The question was a hot topic at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), June 28-July 1, which brought thousands of teachers, administrators, technology specialists, integrators, VARs and other education experts to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC.

One of NECC's principal focuses is the K-12 segment, and for technology professionals, the market is right now a study of two opposing forces: unprecedented budgetary constraints on public school systems, but also, much like in the health care sector, a push to implement technology as a cost-saving measure. The education funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will in theory catalyze the latter: money to invest now in technologies that will prolong IT's effect on education without landing schools back in the same budget crunches a few years from now.

Both the stimulus and new technologies in education were top of mind as attendees groused the show floor aisles at NECC. And if there was a particular technology to which most conversations led, it was smartboards -- specifically, how interactive whiteboard technology is a centerpiece of the twenty-first century classroom.

"We're always trying to figure out the next killer app for learning," said Keone Trask, chief technology officer at CSI Technology Outfitters, an Easley, SC-based solution provider. "We got into whiteboards about five years ago, and they've become a big part of our business. But there's been no killer app for education since then."

CSI in 2004 starting selling whiteboard technology from Promethean, which in the past half decade has become one of the most recognizable names in the segment with its ActivClassroom suite of education offerings.

Late last year, Promethean snagged veteran channel executive Taylor Macdonald as its new vice president of channels -- Americas, and in March, Macdonald suggested in a Channelweb.com interview that education, specifically whiteboard and interactive technology, represented some of the most untapped opportunity out there for technology vendors and integrators.

Trask said CSI had seen as much in the past years of its whiteboard sales.

"In 2004, we sold about 100 boards," Trask said. "In 2007 and 2008, we sold 10,000 boards. Its time is here."

For some solution providers, the time of the whiteboard itself has already given way to the broader idea of the interactive classroom, which combines everything from whiteboards to video.

"We wouldn't call it whiteboards anymore so much as the total 21st Century classroom, which includes whiteboards, audio, video, document imaging, projectors -- everything. The point is it being as interactive as possible," said David Perkins, vice president of sales at Howard Technology Solutions, an Ellisville, Miss.-based solution provider.

Howard is the country's largest reseller of technology by Mimio, whose mimio bars combine with computer systems and LCD projectors to convert whiteboard surfaces into interactive whiteboards by projecting what's on the computers.

Mimio has structured its reseller program and its pricing with cash-strapped educators in mind, and Perkins said the technology has definitely caught on.

"About 70 percent of our business is education, and that's 50-50 between K-12 and higher ed," he said. "Boards themselves are out. What's next is products that provide the whole experience."

Next: Over-Stimulated By ARRA? Many solution providers said they were only starting to see the effects of stimulus on school districts -- but none would deny ARRA's effect on shaping the conversation.

"To date, we cannot claim actual deals based on stimulus money," said Trask. "But we've vested a lot of time into knowing about it, and we've reached out with targeted campaigns to to see what's out there."

"We do see grant money for schools accelerating some of the opportunities," added Michael Erickson, a purchaser at Daly Computers, a Clarksburg, Md.-based solution provider. "There's a lot of refresh going on with it, but you do see smartboards and other things moving as well."

Smartboard and whiteboard technology remain strong, and according to solution providers, so too does video, as both a learning tool and a security measure. With entire sessions at NECC devoted to "virtual field trips" -- that is, students interacting with one another on opposite sides of the world through video activities -- the segment is expected to stay hot.

"The ability to link classrooms is huge," said John Tuohy, education industry marketing manager for the U.S. and Canada at Cisco Systems. "But so is video surveillance. You're seeing a big [education] push for that on the security end."

Solving the budget crunches, suggested Cisco's Christian Marin, means helping schools leverage what they already have using stimulus money as a catalyst.

"You're looking to solve long-term problems, so in partners, you're seeing a lot of refocusing on 'what are we good at'," said Marin, manager for channel operations, advanced technology and small business strategy at Cisco. "Schools don't have massive IT staffs for the most part so we have to figure out how to build out solutions around mobility, around security and infrastructure."

Several vendors with large education businesses agreed that it's time to move beyond high level talk on stimulus and focus on the areas and technologies richest for opportunity.

"Anyone else feel stimulated to death?" asked Elliott Levine, education strategist for Hewlett Packard's personal systems group, during a media luncheon at NECC.

Levine suggested schools would in 2011 be back in "the same financial jam they're in now" if they didn't invest in technologies such as client virtualization, green computing and 1:1 computing initiatives (an umbrella term for providing computers -- PCs, laptops, handhelds, tablets, netbooks -- to every student.)

The common theme that emerged for most education technology specialists -- and one echoed everywhere from casual lunchtime conversations at NECC to keynote addresses by the likes of author Malcolm Gladwell and Erin Gruwell of "Freedom Writers" fame -- was rethinking how interaction informs the learning experience.

A town hall panel at NECC hosted by National Public Radio's Robert Siegel suggested that despite the possibilities for remote connectivity presented by Web-based technologies, brick-and-mortar schools would continue to be needed.

"We're heading, I think, toward collaboration communities," Trask said. "How to use Web 2.0 for student learning, and how to use Web-based environments where interaction can occur between trusted sources: student and teacher, parent and guidance counselor, whatever. The classroom is becoming a community that has to be interactive, but also secure. There's a lot of interest and a lot to think about."