It wasn't long ago that BYO was something you'd find on a party invitation. But with the wave of employees bringing their own smartphones and tablets into the workplace and expecting to use them for email, network access and mobile apps, BYOD -- or "bring your own device" -- now represents a promising but formidable business trend that doesn't leave IT in the mood for celebration.
There's good news and bad news on the salary front for IT professionals this year. With many businesses enjoying renewed growth following an extended period of economic gloom, IT workers saw another year of modest salary increases, and they reported significantly fewer pay cuts, hiring freezes and layoffs.
Earlier this fall, Google made an announcement that in many ways foretells the future of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/154/Data+Center">data center</a> efficiency metrics. The search giant not only disclosed its total power consumption and carbon emissions (mostly attributable to its data centers), but also released estimates of its per-user and per-search energy consumption. With this information -- and given that a billion Google searches occur per day -- it was possible to calculate that searches account for 12.5 million watts of the company's 260 million watt total.
Companies often talk about their "dream" IT job candidate -- the type of worker they'd most like to have on their staffs. But what about the IT workers themselves -- what type of company are they most interested in?
IT professionals have been through the wringer when it comes to managing their careers. They've had to keep up with ever-changing technology, endure the often painful aftermath of offshoring and outsourcing decisions, and learn new skills -- including communication and other so-called soft skills -- because of the blending of IT with the business. And those are just the biggest challenges they've faced over the years -- and continue to face today.
Who couldn't use some good news these days? John Arnold, CIO at FedMed, a healthcare financial services organization in Rockville, Md., is ready for some. Four years ago, his IT staff was downsized from 14 employees to four, and they have experienced the familiar squeeze of salary freezes and increased workloads.
"Bring Back the Wild" -- that's the mission of Earth Rangers, an innovative nonprofit organization that works to educate kids about environmental threats. Its goal is to inspire kids -- the "chief inheritors of environmental destruction," as its Web site says -- to become a powerful part of the solution by working to protect endangered species and their habitats.
When CIO Daniel Chan was first prompted to use open-source software, cost savings weren't top of mind.
When the global trade association SEMI experienced a big revenue decline last year and had to cut staff, CIO Gil McInnes turned to outsourcing.
As vice president of IT at Windsor Foods in Houston, Stephan Henze has to stay one step ahead of the latest IT trends. That's why he's spending a lot of time thinking about securing and deploying smartphones enterprisewide.
Pent-up demand for new projects. Veteran employees leaving the company. Who could complain about such pressures in the waning months of 2009, when the year was spent under a cloud of economic misery?
While there are an infinite number of social engineering exploits, typical ones include the following:
When the IT world looks back at 2008, it will certainly remember the global financial crisis. But it will also likely link that time frame with the takeoff of cloud computing, the engine behind more conferences, conversations and marketing collateral than seemingly any other technology in development today.
Think you can guess the No. 1 threat to the security of your stored data? If you said hackers, or even trouble-making insiders, you'd be wrong. While malicious threats are an ongoing concern, it's your well-meaning employees who are more likely to unknowingly expose your company's stored data through, say, a file-sharing network or a misplaced laptop.
As an IT professional, you don't often have the luxury of going with the flow. With businesses everywhere seeking both efficiencies and revenue growth, IT's mission is increasingly geared toward implementing and even spearheading many types of change.