Al Gore may take credit for inventing it. The Department of Defense deserves credit for building out its infrastructure. But let’s face it: The real wizards behind the curtain, the first true marketeers of the Internet, and the virtuosos of virtual innovation are the Internet’s purveyors of porn. Here’s how the porn industry has helped evolve the Internet, for both good and bad. by Ericka Chickowski

Insider threats from ex-employees linger when IT organizations fail to deprovision terminated workers access to all systems. Read Ericka Chickowski's article on this topic.

What Frontier Airlines learned from its recent project. See also a detailed article on this topic.

CIOs will continue struggle with iffy budgets throughout the rest of the year, according to a new poll conducted among 900 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs. Released in mid-June week, results showed an expected IT spending decline in 2009 of about 4.7%. Figures were compared to a similar poll conducted at the end of 2008.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has released its mid-year analysis of major data breaches reported so far in 2009. Though the total numbers show an improvement over the first half of 2008, ITRC is reporting the percentage of insider attacks and breaches caused by hacking is on the rise. As it does with all of its reports, ITRC warns users to remember that the number of reported breaches is likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to actual breach statistics. Many more incidents go unreported. See also: Snooping by IT Workers on the Rise and 14 Insider Threats

A survey of non-IT executives, conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the IT Governance Institute, shows that many business leaders believe IT investments create value, but many still view the department as an operational and tactical asset rather than as a strategic partner.
Full results can be found in the ITGI report An Executive View of IT Governance.

Aberdeen Group conducted a comprehensive study of 130 enterprises regarding their attitudes and practices surrounding governance, risk and compliance (GRC) initiatives. This slideshow highlights findings from Aberdeen’s wrap-up report, IT GRC: Managing Risk, Improving Visibility, and Reducing Operating Costs, by analyst Derek Brink.

One detail: the GRC acronym has things out of order; Aberdeen says enterprises emphasize compliance first, IT governance next and risk management last.

So, just how efficient is a bureaucrat in the data center? No, that isn’t the beginning to a great joke. It is a question posed by CDW Government in its most recent survey on virtualization within federal agencies, across the civilian and defense spectrum. The company questioned 377 government IT managers in April, compiling the results in its 2009 Federal Virtualization Report released in mid-June.

Memes come and go on the web, spread by email and YouTube and word of mouth. But what happens to the stars once the webcams are off?

In a poll of IT executives and line-of-business leaders, a recent "State of Disaster Recovery" survey found that each group still has its own ideas about business continuity. Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of SunGard Availability Services, results show what IT workers are up against when it comes to advocating disaster recovery activities.

One of the hallmarks of great leadership is the ability to ferret out destructive organizational problems before they impact the working culture, says Michael Roberto. As IT departments face cutbacks and mounting workloads, management must find ways to head off issues at the pass. Author of Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen, Roberto suggests the following seven ways to keep organizational problems at bay.

New books on IT project management, green technology, networking and outsourcing make up our quarterly reading list for IT pros.

While the economy may show a few faint signs of strengthening, IT hiring managers still expect recessionary forces to dampen recruiting efforts for the next six months. New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as well as survey results from a poll of 1,900 recruiters by tech employment gurus at Dice.com, gives a picture of the current IT job market.

A survey of over 400 IT pros by data-security firm Cyber-Ark indicates that tech workers have broad access to confidential data, and that they are using that access more now than before.

IT recruitment firm Robert Half Technology has released its third quarter IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, and the results are mixed. The IT employment outlook is healthy in certain industries and certain parts of the country, but not so good in other industries and regions. Overall the numbers seem to indicate a slow march toward recovery, with more good news for IT workers than bad. More than 1,400 CIOs from companies with at least 100 employees were polled, and here’s what they had to say about the next three months:

According to IBM ISS X-Force findings, SQL injections last year became the most common Web-based attack technique. Hackers are successful with these attacks largely due to poor coding practices. The following are six ways organizations can start to mitigate the risk from SQL injections.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization EHR project team provides some lessons learned from its big virtualization project. See also: the project in depth.

