Steven Ostrowski Posts

The shortage of skilled information technology (IT) workers is fast approaching a critical point where it could negatively impact industry growth and prosperity. That dire message was delivered today by speakers on an IT workforce panel at CompTIA Colloquium, the annual gathering of leaders in the IT training and certification industry.  The current supply of skilled IT workers in the United States is simply not enough, said Tania Lavin, market research manager, Allegis Group Inc. She cited ...

The shortage of skilled information technology (IT) workers is fast approaching a critical point where it could negatively impact industry growth and prosperity. That dire message was delivered today by speakers on an IT workforce panel at CompTIA Colloquium, the annual gathering of leaders in the IT training and certification industry. The current supply of skilled IT workers in the United States is simply not enough, said Tania Lavin, market research manager, Allegis Group Inc. She cited a r ...

Cybersecurity experts at the CompTIA Tech Summit today shared a chilling scenario of the current threat level in the world of mobile devices and applications"Right now mobile security is a pretty dicey place," said Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer, viaForensics. "It's too much for an IT department to take on, but it's too big an issue to ignore. It's a massive hole.""The numbers of users, devices and applications are massive," said Brian Contos, director, global security and risk managem ...

Security considerations in a cloud computing universe are real, but not much different than the threats organizations wrestle with today in a traditional networking environment."This is not a new set of issues," said Ellen Rubin, founder, CloudSwitch. "The issues are the same that you have in your own internal environment."Rubin was one of the speakers on a "Security and Cloud Migration" panel at the inaugural CompTIA Tech Summit, co-located with CompTIA Breakaway 2011.Just like in-house IT depa ...

The market for mobile devices and applications is a 21st century version of the Wild West where technology solution providers can strike it rich by bringing law and order to the technology frontier.“There are not a lot of standards,” Bill Taylor, president, Panasonic Systems Networks Company of America, said during a mobility trends industry panel discussion Wednesday at CompTIA Breakaway 2011. “You’ve got this Wild West of multipurpose devices.”What’s needed, especially by business users, is so ...

The IT solution provider companies best positioned for future success are the ones that take a hybrid approach to customers, combining traditional product sales and support with new offerings in managed services, cloud computing and customized application development.That’s the collective view of four IT industry analysts who spoke Wednesday at CompTIA Breakaway 2011.“We believe the hybrid model will be here for the next 10 to 15 years, a combination of on-premise equipment with elements of clou ...

IT solution providers would be wise to leave discussions about bits, bytes, speeds and feeds at the front door and instead engage customers in conversations on how to solve business challenges, executive from four top IT vendors advised Breakaway 2011 attendees.“The money is in understanding the domain the end-user is living in,” said Mike deVente, vice president, North America channels, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “What are they trying to accomplish? Bring the solution to the proble ...

The old line about “what you do when you assume” is alive and well in the business world, at least in the view of noted business consultant and best-selling author Peter Sheahan.During yesterday’s opening keynote speech at Breakaway 2011, Sheahan said the biggest obstacles in the selling process are often wrong assumptions made by sellers.“It’s often not the buyer getting in the way of the seller exploiting the opportunity, but the seller not fully understanding the opportunity,” said Sheahan, f ...