Business organizations are increasingly depending on Information Technology (IT). There is an imminent necessity to understand how IT investments are driving the business goals. However, it remains an unfulfilled task for many organizations. Business and IT are closely related to each other as IT department does not exist in vacuum. IT must be aligned with business to derive competitive advantages from IT capabilities and achieve organizational effectiveness. The alignment should be in more than one dimension. The investments in IT should be linked to business strategies; IT delivery should be based on business priorities; and IT should change whenever business requirements change. The alignment relation may be symmetric in a dynamic world to perform better and stay competitive. For example, an organization may experiment on a new technology to innovate its business, while adopting technologies based on business needs as a usual practice. Thus, there should be a focus on business process. Both IT and business managers should work together to develop a system whereby the alignment becomes a continuous process. Moreover, the alignment should be properly monitored and measured to accrue business values of IT.

In this context, we have an article "Justifying Business Value of IT Through Service Prioritization" that discusses the need for business-IT alignment and priority setting for IT to service business needs using case examples. The article "Improved Inter Symbol Interference -Jitter Free Coding for Wireless Ad Hoc Communication" discusses ISI-JF base-band signals and presents an improved variant of the signal using pulse-shaping and phase path-controlled technologies for better performance. Heavy rains affect communication systems in hilly areas. The noise in signal communication increases due to rains. The research article "Heavy Rain Effects on Communication in Hilly Area: A Simulation" presents a simulation method to calculate rain attenuation and quantify noise in communication signals.

Internet banking is imperative for banking business to attract customers in recent years. Banks are allowing more and more transactions to be carried out over the Internet. Sometimes e-banking raises a question on quality aspects of the websites in terms of security and usability. The article "Quantitative Evaluation of E-Banking Websites: A Study of Indian Banks" presents findings on and assessment of the Indian bank websites based on several quality parameters. The article "Edge Enhancement Using an Adaptive Fuzzy Logic", utilizes fuzzy logic techniques to extract edges from 2D monochrome images. The approach claims to reduce noise and produce thicker edges for the image. The popularity of digital libraries is increasing. The article "Digital Libraries _ A Cyber Reading Room: Its Perception and Usage Among Management Faculty", undertakes a study to find the usage patterns of digital libraries among the management teachers. RFID is a technology for automatic remote identification. Its applications and popularity is increasing gradually. The article "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): Applications and Indian Scenario" provides an overview of this technology and discusses its applications in the Indian scenario.

- A C Ojha
Consulting Editor