CompTIA Blog

In ordinary years, 2010 would go down as a relatively good year in the IT market. Market analysts say IT spending will increase roughly 3.5 percent. Not bad, considering nearly 40 percent of that money flows through the channel. And the expectation is IT spending will continue to rise in 2011.Check out these fresh numbers. According to a survey of the Society of Information Management, 38 percent of IT managers say their spending will increase over this year’s expenditures. Overall, 72 percent s ...

In case you haven’t heard, the recession is over. While many of us are still feeling the pinch of economic contraction, there are several sectors where there’s growth for the channel, in particular with SMB and communications. And that’s the focus of this week’s Channel-Lands: vendors and entire sectors are seeing opportunities in SMB sales, converged communications and cloud computing. Here’s this week’s scoop.SMBs to the Recession RescueChannel-lands can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that e ...

It was a busy day at the Canadian IT Services and Support Community meeting, with a host of educational sessions, followed by hands-on workshop sessions to advance group initiatives. The day started out with a keynote on social media for business, generating a day-long discussion among attendees, followed by interactive sessions on cloud business opportunities, print management and an overview on warranty fraud issues.Cloud computing is an attractive solution for businesses, whether small or lar ...

Our U.S.-based CompTIA executives finished up a world tour this month which focused, in part, on how IT certification is advancing on the global stage.  They found that CompTIA’s set of Strata certificates get a warm reception abroad.CompTIA's Strata program offers fundamental-to-advanced certificates that validate a wide range of subjects in IT. Students and professionals holding a Strata certificate demonstrate that they have the knowledge required to enter and excel in IT and technology-relat ...

Each year, businesses are required to provide a Form 1099 to any individual or unincorporated entity to whom that business paid $600 or more for services. Payments for services to corporations are exempted.  This reporting requirement was intended to bring independent contractors into compliance.  Of course the reasoning was that if payments are reported to the IRS, the recipient will be (much) more likely to report those same payments as income.  So, for now, a Form 1099 is required to be filed ...

Is social media a boondoggle or a valuable marketing tool for your business? That’s the question many solution providers have asked since these sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter came on the scene. The attitude of many business executives is, “If you can’t provide tangible results, what good is it?” Attendees of the CompTIA Canadian IT Services and Support Community in Toronto found several answers to that question with a deep dive discussion into the opportunities available with thes ...

Just prior to Super Bowl III, Joe Namath famously guaranteed “we’re gonna win the game, I guarantee it,” in response to taunts from a particularly loud Colt’s fan.  Johnny Sample, the Jets defensive captain, reflecting on Joe’s rash promise said “…we all thought we'd win the game. We had studied film on the Colts and we were really confident. But to make a guarantee?” The rest of the story is history; under enormous pressure, Joe Namath delivered on his promise and brought both the AFL and the J ...

A look at the week of September 20, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channelThis week, the Senate passed the Small Business Jobs Act to open credit to small businesses and create incentives to promote expansion and hiring.  Meanwhile, the government has made little progress in implementing a plan to address cybersecurity threats a year after President Obama made it a national priority.  Tech hiring is on the rise, possibly indicating the start of a broader upward trend in hiring.  Representat ...

2010 has been an exciting, if not challenging year for many IT businesses, though the outlook and trends are very positive. Providers and vendors are not only growing their sales pipeline and generating additional services revenue, but several are making acquisitions to strengthen their market position and portfolios. There are countless changes taking place in the IT industry and keeping track of all the new business trends and market opportunities can be extremely difficult. How does the old s ...

On January 24th 1848, James Marshall found gold while working on Sutter’s Mill in northern California.  Word of this discovery spread quickly throughout the state, then extended like wildfire to the rest of the country and the world. It wasn’t long before everyone in the free world understood that fortunes could be made mining for gold in California. The result was an influx of treasure hunters who increased the population of this formerly remote area by as many as 86,000 p ...

A look at the week of September 14, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channelThis week, the Senate voted to move forward with the Small Business Jobs Act, providing increased loans, programs and tax cuts for small business.  Meanwhile, a growing demand for technology services and electronics is stabilizing tech-heavy metro regions even as the broader economy risks a double-dip.  Although cybersecurity legislation has been listed as a priority for Congress, its passage is far from certain.Small ...

Apple iPads are popping up across the channel, but they won’t be alone. Other PCs are racing to get their tablets out to market. The question is whether tablets will displace PCs. It’s just one of the many issues solution providers and vendors in the channel are wrestling with this week. Beyond tablets, this post from Channel-Lands looks at the benefits of virtualization, increasing demand for custom servers and growing opportunities in professional services.iPad Cannibalizing Notebook SalesYou ...

In a week consumed with stories about burning Qurans and mosque protests in New York City, it was easy to overlook word of a new mass-mailing worm fouling in-boxes across corporate America. But could there be a connection between the prolific attack and the high-profile debates regarding Islam in the Unites States?The worm dubbed “Here You Have,” a nod to the subject line of the offending email, started rolling in on Thursday, Sept. 9, and quickly ensnared machines at corporate heavyweights such ...

Dell has taken the temperature of the healthcare market and has written a prescription for its five-inch Streak tablet as an electronic medical records solution. It’s part of Dell’s big push into healthcare with hardware, software and professional services solutions to digitize and support health care delivery. This is not an unusual strategy. Geoffrey Moore’s book “Crossing the Chasm” codified the wisdom of targeting vertical markets or similar-type companies to ...

There is nothing like watching a courtroom drama on TV when the prosecutor has the suspect on the ropes and is slowly wringing him in with the final line of questioning. Whether you’re a fan of Law & Order (insert your favorite version here), JAG or any other show with a legal theme, you likely root for the good guys to prevail in the end. When the situation occurs on television, it’s entertaining. But when you’re called into court to face criminal charges or answer a civil lawsuit in real l ...