As the rate of increase in new unemployment claims slows, a survey report released by outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that human resource executives are resorting to salary cuts and pay freezes to cut costs, rather than cutting jobs outright. Comparisons are with an earlier survey by the firm.

Symantec recently commissioned Applied Research to survey over 1,000 North American IT professionals about their attitudes and practices regarding green IT. The findings showed significant uptick in green IT plans, strategies and spending. Symantec grouped its statistics in five findings categories:
1. Green IT Is Now an Essential
2. Green IT Budgets Are Rising
3. IT Is Willing to Pay a Premium for Green IT
4. IT Is at the Heart of Enterprise Green Efforts
5. Green IT Initiatives More of a Priority

Accenture recently surveyed 300 senior IT professionals in North America and the UK about their ERP systems. The following slides highlight the survey results.

What you need know, while you’re on the go.

The recent release—and smashing success—of the new Star Trek and Terminator films has given techies a reason to rejoice. It’s no secret why IT folks flock to sci-fi movies: They love to see how Hollywood depicts the evolution of technology. It’s like a really entertaining trade show that gives them a glimpse of the future. In that spirit, we present some films that are famous, in part, because of the importance IT played in their plots. And no, we’re not aware of any films that will show you how to get the most out of cloud computing. (The titles here are in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent film.)

Many technology managers are having a hard time tracking the use of Web 2.0 technologies and protecting their organizations from the inherent risks of interactive media. Websense recently conducted an in-depth survey on the matter, asking 1300 IT managers from 10 countries about their attitudes and practices surrounding Web 2.0. The highlights suggest that defenses could use some work.

The economic slump continues, bringing with it a rash of technology-industry layoffs that IT workers may feel in their own jobs. The following are eight of the highest-impact layoffs announced by U.S.-based companies this spring. By Ericka Chickowski

Even though most workers want to work from home at times and some would even take a pay cut to do so, more than half never get the opportunity to unshackle themselves from the office desk, according to a recent survey commissioned by Citrix Online and conducted by the firm inc./WomenTrend. Check out the results, compiled from questioning of 600 workers worldwide.

Unemployment is high, and heading higher. If you lose your job, you may be able to negotiate a better severance package than the one first offered you. Maury Hanigan of Layoffcoach.com offers this advice for the newly jobless.

Some highlights from the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM) report, “E-mail Management: The good, the bad and the ugly.” The report analyzed a survey conducted earlier in the spring on e-mail management practices and beliefs.

Do techies have a weakness for conspiracy theories? A certain suspicion of authority is a hallmark of tech culture, along with the belief that better answers may be out there for almost any problem. On the other hand, the job demands a logical approach. The Internet, meanwhile, is a hotbed of both mythology and myth-busting. And for whatever it’s worth, a lot of conspiracy theories today involve information technology. One recent example of web-fueled, tech-tinged fantasy: stories and blog posts claiming that Google Earth showed the location of the lost continent of Atlantis. Here’s our list of persistent stories, some related to tech and some from the broader culture.

Security Information and Event Management technology has yet to come into its own. Though enterprises have been aided to some degree by SIEM technologies of different stripes, these products fall short of expectations over and over again. Baseline tapped Mike Rothman, former security analyst and current senior vice president of strategy for SIEM vendor eIQnetworks to explain why so many SIEM deployments disappoint.

The Information Systems Audit Control Association (ISACA), a nonprofit group that represents 86,000 IT governance, audit and security practitioners across the globe, recently conducted a survey of 500 IT pros about technology investments and an evaluation of their returns. Here’s a recap of the findings.

An inside look at online job posting statistics from employment site Dice.com. All figures are as of May 1, 2009.

The quarterly Foote Partners IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index, released in late April, systematically categorizes and establishes market value for discrete job-skills categories.

The following is from the index's hot list and valuation data.

