When it comes to hiring qualified IT professionals, a large portion of U.S. companies want more highly skilled workers, especially in the areas of security, networking and operating systems. That’s the conclusion from a new study from CompTIA (the Computing Technology Industry Association), an industry group dedicated to IT. The study surveyed more than 3,500 IT professionals from around the world.

For established countries like the United States, security was by far the most important skill requested, and the skill most likely to be lacking. The study found that while 73 percent considered security skills like firewalls and data privacy most important, only 57 percent considered those skills adequate. Other security skills considered critical included data protection, regulatory compliance and identity management.

At many of the nation’s biggest companies, the wage gap between white men and nearly everyone else in the workplace still exists, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau analysis.

In fact, it was only with Asian-American men, where median wages were just one percent less than those of white men who worked full-time, that the wage gap was nearly obliterated.

Teamstudio wanted to raise the awareness level of what Notes is capable of by showcasing some of the most remarkable Notes apps they could find. By doing this, they hoped to start getting people to think differently about what Notes is doing for them and maybe even be inspired to do more with their Notes infrastructure than they thought possible. In this fascinating article, Teamstudio VP of Development Craig Schumann showcases five independently developed applications that raise the bar on what you can do with Lotus Notes.

Read this DominoPower article.

On Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearings into the missing White House email messages. After watching the three hours of hearings and reviewing the various supporting transcripts, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz’ first impression can be summarized in three words: what a mess!

In his newest article, The White House email controversy: hearings spotlight disturbing IT practices, David explores numerous disturbing practices. However, a particular questioning stream between a U.S. Congressman and the White House CIO equates Lotus Notes with "wooden wagon wheels" and, entered into the Congressional Record is the phrase "I wouldn’t want to do business with somebody still using Lotus Notes or still using wooden wagon wheels."

Lotus better get it’s PR dancing shoes on. This one needs fixing.

Think you can get away with using email and the Internet in violation of company policy? Think again.

A new survey found that more than a quarter of employers have fired workers for misusing email and one third have fired workers for misusing the Internet on the job. The study, conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute, surveyed 304 U.S. companies of all sizes.

The vast majority of bosses who fired workers for Internet misuse, 84 percent, said the employee was accessing porn or other inappropriate content. While looking at inappropriate content is an obvious no-no on company time, simply surfing the Web led to a surprising number of firings. As many as 34 percent of managers in the study said they let go of workers for excessive personal use of the Internet, according to the survey.

Hewlett-Packard continued to gain ground on IBM in 2007 when it comes to server revenue, although Big Blue still managed to dominate all other system vendors, according to an analyst report.

In a report released Feb. 27, IDC analysts found that for 2007, worldwide server revenue topped $54 billion for the year, an increase of 3.6 percent compared to 2006 and the highest annual total since the market peaked at $61 billion in 2001. In the fourth quarter, server revenue grew 2.4 percent, to $15.7 billion.

The accepted wisdom on executive resumes in recent years is that less detail is more and branding is everything. Tell the world who you are and what you do best in as few words as possible. But search engine optimization has reared its cumbersome head in the job market. Some CIOs say they are being encouraged to list everything they have done because even resumes for top talent often get a first swipe by software that uses keywords to find prospects.

IBM announced the launch of The Future of Smart IT podcast, the fifth episode in its 2008 series of conversations with thought leaders on how technology will change everyday life. Hosted by IBM’s Scott Laningham, the new podcast features Dan Esty, co-author of "Green to Gold" and Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Policy, and Dennis Quan, IBM’s chief technology officer for High Performance On Demand Solutions.

By the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own count, women hold 27 percent, just over a quarter, of jobs in computer-related and mathematical occupations. As a result of IT’s numerical dominance by men, it has long been viewed as unreceptive to women. Even among women working in technology, dissatisfaction and disenchantment is high.

By many accounts, an uninviting workplace is to blame. A 2007 report published by the trade association WITI (Women in Technology International) found that only 52 percent of female tech workers said their organizations offered a favorable climate for women. These women said they felt that their voices weren’t being heard, and it was causing them to question whether the technology workplace was an environment they wished to stay in.

Tests of IBM Lotus Domino 8 performance show that upgrading to Lotus Domino 8 and the new Lotus Notes 8 client should yield positive results. Tests show CPU reductions across the board as well as I/O reductions on most platforms when compared to Lotus Notes and Domino 7. Read more about the test results.