Technology is changing with enormous speed. In the last few years we have seen the explosion in
the use of XML, the development of specifications in learning technology standards, the dramatic
growth in the use of wireless networking and the continued dramtic improvement in price /
perfomance of computers.
There is therefore the danger that any system selected will be rapidly overtaken by some new
technology which renders the choice a dead end and therefore the need to acquire a new system in
the relativley near future.
The risks come from a number of places and these are discussed briefly here:
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Hardware - although this is changing and improving rapidly everyone is in the same position
and therefore suppliers have to make their systems "backward compatible" of very few in the
market will be able to use it. The major risk is that existing systems become unsupported and
have to be replaced. This is not peculiar to MLEs and should be part of the standard risk
analysis.
-
Operating systems - much the same as with hardware, except that it is at the operating
system level that some systems will be interacting and there may be issues when large
numbers of different operating systems (or versions of operating systems) are in place. It may
be a paprticular issue in areas like disaster recovery where having a number of versions of the
operating system can significantly affect the costs. Again, this is not peculiar to MLEs and
should be part of the standard risk analysis.
-
Languages - Many of the languages being used for developing systems are themselves
evolving. If you are acquiring systems (and the supplier or other third party is adapting
maintaining them) then this is not a major issue. However, where you are developing or
adapting existing systems then there are two major risks:
-
the lack of skills. There is an enormous shortage of skilled programmers and eduction
is not a noted good payer. Recruiting and retaining the right skills can be difficult and
this matters for a system which is "mission critical"
-
adapting code to changing languages. As languages change some features may
be withdrawn, or worse behave differently. However, it may not be possible to stick with
old versions of the language. As systems grow this can become a major problem