As fears of a Swine Flu pandemic grow, you need to make sure your organization is ready to deal with business and IT continuity issues.

Content provided by SunGard Availability Services.

Sports fans are tracking NBA and NHL playoff games on their iPhones, streaming audio of their favorite baseball team's games at the office, and posting shots of their kids' soccer games on Flickr. But technological innovation not only has transformed the way we interact with sports over the past 10-15 years, it's altered the sports themselves. In the spirit of spring fever, here's our look at the most dramatic changes technology has wreaked on sports.

Foote Partners recently released its quarterly IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index outlining the hottest skills and certifications. According to the survey, 60 skills and certifications decreased in value, while 46 increased in value. The following list of 10 certifications is from the report’s Hot List, in order of descending ‘hotness,’ according to Foote’s analysis.

By Bruce F. Webster With IT budgets frozen or pared back, you need to handle any staff reductions carefully to ensure that you hold onto your best engineers and managers. For an in-depth look at this topic, click here. [Copyright (c) 2009 by Bruce F. Webster]

PowerPoint is not inherently evil, but it sure feels that way when you are trapped in the audience for a bad presentation. Some people just don't get the concept. You know who we’re talking about - the folks who read each slide, word for word, instead of leveraging the illustrative and explanatory power of the medium. But even the best of speakers look bad when they are accompanied by amateurish slide decks. If you've ever fallen prey to any of these blunders, it is time to think about revising your next presentation’s slides.

Times are tough and many organizations may be in survival mode, but CIOs are still spending, according to a recent survey conducted by Robert Half International. The firm’s research shows that the majority of organizations still plan on investing on IT initiatives in the next 12 months. Robert Half International recently asked 1,400 CIOs at United States-based companies with 100 or more employees: "Which areas, if any, will your IT department be investing in over the next 12 months?" See Tony Kontzer's analysis of the spending survey, which is less cheerful than it might appear.

by Ericka Chickowski Learning from your mistakes is good. Learning from others’ mistakes is even better. We looked at 12 major IT failures to learn more about how and why they happened. Each example is unique, but they all have something in common: a chain reaction of pain that rippled through the entire business or organization. Whatever the specifics, breakdowns within the IT organization are rarely contained. They can lose a business customers, they can cause lawsuits, and in some instances they can even shut a business down.

by Ericka Chickowski Some of the most common - and most devastating - IT failures come as a result of failed enterprise resource planning (ERP) initiatives. These cases illustrate some of the problems these big projects face.

by Ericka Chickowski The development of business requirements and project parameters can make or break an IT project. The data in this slideshow comes from an IAG Consulting report called Business Analysis Benchmark, which was culled from a survey of over 100 organizations which carried out IT development projects with an average budget of around $3 million. A key takeway: mixed project-planning teams that include business and IT people tend to get the best results.

In this tough year, IT managers can use every bit of advice they can find. These five books, slated to be published this quarter, can be a big help. Books on enterprise transformation, IT metrics, product development, careers and performance management make up our spring reading list for IT managers.

by David F. Carr Based on distributed computing technologies Google has publicly disclosed, Hadoop provides an open source implementation for other companies with very large data analysis challenges, including Yahoo! and Facebook. The free software, named for a toy elephant, now runs on some of the largest sites on the Web.

Social networking and rich media bring new threats to your data security. A report from MessageLabs, a unit of Symantec, describes several problems cropping up in the Web 2.0 world.

Personal Health Records could help fix America's healthcare crisis. According to Dossia, a non-profit consortium of large companies, including Wal-Mart, committed to providing electronic records to employees, advantages better health and lower costs. For an in-depth view of Dossia, click here.

A new study by Computer Economics, "Insider Misuse of Computing Resources," looked at security risks posted by employees who inadvertently expose their organizations to possible information loss or compromise. The survey included 100 IT security professionals and executives.

