When the users access the Web server, the database information has already been updated, so time-consuming database calls are avoided. This feature is a component of the school's Spike Broadcast Server, which was written by WCIT employee Chris Maguire. Whitehouse has no intention of stopp ing with Spike 3. In fact, WCIT is branching out into offshoots of Spike to implement push technology. Another recent addition is the integration of Spike capabilities with PointCast Inc. server technology, letting school data be pushed across to users' screensavers when their computers are inactive.
Future projects are even more ambitious.
For example, to alleviate the overwhelming demand to see one professor's daily market analysis, WCIT is looking at ways to integrate streaming video into the Spike framework, to give students the ability to observe lectures from their computer desktops. WCIT's McCartney says the Spike project has shown that IS departments can use the cross-platform advantages of intranet technology to more easily keep up with the demands of users. A lot of things are coming together.