If you are considering outsourcing something, get outside legal advice on the contract so there are no surprises of things that are not included in the contract. Bandwidth doubles every year and although unit costs are going down, total costs will increase alarmingly. The bandwidth for free model does not scale. Unless we find a solution to the rising cost of bandwidth we will be bankrupt within four years. And taking a long time to study the problem will not solve it.
Portals are hot.
U-Minnesota gives students the opportunity to design their own portal. Minnesota broke development into phases. For example, course registration information could go directly to the bookstore which could provide an integrated package ready to buy on the web. But this only works if each unit is willing to share my data. After moving to the Specifications model, customer satisfaction is at an all-time high.