External threats to data security are clear, says Computer Economics president Frank Scavo, but the nature of internal threats may be less so. For example, over one-third of organizations surveyed lack policies against loading sensitive data onto portable storage devices like USB flash drives. This practice recently compromised a secure data network at the Pentagon.

A spate of funky new prototypes suggests wearable computing has finally arrived.
Among the sci-fiesque items: USB prosthetics, webcams in eyesockets, and vests that track one’s health. Also, smart bras and shoes.
Here’s our list of the wildest in wearable computing and electronics.

Building a lean IT organization requires five key roles, according to Forrester. These roles help businesses analyze potential cost cuts in workforce, services, and capex while improving efficiency. Here’s a recap of what Marc Cecere, Forrester analyst and lead author of the report, had to say about these roles.

A new report by Gartner, titled Dataquest Alert: Utilities, Healthcare and Government Lead IT Spending Growth in Challenging 2009, details where IT spending is headed. Gartner analysts expect overall worldwide IT spending growth of one-half of one percent, and an essentially flat U.S. growth rate of 0.1 percent.. Here are some key figures and our comments.

Talent retention can be a challenge, even as bad times persist. Management must focus on keeping essential workers happy, be prepared to hire opportunistically, and to resume growth when the economy improves. That means reacting and adapting to a changes in the job market, and having flexible plans in place in order to retain and attract talent -- even as the protracted downturn changes the rules of the game.

The Great Recession, as some are calling it, is different in some important ways from previous economic downturns. Tom Silver, Chief Marketing Officer of Dice.com, looks at key differences for technology workers.

As economic forecasts predict an ever-lengthening recession, CIOs will continue to be called upon to trim costs and create better operational efficiencies. We spoke with Frank Casale, CEO and chairman of the Outsourcing Institute, and Allen Weinberg, principal and North American leader of McKinsey & Company’s Outsourcing and Offshoring Practice, about IT functions with the biggest potential for outsourcing or offshoring.

The Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, a survey of over 1,400 CIOs at companies with more than 100 employees, shows a slowdown in hiring plans for the second quarter of this year.But some jobs, industries, and regions still project solid growth.

The challenge: in using IT to support business goals, you have to deal with business, development, and technology cycles, which are rarely in sync.

Business process outsourcing looks to get a big spending bump in 2009, but it still ranks at the bottom of the list in terms of planned spending on consulting, outsourcing and training. CIO Insight’s 2009 IT Spending study reveals where businesses are pushing budget dollars in these areas this year.See Also: spending survey data for hardware, software, security, and infrastructure.

Nobody can afford to be casual about their jobs in this economy. But personal skills, an area where IT workers do not have a reputation for excellence, could cost you. A new book, The Personal Credibility Factor: How to Get It, Keep It, and Get It Back (If You’ve Lost It), by Sandy Allgeier, looks at common ways people gain and lose the trust of others. Focus on one issue at a time, says Allgeier. All quotes in the slideshow are from the author.

Spending on server and storage virtualization will get a big boost in 2009, CIO Insight’s 2009 IT Spending study finds. But operating systems upgrades take the cake in architecture and infrastructure spending. See Also: spending survey data for hardware, software, and security.

More companies are planning to buy anti-virus and malware software than any other security technologies. Intrusion prevention and detection systems and VPNs also look to be getting budget dollars from more than half the companies surveyed in CIO Insight’s 2009 IT Spending study. See also: Spending survey data for hardware, software.

It’s clear that CIOs won’t be on a spending spree this year, but they still have a number of big budgeting priorities. CIO Insight’s 2009 IT Spending study sheds light on where IT leaders are directing dollars for application software and systems. See also: Top Hardware Spending Priorities.

IT spending levels may be dropping, but businesses are still spending. The top spending category is hardware, according to CIO Insight’s 2009 IT Spending study. PCs, servers, printers/scanners/copiers, wireline networking devices and storage equipment all made the top 10. See also: Top Software Spending Priorities.

