With the implementation of a new system of professional development in the IT sector, Germany maintained its traditional way of organizing initial vocational education on a more advanced level but also linking it to international standards. In summary the essential elements of this system can be ascertained as the following: Altogether 29 Job descriptions were created on three levels of further education (specialists, operative professionals and strategic professionals). The transparency of that sector and the resulting certificates allow for the comparability of qualifications. The structure of the new system is the basis to improve Human Resources Development within the companies and on the IT-labour market. By creating career paths, the chance of individual career advancement and even for lateral entry is given. The connection to other European and international education systems is guaranteed by a Credit Point scheme that reflects vocational competences and even serves as an entry to the general system of higher education (esp. universities), leading to Bachelor and Master degrees. Self-organized and cooperate learning within the work process are embedded in a didactic and curricular concept which is called "APO-IT".The potentials and limitations of this new system of professional development in the IT sector are subject of the paper. They can be discussed in two respects: firstly with regard to aspects of educational policy (e.g. divergent interests of employers and employees, labour market and structural policy, divergence between general and vocational education) and secondly in view of the didactic and curricular concept (e.g. the problem of the formal allegation of the APO-IT concept, the role of learning-process advisers, functions of private educational institutions and the concept of network cooperation). Finally the role of research accompanying further vocational education will be assessed. The presentation is based on several evaluation reports published by the Fraunhofer Institut Software- und Systemtechnik (ISST) in Berlin which mainly developed the new IT-System and monitored its implementation. Furthermore, the paper pertains to a research project which centers on the qualification of IT-Specialists in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Hamburg. A follow-up project which focuses on vocational training at the level of professionals in cooperation with the Helmut-Schmidt- Universität is under way and its outlook can be presented in its essential features as well.