STC 2008 will focus on how virtualization strategies are being used to extend higher education technology services and resources. Higher education long ago left behind the concept of normal business hours. Classes no longer begin at 8 and end by 5 within the confines of a campus. Learners now individually convene classes at the time and place that best serves their needs, expecting the availability of a full range of learning tools. Supporting the technology needs of students and faculty who live in a 24×7 world has become increasingly challenging. Multi-media content, social networking environments, and other computing and network intensive applications have made the university turn to virtualization technology to help deliver greater IT resource utilization and flexibility.

The support of global on-demand resources, streaming media, the components of social networking applications, and expanding enterprise systems are critical to the University’s mission. Deploying virtualization is not simply changing the technology components used to support the mission but also the manner in which technologists plan, the management tools used to direct resources and services, and bringing about new ways to contract and pay for software and hardware. Expect to see a wide variety of sessions exploring the world of virtualized hardware, storage, and applications, financial strategies to pay for virtualization, developing staff skills to support the complexities of a virtual environment, and discussions on planning and managing a highly virtualized world.