"We're definitely a little ways away from the Jetson apartment,"Steve Lefkovits, vice president of the National Multi HousingCouncil told GlobeSt.com. "It's been a tremendous disappointment tothe industry." The council has just wrapped up a two-day ApartmentTechnology Conference in Dallas, where an estimated 600 owners,managers, lenders and IT providers had gathered to wrestle with thestate of the industry.

The conference consensus is that IT companies need tocollaborate and combine services to deliver on the promises thathave been made to the multifamily sector. Lefkovits has beenpressuring for bottom line accounting because he doesn't believethe industry is as inefficient as many IT providers claim. And, heemphasizes, some - such as procurement services - need to step backand consider setting up a point of presence with brick-and-mortarwholesalers instead of developing a point-and-click replacement."We're talking about aggregating human behavior," explainsLefkovits. "People have existing relationships ... We have a verydynamic, competitive marketplace. I'd be shocked and amazed if theinefficiencies are still there."

Last year's optimism has faded, giving way to skepticism becausetoo many promised products are still in development and roll-outshave been slow in coming. Many products, says Lefkovits, are stillfour to six years away from being placed into the marketplace.Meanwhile, the IT ranks are shrinking, with more expected to go outof business in the next few months as capital is exhausted andadded funding fails to materialize. He estimates 50% to 75% of theIT companies across-the-board are suffering and broadbands inparticular due to the market share under AT&T's control.