clear that a myriad of forces are at work. But fundamentally, security is all about economics: both attacker and defender are trying to maximize the return on their investments. Economics can both explain why security fails so often and offer new solutions for its success. For example, often the people who could protect a system are not those who suffer the costs of failure. Changing these economic incentives will do more to improve security than will more technology.

Facing an aging telephone copper plant and rising provider costs, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania implemented a multicampus VoIP system to save more than $1 million over a five-year period while substantially upgrading functionality in the process. This presentation will outline the entire VoIP conversion process, from the planning stages through funding, implementation, and training.

In early 2004, the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research received survey information from nearly 500 colleges and universities regarding their funding environment, trends, strategies, and directions. This presentation will summarize the study's key findings, including trends regarding the sources of funding, the relationship between budgetary flexibility and perceived IT effectiveness, and fixed cost and variable cost mixes in higher education environments.