Brunel University has become the hundredth member of the UK Access Management Federation. The Federation is based on Shibboleth technology and provides a route to single sign-on for multiple resources in numerous departments, giving universities, colleges and service providers secure access to electronic resources.

The Federation is operated by government-funded computer network Janet, on behalf of higher education advisory organisation Jisc and the government's IT development specialist Becta.

Jisc spokesman Philip Pothen told me reaching three figures in membership numbers was 'excellent news'. Which, of course, it is.

It is important, however, to keen an eye on the bigger picture - namely roll-out of the federated system across more of the public sector. Back in March 2006, Nicole Harris, programme manager at Jisc, told me that the eGovernment Unit (eGU) and NHS were keen to investigate the potential of federated access.

And last December, Jisc service director John Robinson told me Becta was making steady progress in its attempts to encourage the UK's 30,000-plus schools to join the Federation, alongside further and higher education institutions. 'There is potential that the whole sector will have access to the federated system by the middle of next year,' he said.

Robinson confirmed that the NHS remained interested, with the organisation keen to investigate the potential of using federated access to allow employees to work securely with education institutions. 'There is potential there - and there's potential for local government too,' he said.

With 100 organisations - including universities, local authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia - already signing up to the Federation, it is to be hoped that other public sector bodies will continue to recognise the security of strength in numbers.

Pity the chief information officer (CIO) that is under huge pressure to deliver value, but who has little enough time to deliver the required results.

Research from EDS and research specialist Populus shows CIOs stay in position for just over three years (38 months) – hardly enough time to impress the chief executive with leading edge business technology projects.

With 80 per cent of initiatives running over time, the research recommends technology leaders commission IT projects within 100 days of being appointed.

Three months-or-so is just about enough time to get used to the vagaries of internal politics and legacy IT, let alone start transformational projects.

No wonder CIOs feel fed up and often feel second rate to finance directors, many of whom continue to control the technology purse springs.

Ollie Ross, director of research at The Corporate IT Forum, told me that many organisations already choose to have technology sitting under the auspices of the financial director – whether they have a CIO or not

'There are points at which the business needs very strong IT leadership and there are other points when this is less critical and it makes sense for IT to fit under the finance department,' he said.

Basically, no-one wants to study technology. But the brave souls that do follow IT into higher education often find technology usage at UK universities is decentralised and disjointed.

Recent GCSE results point to a continuing technology skills crisis, with IT student numbers down almost 10 per cent since last year.

And the number of students taking technology A-level subjects has also dropped again - in 2007 5,610 took A-level computing, compared with 6,233 last year.

Experts suggest universities and employers must work together to ensure the needs of the technology market are met.

But ironically, academic institutions' own IT often remains disparate and disjointed, according to one senior technology expert.

Fahri Zihni, director of ICT at Aston University, told me recently that some universities don't even know how many IT staff they have - such problems are a legacy of institutions being splintered into autonomous units, often with specialised technology staff attached.

UK universities are attempting to get their own houses in order, with Fahri suggesting the centralisation of IT is a key priority for academic institutions: 'They want to measure satisfaction and results.'

But some institutions are making more progress than others, he says, and many universities are still lagging way behind.

As 16th birthday parties go, it’s likely to be pretty quiet: no disco, no birthday cake, and no cheap cider surreptitiously drunk behind the community centre.

But for the record, 6 August marks a special anniversary – of the web’s debut as a publicly-available service.

As he introduced the service on the alt.hypertext newsgroup in 1991, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee said: ‘We are very interested in spreading the web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome!’

It would be fair to say that the web’s 16-year growth from niche research tool to the most extensive and important knowledge network on earth has been nothing short of staggering.

Today’s ubiquitous web has been built around the trial and adoption of a range of networking systems.

Such systems allow partners in different continents to share ideas and firms to electronically procure supplies around the globe.

But, of course, with the upside comes the downside. Pity the poor IT manager who has to support and control an ever-increasing range of web-based technologies.

Time was when users were told what systems they could and could not use. You had your desktop PC, your telephone and your printer.

Then Berners-Lee got all clever and invented the world wide web, potentially connecting billions of people to billions of pages of information.

And while the web provides an extraordinary tool for connection and communication, it also provides a fantastic opportunity for procrastination and work avoidance.

The contemporary web is very fad-based, lurching rapidly from trend to trend.

It currently seems that the whole of the Western world is sharing photos and wall-writing on social networking technology Facebook.

Until next week, perhaps – when the craze dies, just as it did with Friends Reunited.

And while users argue for the networking potential of Web 2.0 technologies, most individuals seem more intent on posting photographs and movie clips, desperate to get their 15 seconds of fame.

Employees waste more than two hours a day on recreational computer activities, according to research by AOL and performance review specialist Salary.com. Take a look around your office – I bet at least half your colleagues are using the web for non work-related activities.

Whose job is it to monitor and control such activities? Is it the responsibility of the line manager or the IT manager?

Two answers usually suffice: both and neither. Users will be told what they can and can’t do by their boss.

And the IT manager will usually be expected to set policies for web use, in line with business expectations.

But if there’s a sudden panic associated with social networking sites and time-wasting at work, someone has to make a decision.

Who is draconian enough to turn off the drip that feeds employees their fix of dancing dog films and speed-eating videos?

Good luck if it’s you – you’ll be more unpopular than the person in human resources who decides to offer below inflation pay rises.