In 2004, Nicholas Carr created a few waves--drawing the ire of IT professionals and striking fear into the heart of CEOs and CFOs--when he wrote the book "Does IT Matter?" In it, he reasons that IT had become a commodity, offering companies little strategic advantage because as soon as one company adopts a new technology, its competitors do the same.

In 2008, Carr is back again with his new book, "The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google," this time predicting the demise of corporate IT departments, to be replaced by utility computing.