T
he education sector in India is expected to step up its information technology (IT) investment largely in the areas of networking,IT basic infrastructure and implementing IT security solutions, according to a study by Springboard Research.
In its report 'Inside the campus: IT in India's education sector' , Springboard has forecasted that the education sector will step up IT spending from an estimated $356 million in 2008 to $704 million in 2012, reflecting in a CAGR of 19% during 2007-2012 .
According to the report, wireless LAN (WLAN), storage area network (SAN) and ERP are the three most popular IT solutions adopted by education institutes in India. "Educational institutions in India are presently focused on the deployment of IT systems that will enable them to improve the educational process for their students, and to stay ahead of the competition ," said Nilotpal Chakravarti, senior research analyst, Vertical Markets, Springboard.
The report said a majority of institutes reported moderate to high IT spending on software (up to 50% of their total IT spending). In contrast, 18% of respondents reported spending more than 75% of their budgets on hardware . Spending on IT services remains low in the Indian education sector with nearly half of respondents spending up to 25% of their budgets on services.