Sophisticated devices require careful security planning. For more information on the topics covered in this slideshow, click here.

The premium paid for IT certifications has been declining steadily over the last several years, but some specialties still command good money. Foote Partners' IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index shows that recent big winners have centered around security and architecture. See also: 10 Certifications Not Worth the Trouble.

As IT managers have become less willing to pay a premium for candidates who hold IT certifications, some specializations have lost value faster than the overall market. The following IT certifications have fared particularly poorly over the last year, according to the Foote Partners' IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index. See also: 10 Hot IT Certifications.

by Ericka Chickowski Foote Partners recently released its IT Skills and Certification Pay Index, which examines IT pay premiums through the end of 2008. Premium pay is defined as compensation received for possessing high-value IT and business skills used on the job. It is often used to adjust either base pay or total pay in situations where job title does not match actual duties and responsibilities. It may be used as a reward, recruiting inducement, retention tool or as a guide for creating consulting rate cards. Foote Partners surveys 179 different skills to calculate IT pay premiums.

These technologies got more IT dollars than CIOs had anticipated, according to a CIO Insight poll.

by Bob Violino Deloitte's 6th Annual Global Security Survey listed the most widely-deployed security technologies.

By Ericka Chickowski Will your job survive the recession? Baseline scoured employment reports and interviewed a number of IT employment and consulting professionals — among them Sean Ebner, Western regional vice president for Technisource, an IT consulting and employment outfit owned by Spherion — to find out who should be updating their resumes. See also: 10 Jobs Ripe for Outsourcing

by Edward Cone Geeks have had a central role in popular culture since Homer rapped about Odysseus. Modern media is not always so kind. Who are these people, and what does it mean?

Reality didn’t match expectations for these technologies when it came time to spend real money, according to a CIO Insight poll of CIOs. Each slide shows how actual spending matched up with projections for last year.

How to make sure an enterprise Open Source project goes smoothly. Compiled with help from Ray Wang, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, and Navica CEO Bernard Golden.

Times are tough, and project managers need to understand how the downturn may affect their operations. Baseline interviewed two project management experts, Michael Welles of EdWel Programs, a project management training company, and Lou Russell of Russell Martin Associates, a consulting firm, to feel the Project Management Office’s pain. See also 10 Silver Linings for Project Management.

Projects are being slashed, staff members are being shown the door and the economy is in the tank. But there are still a few bright spots for project managers and the project management office (PMO) during these lean times. Michael Welles of EdWel Programs, Lou Russell of Russell Martin Associates, and Gregory Balestrero of the Project Management Institute named a few opportunities project managers can find today. See also 10 Brutal Realities of Project Management

Not every project will survive the recession. Many don't make it even in better times. Shutting down an IT project should be a methodical process, whether the job is being put on hiatus or killed once and for all.

Applied Research questioned 1,600 IT representatives from enterprises with 5,000 employees or more as part of Symantec’s annual survey.

IT workers’ faith in the economy and their own job prospects plunged dramatically in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2007, according to staffing firm Technisource. The firm’s survey found that more IT pros expect to lose their jobs; at the same time, they don’t believe there will be jobs out there when it happens. Check out the full results.

The job market is brutal, but some IT specializations remain in high demand. Many of the hottest roles and skills address issues specific to survival, such as productivity, efficiency and process improvement. Most relevant are those experts who can use technology to help drive profit.

Homework assignment: 10 must-reads to be published in the weeks and months ahead. Your competitors will be reading them. You should, too.

Popular technologies like virtualization, databases and mobility could be as risky as they are useful to enterprise users in 2009.

To truly become efficient, storage managers are addressing the nagging problem of duplicated data that eats up space in the storage and backup infrastructure. Here are some of the major players in the storage arena offering some form of single-instance storage, deduplication and even records-matching to get rid of those extra bytes and make way for new data.

A look at the most disastrous security breaches of the past year.

