Universities, in particular, are having trouble planning IT projects because the budget picture is so uncertain. Chris Hoogendyk has a long wish list of upgrades he'd like to make in the 26-story library at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is network specialist and Unix administrator. But because the library serves five colleges and they all use a mix of public and private money, projects are funded in fits and starts.
When a batch of money came free recently, the library replaced 50 PCs that were too old to run Windows 2000 and the latest apps. Hoogendyk says he wants to upgrade 250 more machines. He also wants to modernize the wiring on the network, to keep up with current standards, and to replace the last of the hubs running in the building with Cisco switches. He considers these items high priority, but he has the money to do only some of them now, with the rest slated for next summer, if he's lucky.
Also on hold is a "digital library" initiative that would give members online access to reference materials and special collections. The project stalled when the two librarians in charge of the project left.
"It's just a matter of people biting their tongues and making do," Hoogendyk says.
At Columbia University in New York, upgrades to the biomedical informatics systems are on hold. IT manager Frank Fries, one of three IT people supporting 100 users in the department, says server consolidation has been a goal for two years running, but the money to do it has been elusive because operating budgets have been frozen or cut.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
