IT stands among the ranks of vital professionals--healthcare, public safety workers and government--for whom evenings, weekends and holidays are par for the workplace course. However, without the glamour associated with saving lives, restoring heat to freezing homes or guiding people through the sky so they can be reunited with their loved ones for the holiday, few even realize that IT is keeping the lights on.

For IT professionals, <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2220413,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594">the biggest holidays of the year are rarely a cause for celebration.</A> Systems need to be upgraded when the office is shut down and all too often, servers partake in a Murphy's Law, going haywire when there are the fewest people around to restore them.