Two of the five this year’s most-improved vendors in our 2008 Vendor Value study are telecom vendors. But they seem to have improved at the expense of their competitors.

Once again, Dell and Hewlett-Packard fought a tight race to the top of our 2008 Vendor Value rankings for hardware vendors.

Cisco’s dominance is under serious challenge from a host of smaller, nimble companies, according to our 2008 Vendor Value study.

The software vendor rankings in our 2008 Vendor Value survey reflected the changing face of the enterprise software market.

CIO Insight’s annual Vendor Value survey gets to the heart of the IT vendor market, with IT managers ranking their providers by value, reliability and loyalty.

At the forefront of computer security at the network, desktop and code levels are the security researchers who blend a mix of skills in hacking, software programming and intelligent detective work to help decode and thwart online criminal behavior. Whether it’s tracking the latest Windows malware, bots, rootkits, attack scripts, distributed denial of service (DDOS), Trojan horses and other Internet and application security flaws, these researchers are at the forefront of protecting data, financial information and identities in an increasingly more open online world. These malware researchers face an uphill battle as the numbers for data breaches and identity theft climb every year. Yet, they push on. Here are 10 security researchers who deserve our praise and thanks.

Securing your infrastructure- the applications, databases, files and network --via encryption may not always be easy to implement, but it is one of the most risk-averse ways to prevent data breaches and keep intellectual property under wraps. But navigating the sea of encryption tools can be a chore with so many points within IT infrastructure that can be encrypted, from the network to the hard disk, and the database to the file system. Keep your CTO off your back and your project assets safe and locked down. Baseline gives you a head start with seven encryption tools—some free, some not—that you may not know and could be worth implementing.

As 2009 unfolds, it’s clear that enterprises with a forward-thinking approach and a solid grasp of technology trends will have a distinct competitive advantage. The following technologies trends in areas like SaaS, virtualization and project portfolio management, among others, are likely to shape IT and business in the coming year, and they can give your company the advantage it needs to do business in this challenging economic environment.

The world of IT is one of innovation, leadership and collaboration, and the 50 individuals profiled in this gallery have played major roles in getting us where we are today and will help us get to where we want to be in the future. Take, for example, Vinton Cerf, co-designer of TCP/IP protocols and co-architect of the early Internet. With decades spend in the IT field, he continues to seek out new technologies and business models as Google’s vice president and chief Internet evangelist. And let’s not forget Al Gore, who was derided for his claim that he took the initiative in creating the Internet. But Cerf says Gore did play a critical role in promoting the creation of a national information infrastructure.

For several years now, security researchers have warned enterprises and government organizations of the growing threat posed by organized cyber criminals. Online crime rings are fleecing organizations out of customer and employee personally identifiable information, stealing passwords, intellectual property and more.

Baseline salutes NASA on the 39th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the efforts put forth to put a man on the moon.

Turn mountains of log data and analysis into actionable information with these ten free applications that every IT manager should know about.

Salaries for IT professionals changed little from June 2007 to June 2008. Although hiring for the most in-demand jobs has returned to normal levels, lower-level administrative jobs appear to be on the cutting block.

In an April SaaS survey conducted by Burton Group and Ziff Davis Enterprise Research, 67 percent of the 252 CIOs whose companies use some form of SaaS have been doing so for two or more years.

The easiest way to prevent a project meltdown is to prevent that bad project from ever lifting off the ground. Here’s how.

A 2008 Baseline Security Survey reveals that most security gurus are not spending their budgets on the risks that most concern them. Here are the results.

A poorly implemented or misaligned IT project can be like a millstone around a CIO's neck. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way for IT leaders to get on with their work is to remove the weight of those millstones altogether.

Password managers put all your eggs in one basket, but at least something keeps an eye on the basket. The better managers encrypt the passwords and won't let you get to them without a good password, either.

Enterprise databases are expensive and extremely necessary. Here are some free database tools to help manage this critical technology and business engine.

