CompTIA Blog

A look at the week of August 15 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a plan to improve U.S. cybersecurity by focusing on education. A new Treasury report finds fewer small businesses than previously thought. Unemployment in the IT sector remains much lower than the national average and employment is expected to grow rapidly. U.S. Agency Releases Cyber-Education Plan — The U.S. government will work to develop an “unrivaled” ...

The President announced new initiatives recommended by the White House Rural Council for creating jobs in rural America.  These initiatives are intended to help rural small businesses access capital, expand rural job search and training services, and increase rural access to healthcare workers and technology.   CompTIA has long-noted similar needs within the small IT community – whether rural or urban.Included in these initiatives are: $350 million in SBA funding over the next five years to ...

Congress’ August Recess is a critical time for CompTIA members to tell their representatives about the importance of career and technical education and urge Congress to restore funding to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which recently saw significant cuts.The Perkins Act is a principal vehicle for funding career and technical education (CTE) in this country, serving both high school and community college students preparing for college and careers.In FY 2011, Perkins was c ...

A look at the week of August 15 in public advocacy for the IT channel:  This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a plan to improve U.S. cybersecurity by focusing on education.  A new Treasury report finds fewer small businesses than previously thought.  Unemployment in the IT sector remains much lower than the national average and employment is expected to grow rapidly.U.S. Agency Releases Cyber-Education Plan — The U.S. government will work to develop an "unrivaled ...

During this year’s Breakaway Conference in Washington, D.C., we saw a large number of participants take place in the first ever CompTIA Tech Summit. These members heard from expert panels regarding healthcare IT and cybersecurity. The Summit provided members with critical insight into the future of the industry and how what happens in Congress affects it all.With that in mind, we also saw dozens of members stop by the CompTIA public advocacy booth during the trade show portion of the conference ...

With a variety of football training camps opening up, ranging from peewee league to the NFL, I thought it appropriate to use a couple of sports analogies in this post. When the games get into full swing, inevitably teams get into pressure situations on the field. Typically, it’s a tie game with just one score separating the winner and loser—and time ticking away. The coach often calls a play where the receivers “go deep” to get the ball across the goal line. Rather th ...

TIS & Partners, a structural design firm based in Japan, has developed a construction material that is better than concrete. The new material, called CO2 Structure, hardens in one day whereas concrete takes 28 days to fully cure. CO2 Structure is also more stable than concrete, with a tensile strength at least 2.5 times greater.Why am I writing about concrete on an IT blog? Because I think it highlights the importance of continuing to innovate in areas that might be viewed as basic commoditi ...

Small and medium-sized technology businesses have the expertise, knowledge and skill sets to help the U.S. healthcare industry advance its use of new IT tools, but barriers may keep many of them on the sidelines, according to a new CompTIA white paper, “Health IT: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers”. The paper focuses on opportunities to increase participation by IT solution providers, including: Providing additional re-training options that focus on health IT, Int ...

A look at the week of August 8 in public advocacy for the IT channel:  This week, cuts in the debt deal could hurt federal cybersecurity programs.  Steven VanRoekel, formerly of Microsoft, is the new White House CIO.  Experts offered predictions and advice on mobile security at the CompTIA Tech Summit on cybersecurity. Debt Deal Could Be a Blow for Cybersecurity — The $2.1 trillion debt-cap pact that Congress passed could hurt economic and national security as agencies postpone plans to invest i ...

At least one summer camp for kids has much more to do with megabytes than mosquito bites. TECHie Camp gives students third-grade through eighth-grade hands-on experience with everything from robotics to app development to web programming. The camp is operated in five states by TECH CORPS, an organization that partners with K-12 schools around the country to reach young people with life-changing technological learning experiences. TECH CORPS’ dedication to equipping the next generation of techn ...

It was standing room only at CompTIA’s Tech Summit last Thursday in Washington, D.C., as channel members, business owners and reporters crowded into the Washington Hilton for a Q&A and panel discussion around two topics: cloud computing and mobility.We’re used to hearing about the efficient and cost-effective features of the cloud but the first panel discussion, Security & Cloud Migration Challenges for Business and Government, focused on the darker side— What security questions are crea ...

At least one summer camp for kids has much more to do with megabytes than mosquito bites.TECHie Camp gives students third-grade through eighth-grade hands-on experience with everything from robotics to app development to web programming. The camp is operated in five states by TECH CORPS, an organization that partners with K-12 schools around the country to reach young people with life-changing technological learning experiences.TECH CORPS’ dedication to equipping the next generation of technolog ...

There is a common problem amongst technology business owners. That commonality is failure to answer a question about their business that typically starts out with, “What are the steps you use to do X?”Sometimes it’s dependent on the subject, but often this question can’t be clearly answered. The subject could be sales, marketing, financial, service delivery, employee or even client related. Regardless of the question, there is a relatively high chance that silence will be the response when a bus ...

Enacted last year, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 established an “Intermediary Lending Pilot Program” to provide direct loans to non-profit intermediaries for the purpose of making loans to small business.  This pilot program will terminate after three years.  Under this pilot, loans of as high as $1 million will be made to 20 organizations in 2011, and these organizations are required to use this money to make small business loans of as high as $200,000 in mostly underserved markets.This p ...

Legal professionals are among the earliest tech adopters, at least pertaining to the toys they love to buy (whether they need them or not). From iPads to the latest mobile smart phone devices, many lawyers enjoy being on the “cutting edge” in all aspects of their lives. With an estimated 1.2 million licensed attorneys in the U.S. according to the American Bar Association—almost 75 percent of them in a private practice—it’s a market that solution providers need to be actively involved in. With un ...