CompTIA Blog

As national policymakers observed the protests in Egypt unfold, an interesting fact emerged.  Egypt’s President Mubarak ordered the utility companies and Internet Service Providers to restrict Internet traffic, ultimately shutting down access to the Internet.  Consequently, Egyptian citizens had no access to social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Google that were being used to organize and mobilize protesters.Interestingly enough, on February 15, Senators Lieberman and Carper intro ...

Unless the 1099 reporting requirement is repealed, beginning in 2012, any business that pays a single vendor $600 or more for goods or services during a year would be required to issue a Form 1099-MISC to that vendor, and this form also must be filed it with the IRS.  We have has worked consistently with other technology associations  to encourage Congress to repeal this onerous provision. On February 17, the Senate voted to repeal the new 1099 reporting requirement; S.223 passed by a vote of 87 ...

The Mobile World Conference set the eyes of the technology world on Barcelona this week, with companies from around the world gathered to show off their solutions for the rapidly growing mobile market. Everything from processors to software to devices was on display, and while laptops remain the bedrock of the mobile device landscape and smartphones continue their explosive growth, the real star of this year’s show was the hottest new device on the market: tablets.Ironically, the company that la ...

A look at the week of February 14 in public advocacy for the IT channelThis week, the House Ways and Means Committee will begin looking over the 1099 tax provision repeal bill passed in the Senate.  Republican plans for a cybersecurity bill may contrast with efforts in the Senate.  Federal IT contracts are expected to increase, despite budget cuts.House Ways and Means To Mark up 1099 Repeal—The House Ways and Means Committee will mark up a bill this week that would repeal the 1099 tax provision ...

Are there any employers who would dare claim professional development of their staff is not important? Our recent research study, Employer Perceptions of IT Training and Certification, confirms that is not likely. In fact, professional development is moderately to extremely important to the great majority of organizations (93%).However, as we all have witnessed, varying levels of employer support for staff development exists between organizations, dependent on factors such as company size, resou ...

Darrell Issa (CA-49), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report this week detailing the committee’s findings on regulations that impede job creation.  This purpose of this report was to identify regulations that hinder job growth, with a particular focus on the concerns of small businesses. Issa’s committee has significant power to influence changes in federal government regulations and Executive Branch transparency.  Upon taking office last month, Chairman Iss ...

How often do we resist change – dig in our heels to avoid it – only to find out that a change has brought such positive results that we wonder why we didn’t do it sooner? For VARs, MSPs, and integrators there are amazing opportunities being created by advances in our technology as well as changes in why and how customers are buying today. But these new opportunities require some changes to your business model and strategy. “Even if you’re on the right track, if you’re sitting still the train wil ...

I was witness this week to an event becoming more frequent across the U.S.: the charter school lottery. CompTIA is a big supporter of charitable efforts in the Chicago area around education and workforce development, but one group in particular has gotten our full attention. The Chicago Tech Academy is now in its second year of operation and just this week held its third student lottery.Soon-to-be freshmen rejoice at winning the ChiTech lottery.The kids who attend ChiTech (as the students have n ...

Is the latest $2 billion public/private commitment to small business a real opportunity for the channel? The answer may not come until this decade is complete (it’s a 5-year program), but the details are worth a closer look by solution providers, vendors and business customers.Though the word “stimulus” has taken on a somewhat negative connotation with some, IT channel businesses are prospering from the healthcare technology incentives that the federal government enacted in 2009. Could this new ...

Does the Department of Defense have a role in the event of a major cyber attack on critical infrastructure?This is the question that Rep. Mac Thornberry, chair of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threat and Capabilities, raised.  Today, the Congressman convened a group of cybersecurity experts from academia, not-for-profits and the private sector to assess the vulnerabilities due to cyber vandalism, theft, crimes and warfare of the country’s critical infrastructure. Although the panel of experts off ...

Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held the first (of possibly several) hearings focused on scrutinizing the rollout of the $7 billion fund administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Development Agency. Testimony from the Inspector Generals from each respective agency indicated that there was concern that the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) will need greater scrutiny going forward to avoid fraud and abu ...

For the House’s Small Business Committee hearing held on February 9, we submitted testimony entitled “Buried in Paperwork: A 1099 Update”.  During the hearing, committee members voiced bi-partisan support for repeal of the new 1099 requirement; the only question of discussion was how to “pay for” the repeal.  But the bottom line seems to be that repeal is viewed as more important than the philosophical issue of how to pay for it. In another positive development, last week the Senate agreed to an ...

A look at the week of February 7 in public advocacy for the IT channel This week, the Senate voted to repeal the 1099 provision from the healthcare bill.  After watching the Egyptian government dismantle Internet communications to stifle protestors, Senators are facing tough questions about the scope of proposed cybersecurity regulations.  Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, will step down from his position.  Senate Moves Forward on 1099 Repeal — The ...

Some in our IT community may wonder what does the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and Workforce Investment Boards (WIB) have to do with our businesses and bottom lines?  Here’s why they matter:There are 400,000 IT jobs that are presently unfilled.  This is due to skilled workers not getting directed to employers that need them and/or the possibility that there are too few skilled individuals to meet these jobs.  Aside from those out of work, there are also incumbent workers who need to update the ...

People often use the words IT and tech interchangeably, but they aren't entirely the same thing. The tech industry does include parts of IT (and maybe makes up most of it), but it also includes industries like bio, green, automotive and other "techs".What separates IT from the others is that IT is first and foremost about bringing the pieces together. The IT industry is about bringing hardware, software, services and infrastructure all together to power, connect and enable. And that's the indust ...