CompTIA Blog

A look at the week of March 21 in public advocacy for the IT channel  This week, a comprehensive cybersecurity bill was introduced in the House.  Democrats plan to offer a different way to pay for the 1099 repeal.  Cyber attacks are both increasing in number and becoming more serious, according to a White House report.Rep. Langevin Introduces Cybersecurity Bill — Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) unveiled a comprehensive cybersecurity bill that would create a national office to coordinate responses to In ...

One thing the IT industry doesn't get enough credit for is the innovations it makes in its own business models and delivery. The IT industry is shockingly young compared to oil, transportation and other conglomerations, yet it may have gone through more variations than all the others combined. If the introduction of the personal computer into the business and consumer mainstream in the early 1980s marks the birth of the modern IT industry, for a 30-year-old, it's worn a lot of hats.The early '80 ...

Last month, CompTIA, in conjunction with the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and several regional tech associations, launched www.techvoice.org, a grassroots advocacy website focusing on the needs of members like you.The website is filled with news, blogs and other information about what’s going on in Washington, DC, and highlights specific issues affecting the industry.  Among the many useful items on TechVoice, one item stands out in particular: the TechVoice Legislative Resource ...

When President Obama announced the formation of a Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (Jobs Council) in January, CompTIA was alarmed that none of the 23 members appointed by the president currently run a small business. In response, CompTIA’s public policy team reached out to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)  to share data on who makes up the IT industry and encourage her to contact the White House to ask that the Jobs Council include a representative from the small IT business community.  T ...

The global technology industry is extremely interconnected and depends on a number of “cogs” to work in synch. That becomes particularly evident when a catastrophe strikes a key world IT collaborator, as happened last week with the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. Our first and foremost concern is for the health and safety of all those affected, especially with the mass cleanup and overwhelming nuclear power plant issues the Japanese people are facing. This week’s column is a bit differ ...

The Obama Administration’s Small Business Jobs Act is kicking in $5M for a small business mentoring program. The Small Business Administration is providing grants ranging from $250K to $500K for organizations to provide support and mentoring for small businesses.  The deadline for submitting grant applications is April 11, and the grant recipients will be announced soon after the deadline. The program is open to profit and non-profit organizations that have at least three years of national exper ...

The National Institute for Science and technology announced its next cloud workshop scheduled for April 7-8 in Gaithersburg, MD. Last year NIST convened a series of workshops on cloud computing to develop a roadmap for federal agencies to migrate to the cloud.Specifically, NIST stated, “Federal CIOs need and want answers to practical operational questions. How does an agency protect its data if it doesn’t physically control the hardware and software used to store, transport and process the data? ...

Yesterday, the Senate Science Commerce and Transportation Committee held a hearing on the “State of Online Privacy”.  This was the first of two heating hearings focused on whether additional legislation was needed to protect consumers from how companies manage consumer data collected online. There were was testimony from several private, not-for-profit and federal agency stakeholders. Senator Kerry plans to introduce a bill sometime soon, which he hopes will solve several issues: Websites sellin ...

A look at the week of March 14 in public advocacy for the IT channel   This week, Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) will try to pass 1099 repeal legislation as part of an authorization bill to fund the Small Business Administration (SBA).  Industry groups are urging the government to forgo cybersecurity legislation in favor of public-private incentives and cooperation.  New studies on implementing electronic health information systems suggest that the technology benefits healthcare professionals.Johanns ...

Do you remember the days when the IT channel consisted simply of companies reselling hardware and software to customers? While a number of organizations still provide that service—and make money doing it—the overall technology market has changed significantly. These traditional transactions have become more of a commodity these days, as prices and margins declined with customers shopping online and purchasing directly from vendors to get what they believe is the best value. While t ...

Since last June, the CompTIA Educational Foundation has been focused on becoming a more effective organization in the effort to find under-served populations lasting careers in the IT industry.

A look at the week of March 7 in public advocacy for the IT channel This week, the House voted to repeal the 1099 requirement, but the Congressional debate is far from over.  The interim spending bill passed by Congress cuts Department of Homeland Security (DHS) network security programs by $20 million. The federal government is evaluating its cybersecurity staffing needs and potential plans for an increase in personnel.  1099 Repeal: Not Over Yet — Although the House joined the Senate in voting ...

Successful small businesses that grow into medium-sized and large businesses are the key to this country’s future, President Barack Obama told an Ohio audience last week at the “Winning the Future Forum on Small Business”. “When our small businesses do well, America does well,” Obama said.  Standing at the intersection of the small business community and healthcare information technology (HIT), many of our nation’s small IT firms will continue to be c ...

When you started your IT services business, did you have a detailed document that walked you through best practices and alerted you to the pitfalls you could encounter along the way? If your experience was similar to that of most VARs and MSPs I know, the answer would be a resounding NO! Most of the successful entrepreneurs in the IT channel built their businesses the old fashioned way; through trial and error. While there are a number of reasons why most companies fail, those who receive advice ...

After uneven gains in 2010, our market research points to an improving landscape for the global IT industry in 2011. We project industry growth of four percent, with upside potential of slightly over six percent. This equates to approximately $1.5 trillion in global sales of IT hardware, software and services, according to the research firm IDC. Add in the telecommunications sector to cover the full breadth of information technology, and the industry scales to a $3 trillion economic and innovati ...