The most important activity undertaken by HEAnet in 2008, apart from running our core Internet services, was the development of a new Strategic Plan to drive the company forward over the next five years.

HEAnet’s new Strategic Plan 2008 – 2013: Lighting the Future, was launched by the Minister for Science and Innovation, Dr Jimmy Devins, T.D. and the Chairman of our Board of Directors, Mr Tom Boland, at our annual national networking conference in Kilkenny.

The Chairman, Tom Boland said that “this new strategy is very important to drive the company forward in these turbulent times and will indicate the direction and challenges facing the organisation and how it proposes to deliver on these.”

The Strategic Plan has identified that over the next five years:

• HEAnet will deliver advanced ICT networking services to its customers which will facilitate and greatly enhance the Irish education and research agenda. 
  • This will be achieved through the delivery of a fibre-optic based infrastructure of such massive bandwidth that will enable the education and research community to store, move and access the vast data-sets required. 
• HEAnet will also drive and support student mobility, support the virtual learning environment and provide secure and reliable access to e-learning – “anytime, anywhere” - across the higher education sector.
• HEAnet is committed to delivering its contribution to the cyberinfrastructure which is the driving engine for the Information Age and provides the evolving foundation for twenty-first century education and research.  
• HEAnet will continue to leverage its expertise and position to deliver services - based on economies of scale - which dynamically cater for the changing needs of the education and research sector in Ireland.  

This document is the culmination of a detailed process of engagement with Board Members, stakeholders and staff, involving some 48 consultation meetings and workshops which took place during the past ten months.

The Strategic Plan identifies the Key Pillars of our Strategy for the next five years and will drive the development of Operational Plans for the company.

John Boland
Chief Executive