CompTIA Blog

It’s late April, and if you reside anywhere in the country where spring hasn’t fully sprung, we probably don’t have to twist your arm to book a trip to sunny Orlando, FL, to attend ChannelCon – the premier training and partnering event for the IT channel – July 29 to 31. And even if you’re lucky enough to live in one of those states where sunshine and warmth is plentiful year-round, keep reading to learn about some of the discounts and freebies CompTIA is offe ...

How can you differentiate your business from your competitors? The suite of CompTIA Trustmarks answers that age-old question. Whether your business follows a managed services model or a managed print model, CompTIA’s MSP Partners Trustmark and Managed Print Trustmark, respectively, illustrate a commitment to quality service. Holding these credentials shows potential customers that your business follows a code of conduct, provides customer references and meets criteria identified in the cre ...

If advertising is any gauge, everyone is selling cloud now. Even though some of the most hype-filled promotions don’t specifically spell out for their intended audience the benefits of this thriving technology delivery method, the frequency of their pitch is likely encouraging prospective clients to conduct their own research. That’s good news for those in the channel, as long as they have the confidence and capabilities to provide a superior service. While some industry professional ...

Initially, Just IT Founder and CEO Simon Perriton hesitated when his CompTIA partners suggested he expand his London-based IT training and recruitment business into the apprenticeship market. Just IT had benefited from CompTIA's discounted exam vouchers, marketing support and business advice for years, most recently through the CompTIA Authorized Partner Program, but Perriton was uncertain about how 16- to 18-year-old apprentices would perform in training and on the job. But when Just IT laun ...

This week the Senate “Gang of Eight” released their comprehensive immigration bill titled, “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.” This legislation is the result of months of negotiating between Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). As the title of the legislation suggests, the bill ...

The CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) certification is now included in the U.S. Department of Defense 8570.01-M program for information assurance personnel.

Interest is growing in the "Marketplace Fairness Act" recently introduced in the House by Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) (H.R. 684) and in the Senate by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) (S. 336). This legislation would require businesses to collect and remit state sales taxes on sales of goods and services made into other states. For states that have a sales tax, the Marketplace Fairness Act is a good thing. But for businesses, this legislation will result in additional compliance costs, and these costs will dis ...

This entry comes from guest blogger Mike Morton, CIO/VP Emedia at Diversified Business Communications Canada and group event director for iTech2013. Canada’s largest IT infrastructure conference and exhibition series – the iTech2013 Conference – is coming to Toronto on May 16th at the International Centre. Bringing together premier vendors, exhibitors, speakers and specialists for a day of learning, networking and experimentation, this year’s conference promises to be the ...

One of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs join industry associations is to gain access to a variety of business improvement resources and educational programs that would be costly to recreate or purchase on their own. Those business tools and best practices are particularly hard to come by in the IT channel, and the expense of tailoring them to meet the specific needs of even a well-established solution provider can be quite prohibitive. CompTIA not only recognizes those challenges, but colla ...

Congress failed to pass major cyber-security reform during the 2012 legislative session. In the Senate, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pushed the “Secure Act of 2012” to a floor vote, but failed to get the necessary votes. In the House, Republican Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) advocated for a cyber-security reform through a series of individual bills as opposed to one comprehensive bill as a step toward enhancing America’s defenses on cyber-securit ...

The stated theme of Cloud Connect may have been cloud as a platform, but the unofficial theme became the necessary transformation of the IT function. And while there were two dubious quotes from the conference on Wednesday, a quote from Thursday perfectly summed up this new theme: “Virtualization is a technology; cloud computing is a business model.” Viewing cloud computing as a technology leads to the impression that it can be bought and implemented into an existing business flow. A ...

On Wednesday at the Cloud Connect conference, I heard two statements presented that I didn’t quite agree with. The first was that “cloud is nothing new.” I’ve heard this statement before, and I think people who make it are mostly trying to make the point that client/server architectures have existed before. That much is true, but there is clearly something new about cloud computing, and I believe that something is the amount of disintermediation that has taken place. Many ...

It’s been a few weeks now and that check engine light is still illuminated on your dashboard. Your car seems to be working just fine, but that little orange reminder is nagging at you to get your car checked out. Who do you take your car to? Mechanic A looks good enough, but can you really trust him? Mechanic B looks just as good as the first, but he has an official designation of quality – something you know means his business will be efficient and honest. It’s no brainer &nda ...

The theme for Cloud Connect in Santa Clara this week is the growth of cloud as a platform for building IT solutions. In some ways, this means that cloud becomes a secondary consideration behind the specific solutions being built. John O’Farrell, general partner with Andreessen Horowitz, said the venture capital firm frequently takes cloud for granted as it evaluates investment options, a sentiment that was also shared by CompTIA in our 2013 IT Industry Outlook. As a platform, cloud computi ...

Last week, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in a case brought by Amazon and Overstock.com that non-resident sellers offering products through a New York website will be required to collect New York sales taxes on sales made into the state. This collection requirement would apply even though the out-of-state business has no other presence in the state. In its ruling, the court analogized selling through a New York-based website to having a physical present in the state: “ … if a v ...