The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, considered by many to have one of the best MBA programs anywhere, has been raising the interest of IT professionals for ten years. The student intranet created there - called "Spike" - has become one of the best known, and highly regarded. The latest version is dubbed Spike "X" and what has people excited are added features and interfaces that utilize very sophisticated technologies to provide students with access to customizable information. Spike X uses cutting-edge technology, like Macromedia's ColdFusion MX and Flash MX in addition to open standards like CSS, XML, and RSS.

Since its inception, Spike has proved to be a truly useful tool allowing students access to such items as e-mails and course schedules. Spike's architecture has been able to grow according to the specific needs of its users. For example, the incorporation of PalmOne accessibility in 2001, which allowed students to download information into PDAs.

Over the years, Spike has grown from simply providing very basic information - and its development has, since the beginning, been truly student driven. Wharton's IT department used students' designs in coding the interface. Although no one knew it at the time, essentially what was created was what would be known as an enterprise information portal.

Spike's various revisions to its intranet reflect the close and personal access students have with information technology. Students today are able to choose the information that best suits them. A wide-range of options is included, from personalized course schedules, and even stock quotes. How the program will work in the future will be determined largely by what students' IT needs will be.

ColdFusion and Flash will doubtless both play their role then, too.