The world belongs to agile, flexible companies that dare to innovate and displace outmoded business models. Baseline checks out the most disruptive companies.  To slow down the pace of the slide show, please use the pause button just above the index page (on the right of this page). You can then use the arrow button to advance.  

Managing IT professionals is a lot easier task when the technology team is made up of talented individuals. Unfortunately, many IT managers fail to cultivate their skills around recruiting because they do it so infrequently compared to their other day-to-day management tasks.
In this last installment of Getting the Best out of Geeks slideshow, we spoke with Dan Martineau. A 25-year veteran in IT headhunting, Martineau is principal of Martineau Recruiting Technology. He offers 10 tips on improving IT recruiting practices.
 

Here is a list of the most effective free storage and backup utilities, which are designed more to help you recover data that's important to you in your everyday duties, after you find out the hard way why hard drives and spilled coffee don't mix.

Check out these more critically functional enhancements to Mozilla's Firefox.

3D technology isn't just for scientific modeling and attempts at cinematic nostalgia anymore; Many companies are using the tech for everything from R&D to education. Here's just a sampling of a few of the projects in the enterprise arena.

In this installment of Getting the Best Out of Geeks, we spoke with project management guru Dr. Steve Flannes to get the scoop on the ten biggest people-related mistakes that IT project managers can make. As the principal of the consultancy Flannes & Associates, he specializes in managing people through projects and is the author of Essential People Skills for Project Managers. 

An upcoming survey from Symantec and Applied Research-West confirms many suspicions about the generation gap in the workplace, namely that younger workers will use your corporate network to run most any device, technology or social networking software they can get their hands on. Should you be concerned? Oh, yes.

The CDC Influenza Pandemic Plan outlines the agency’s IT plans and systems to support a nationwide response to a potential outbreak of a non-seasonal flu pandemic through real-time data exchange and information management. 

Baseline’s second installment of a four-part series on how to get the most from your IT role players.

Baseline’s first installment of a four-part series on how to get the most from your IT role players.

Fixware, freeware and almost-legalware to keep you up to date with your IT department.

If you're the type of maverick who's ever gone to a formal event in a tuxedo t-shirt or a gown and Chuck Taylors, then you'll probably benefit from this list. It could potentially make a difference in your future earning potential. Seriously.  

Baseline explains the latest set of rules for the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) data security standards and how the changes will affect merchants who want to stay compliant.
 

As users' security perceptions toward the Internet are improving around the world, security experts say that the volume and severity of security threats is increasing. Cisco Systems set out to see how remote workers in various countries perceive and treat Internet security. SOURCE: Cisco Systems' Year Two: Security Perceptions & Online Behavior of Remote Workers survey
Read the related Baseline article: Users Believe Internet Is “Safer”
 

In addition to introducing a lot of operational and security improvements, virtualization can also act as a great cost-cutting measure. And what says cost-cutting better than free? Check out our list of 10 free virtualization tools and utilities that you haven’t heard much about.

Baseline takes a quick and dirty tour of Apple's latest laptop, the MacBook Air. Is this gorgeously designed device ready for seasoned business users and road warriors?

While the unwashed masses can only dream of turning digital dreams into bona fide businesses, the famous use their clout to jump in with both well-shod feet. Here’s a list of celebrities taking a flyer on technology-based businesses.

IT virtualization provides unprecedented gains in efficiency and flexibility. But as these virtualized environments grow increasingly prevalent in the enterprise, admins must now consider the technology’s unique security risks. Noted security expert Pete Lindstrom, senior analyst at the Burton Group, has compiled the five immutable laws IT professionals must understand to keep their virtualized systems safe.

While a little far-fetched, "Untraceable" is not an unusual portrayal of hacking and computer security through the movie-makers lens. In this limelight, Baseline recounts 20 famous hacker movies.

We’ve waded through the growing list of Vista 'gadgets' (widgets) to find the real gems that will help you best balance work, family and personal time on your desktop. All are available for free download at the Windows Live Gallery.

