What's new in campus computing? Mobility and security lead the charge.

One of the most significant trends in campus computing over the last few years is, of course, mobility. Wireless technology has made it possible to conduct classes or do research almost anywhere. But mobility can be significantly limited because of poor battery performance.

Electrovaya (www.electrovaya.com), a company specializing in battery technology, has focused its energies on solving that problem. The firm's line of Scribbler tablet PCs offer all the computing power of a standard laptop computer but with extended battery life of up to nine hours. And Electrovaya's PowerPad mobile power solution provides power up to six times longer than a standard notebook battery.

IBM (www.ibm.com) continues to enhance its ThinkPad University program (already in use at more than 250 institutions) with improvements to both connectivity and security. With Centrino mobile technology and IBM's Embedded Security Subsystem (ESS), students and faculty can work anywhere and share information securely. ESS provides enhanced authentication and session confidentiality by concealing authentication credentials for both industry-standard 802.1x protocol and Cisco LEAP, through the subsystem's hardware. Add to that ThinkPad's Active Protection System, which can detect a sudden acceleration in the notebook's motion (such as falling off a table) and "park" the hard drive in 500 milliseconds to protect it from damage. Think of it as an airbag for your computer.

The Campus Investment Program from HP (www.hp.com) was designed to help schools customize their mobility solutions to best meet their current and future infrastructure needs. HP will design complete, scalable solutions without the disadvantages of proprietary technologies that negate investments in existing infrastructure. The company also offers a complete line of aggressively priced desktop and notebook PCs, servers, storage units, and peripheral devices exclusively for higher education customers.

More than half the universities in the nation currently require students to be equipped with computers, and that number will only increase as learning technologies advance. But with the technology comes the obvious questions of compatibility and security. Dell (www.dell.com) addresses both issues with its Dell University programs. By standardizing hardware and software, IT departments can ensure that each student has access to the same computing tools, while eliminating incompatibility-related burdens on in-house IT and technical support teams. Dell offers PC solutions for any situation, from the value-priced Dimension stand-alone desktop PC, to the network-optimized OptiPlex computer. The company's Latitude notebook computer offers wireless connectivity in an economical package.

Gateway (www.gateway.com) has done its homework to make buying the right computer a hassle-free experience. Gateway's online Gear Up for 2004 program allows students and faculty to order preconfigured desktop and notebook computers built according to a university's recommendations. Incoming students simply select their school from a menu and see the custom configuration specified by that institution. And, for university network setups, the company's low-cost E-Series System PCs offer easy setup and flexibility. They also feature built-in fault-detection and correction tools to help prevent costly system failures and maximize uptime.

Apple (www.apple.com) long a mainstay in the graphic and multimedia arenas, is making its mark in the realm of scientific research with the Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics. As with most Apple products, ease of setup and use is the key. Even those with minimal technical expertise can get the Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics up and running in less than an hour. It offers a fully functioning UNIX-based computational cluster ready to run BLAST (for rapid searching of nucleotide and protein databases), HMMER (for making models of biological sequences), EMBOSS (for sequence analysis), or other scientific applications from a powerful, easy-to-use Web interface. Each Work group Cluster includes up to 16 Xserve G5 nodes (or up to 32 processors running at 2.0 GHz) preconfigured with over 200 bioinformatics applications.

Partnerships between technologists and educators will help level the global playing field. That's why Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com) has introduced the Java Enterprise System. It's a highly affordable Web services architecture that allows universities to build their client directories and provide secure, authenticated, universal access to online curriculum. And the Sun Java Desktop System is a low-cost, secure, open-source-based alternative to more costly desktop environments. Site Licenses are available to educators for $25 per desktop, per year, which can amount to considerable savings in today's budget-conscious world. The package includes the Gnome desktop environment, the StarOffice productivity suite, and a Linux operating system. Key features: familiar desktop themes; a well defined, integrated look and feel; and interoperability with Windows and Linux/UNIX environments.

For dollar-watching colleges and universities, ZT Group International (www.ztgroup.com) offers value-added desktop and notebook PCs starting as low as $449 for the ZT PRO X6342 desktop model and $1,299 for the M1016 notebook. The wireless notebooks have long battery life and feature Wireless 802.11b connectivity so students can work as easily outdoors as they can in a classroom.