Live! From Online! IT Training!, Mark Hall, COMPUTERWORLD

Barry Kaufman, chief technology officer and founder of Intense School Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., says the future of technology training is online because it's low-cost and "a step above classroom training." Not surprisingly, then, his company has revamped and renamed its training and certification program to take advantage of online, asynchronous education opportunities.

The school offers training and certification programs for a variety of Microsoft products, Cisco technology, security systems and voice over IP. Classes are broken up into 3.5-hour modules. Kaufman says each class runs at least twice a week because "flexibility is key for training these days. You've got to be able to offer courses during the day, at night and on weekends."

Live, online training makes sense for those on tight budgets, Kaufman says. "You're not paying United and Marriott out of your training budget," he says.

The training includes a lab with multiple network segments that simulate various production environments. Students can quickly apply what they learn through online materials to walk through systems operations on live systems.

Training budgets may be crimped, Kaufman says, "but you can't sustain IT systems over time without training. You always need it."

-Mark Hall