Football has come a long way from leather helmets and frozen tundra. The NFL is now among the biggest spectator sports in the world, thanks in part to technologies that have made the game safer for players and more enjoyable for fans everywhere. As the playoffs heat up, here’s a few of the high-tech wonders that keep us glued to the game and the tailgate on any given Sunday.

Already forgotten Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report? Here’s another kind of "cheaters" list that you will want to avoid. Here are 12 companies who have been fined by the Business Software Alliance for not playing by the rules of asset ma

Every successful executive knows that the key to a satisfying career is maintaining that precious work-life balance. Nobody can work straight through a 10-hour day without a little amusement, after all. The following are some great games to relieve a litt

It has been a little over a year now since Microsoft first launched Windows Vista to the enterprise market. Baseline takes a look at the kind of traction the new operating system has gained over 2007, and what analysts expect in 2008.

Want to help your company’s bottom line and get in good with your staff? Here are 10 excellent security tools that your technology team needs to know about. Feel free to show them to your CIO too, since they’re free and all.

The presidential election may be a year away, but Americans are already voting with their wallets. As the candidates collect campaign contributions for their trek toward the White House, Baseline took a look at who is get

Who Wins the War of Value to Customers?

Based on responses of companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Based on responses of companies with under $500 million in annual revenue

Small Enterprise Ratings Based on responses of companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue

Which vendor wins in overall customer satisfaction?

The Uptime Institute (www.uptimeinstitute.org) recently published definitions for quantitative metrics that can measure a data center’s green quotient. The following are five top metrics that execut

These companies lead their respective verticals in leveraging IT to maximize profits and productivity.

The retail industry will spend nearly $40 billion by 2011 to upgrade systems to improve customer experience.

The Web portal is struggling to maintain relevance in the increasingly competitive online advertising, social networking and multimedia world. It must overcome a handful of steep challenges if it hopes to succeed.

By David F. Carr

Business intelligence is on top of most enterprises’ buying agenda: according to Forrester, 41% expect to make a purchase or upgrade related to BI in 2007.

Still, there are plenty of obstacles that hinder—or even sabotage—a company’s abili

The portal's struggle is thrown into sharp relief by the success if its chief rival, Google.

A Case Dissection in Miniature

Reporter: Mel Duvall
Designer: Steve Anderson
Producer: Robert Hertzberg

How one of Wal-Mart's suppliers uses the technology.

Reporter: Mel Duvall
Graphics: Funnelinc.com
Designed by: Brian Moore
Producer: Robert Hertzberg

IT asset disposal vendors remove your outdated equipment and determine the best--and proper--way to get rid of it and the data on it. By David Carr

Of the 46 highest-paid chief information officers on our list, 21 of them had pay packages worth more than $1 million.

A digital surveillance and detection system takes many of the best forensics tools and applies them before the fact, not after. Here’s an example of how a detection platform works behind the scenes, using a “captain” module at company headquarters and “cr

Baseline ranked the fastest-growing software companies based on year-to-year revenue growth from 2004 to 2005, or the closest 12-month periods within a quarter.

A look at the 25 publicly-traded companies that have managed information best over the last three years.

The Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 75-51.

The Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 50-26.

Here is a ranked list of the 40 fastest-growing software companies based on publicly-available financial data. These software companies run the gamut in: business software, CRM, financial software, middleware, human resources and workforce management software, content management systems, business intelligence, web and predictive analytics, networking and monitoring software, databases, security, data mining, portfolio management, supply chain management, automation software and many more.

When it comes to computer security and malware, the rise of bot networks have been one of the most significant security threats that exists today. Baseline examines how bots work and offers some essential security strategies to defend from being taken over by overpowering bot networks.

Topics cover everything from career development, to project management, to programming practices.

Top 100 most influential people in IT—numbers 25-1.

Storage | Security | Infrastructure | CIO | Channel | Mobile & Wireless | Desktop/Notebook/Printer