The previous National Academy of Sciences decadal survey for astronomy, the “Bahcall report”, heralded the 90’s as the “decade of the infrared”. The report outlined the many near-infrared (here defined as 1–30 &mgr;m) facilities that would become available. Their vision is now coming to fruition with the advent of large ground-based telescopes equipped with infrared instruments and upcoming space-based infrared (IR) missions. For astronomers, the first decade of the 21st century promises to be the one in which the floodgates open for the IR data from these facilities. In addition, there are many new capabilities for near-IR astronomy in various stages of planning for the future. We outline the current capabilities for near IR astronomy and project how these new observatories and instruments will impact the field. We also list the online sources of information for each of the facilities. ©1999 American Institute of Physics.