CompTIA Blog

Once upon a time in the quiet, Windows-dominated Channel-Lands, we would hear a whisper about Apple and its consumer-oriented products. Oh, sure, they were fine for musicians and graphic artists, but hardly suitable for corporate power users. That’s changing, as evidence in this past week’s channel news, which saw a teeter-totter between the rivals in Silicon Valley and the great Pacific Northwest.Apple Hardly FallingHow successful is Apple in its strategy to take over the world? It’s not just r ...

A look at the week of October 18, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channelThis week, Politico examines Obama’s record on technology policy and what it could mean for mid-term elections.  The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security finally reached an agreement on how to manage cybersecurity responsibilities. A tax reporting requirement attached to the healthcare bill has small IT businesses up in arms.Tech Industry Has Mixed Feelings on Obama — Two years after rallying be ...

CompTIA senior vice president, skills certification, Terry Erdle, spoke at the CompTIA EMEA Member Conference. His presentation covered how CompTIA positions its offerings in the context of a global IT workforce.The impacts of recent economics, the establishment of global standards, and new partnerships all play into the bigger picture that can impact both the hiring company as well as the individual.It’s what any entrant or convert to the IT career path may need, as we see the recent economic c ...

Apple is the new king of technology, and we should all hail the success of the company that just a decade ago was on the precipice of oblivion, needing a lifeline from rival Microsoft just to stay alive. Today, Apple – with a market cap of $290 billion – is the second most valuable company in the United States and third most valuable in the world. And Monday, the company announced its first $20 billion quarter, a feat that puts it on track to overtake Microsoft in annual revenue.The success of A ...

New research presented today at CompTIA’s EMEA conference highlights the many ways employers use and value IT training and certification, while uncovering some of the challenges organization face in measuring ROI. The CompTIA survey of 1,371 IT managers, located in the UK, South Africa and the US, who recently made an IT staff hire reveals that IT certifications play an important role in screening candidates and confirming expertise.“Despite a virtual buyers market for hiring companies, many org ...

A United Kingdom native may have said it similarly when he called, literally, one day, “Watson, come here! I want to see you!” Today’s panel discussion at the CompTIA EMEA Member Conference had local IT academia asking how do I help newly learned IT certified students prepare and present their most hirable abilities to today’s employers large and small. How do they get seen? Specific case studies provided UK Academia examples to increase the credibility and hire-ability of their young students w ...

 There has been no shortage of examples of high profile online personal data leaks over the last few years. From TJX’s stolen credit card information to AOL’s exposure of consumers’ personal surfing habits, the stakes are high for both consumers and businesses when it comes to protecting our online privacy. Yet at the same time, the connections proved through the Internet and the associated speed of technology development make the World Wide Web the wild west of innov ...

Good news, market research firm Gartner is forecasting global IT spending to top $2.5 trillion in the coming year, up roughly 3 percent over 2010. By 2014, spending on IT goods and services will rise to $2.8 trillion – well above the previous pre-recession high set in 2008.So that’s the good news. But Gartner goes further to state that enterprises will shift their spending in new directions. According to a presentation given by Gartner senior vice president Peter Sondergaard, businesses are redi ...

Technicians with expertise in printing and document imaging are needed given the sheer number of printers, copiers and multi-functional devices and recent surge in shipment growth. For the first time in more than a decade, the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market experienced double-digit growth. According to IDC, the total market grew 20 percent year-over-year to 29 million units in the second quarter of 2010 while shipment value increased 14 percent year-over-year to $13.3 billion.Moreover, th ...

The CompTIA EMEA Member Conference at the Radisson Edwardian London Heathrow Hotel opens this week, and nearly two dozens vendors will showcase their latest tools for the IT channel to more than 300 attendees.Prometric, a global leader in testing and assessment services, has two improvements that will impact and benefit its IT test center partners around the world. TCFlow 2, the newest version of its proprietary test center administration software, is rolling out to global test center partners. ...

Channel-Lands started last week with the Microsoft’s release of Windows Phone 7, because the world needs another mobile operating system. But that was just the beginning of a busy week, which saw the McAfee partner conference, FalconStor’s new CEO promising changes and rumors of Oracle contemplating a mega-acquisition. Windows Phone 7 Launched, FinallyMicrosoft’s much-anticipated launch of Windows Phone 7 finally came this past week. Microsoft has much riding on the successor to Windows Mobile 6 ...

We all need community. Through relationships, both business and personal, we receive support and can support one another. Through community we can interact, share and develop valued programs and solutions to our problems. These connections also allow us to make the world a better place. Business owners can often feel isolated when facing threats on their own, wondering many times if they are the only one facing a particular problem. Whether facing the current economic climate, keeping pace with ...

There’s been a significant shift in the services business over the past few years. When customer contracts begin to approach their conclusion date, most providers are very proactive and engage these clients to continue to expand their support programs. You can’t expect to automatically extend existing contracts, even if it was a common practice before. Times have changed; perhaps this change is due to the negative shift in the economy or the continued drive for efficiency in many businesses. Eit ...

Microsoft’s Scott Charney says we should treat malware-infected PCs in the same manner as 19th century public health officials treated victims of typhoid, tuberculosis and cholera: quarantine. Yes, the head of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing believes malware infections are so pervasive and destructive that isolation is the only means for protecting the greater good. Perhaps, but I have a better idea: recall.First, let’s review Charney’s idea – quarantine.“Governments, industry and consumers sh ...

A look at the week of October 11, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channel This week, a CompTIA study found that IT firms are more optimistic about their own potential than that of the economy at large, causing them to put off hiring and expansion. The rise of electronic medical records is generating tough questions about privacy and security. Green tech start-ups have trouble getting off the ground due to a rough economy and a lack of climate legislation. The SBA reports a jump in small bu ...