Stories by PIMM FOX

Marketing and IT meet in the 21st century

Marketing and IT departments are separated by vast amounts of beige carpet and different mind-sets.

Me Generation Guru

Not work 14 hours a day? Not work for the same company forever? What's wrong with people today? Has the hot economy created a generation of workers whose allegiance is to themselves, not their companies?

Strategy Shift Has Next Level in Limbo

The future is now, but is anyone really interested in paying for it? The Phoenix rollout of Very high bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) was supposed to boost not only the speed of users' Internet connections but also the fortunes of Rohnert Park, Calif.-based Next Level Communications Inc. [Nasdaq:NXTV].

Blinded by Wireless

All those with cell phones, please raise your hand. With the other hand, please turn over your wallet. It may not be as blunt, but that's the business model for the mobile and wireless industry. Plain and simple.

Business Uses Hard to Find at Demo Conference

No one denies or even bothers to challenge the notion that mobile computing will continue to expand apace -- especially if they were among the attendees at last week's Demo Mobile 2000 conference here. For example, Frank Spindler, vice president of marketing at Intel Corp., said 80 percent of the semiconductor maker's workforce already have or will soon be getting laptops as their sole computing device.

Test-Taking Takes Off in Fiber Optics

Innovation is a great thing, as most people would agree. But there are attendant issues, such as testing and measuring, that must be addressed in order to turn innovation into a viable business. The same is true in the fiber-optic networking business.

When Big Isn't Big Enough

Bigness really doesn't matter. It doesn't.

Electronic Component Exchanges Compete

Engineers in the electronic-components industry must sift through mounds of catalogs trying to find the specific parts they need. By one count, a single database for the industry can contain 12 million entries.

Analysts mixed about IBM's future

OK, let's admit it: The news hasn't exactly been good for companies involved in the mainframe business.

Startup to Focus on R&D, Not Marketing

In Silicon Valley, the start-up-in-search-of-an-IPO is cliché, and the pure research and development lab is an unattainable dream for many engineers.