Features

• Today, printers. Tomorrow, 'integrated peripherals'?

  Out went 42 aging black and white copiers with interface boxes that let them serve as printers. In went 42 new networked multi-function printers (MFPs) that could do color printing and copying and scan directly to e-mail, fax or files. And the owner, the Park Hill School District in Kansas City, MO, saves $19,000 yearly.

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  Analysis: Why Linux is a desktop flop

  It's free, easier to use than ever, IT staffers know it and love it, and it has fewer viruses and Trojans than Windows.

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  The upside of shadow IT

  First, a scary statistic: Gartner predicts that in less than three years, 35 per cent of enterprise IT expenditures will happen outside of the corporate IT budget. Employees will regularly subscribe to collaboration, analytic and other Cloud services they want, all with the press of a button. Others will simply build their own applications using readily available Cloud-based tools and development platforms.

• Gartner: The top 10 strategic technology trends for 2012

  ORLANDO -- The technology that makes up many of the systems in the ITworld today is at a critical juncture and in the next five years everything from mobile devices and applications to servers and social networking will impact IT in ways companies need to prepare for now, Gartner Vice President David Cearley says.

• Print: the last bastion of cost cutting?

  Print management services provide a major opportunity for CIOs to slash cost at their organisation according to Andrew Rowsell-Jones, research vice president at Gartner’s CIO Research Group.

• The pros and cons of Windows 7 security

  Businesses are eyeing a transition to Microsoft Windows 7, and with a wealth of security features that are part of it, it's worth figuring out the good and bad about each of them, says Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald, who notes in some cases, third-party security products might be the better fit.

• 5 virtual desktop pitfalls

  Most CIOs have started considering virtual desktop infrastructure and other types of desktop virtualization, but only a minority has reached the deployment stage. (See related story, "As Windows 7 gains steam, VDI set to rise".) Virtual desktops can potentially provide more flexibility for users, make it easier to apply patches and reduce IT help desk calls, but there are still numerous problems that keep desktop pros up at night. Here are five pitfalls to watch out for.

• 2010 tech forecasts: What the accurate analysts predict

  A venerable New Year's tradition in the tech world entails trotting out year-old predictions by analyst shops and laughing at their off-base prognostications. But here's a surprise: The two biggest analyst firms still standing -- Gartner and IDC -- did a pretty good job a year ago forecasting the shape of IT in 2009, as did the smaller Forrester Research and 451 Group.

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  Five ways to improve Web site uptime

  When the site GDGT.com went live this past summer, Ryan Block was expecting a lot of interest.

• CIOs should learn to deal with cash constraint: Gartner

  Having a positive ROI may no longer be enough to get your next major ICT project over the line, according to Gartner.

• Little for CIOs to Get Excited About in Federal Budget

  The federal government’s budget has drawn a mixed response from industry analysts and organisations