Emerging technologies are in vogue again in the enterprise while HP's bid for EDS may signal more vendor consolidation.

CIO Insight Identifies the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in the Enterprise
Storage virtualization, application virtualization and unified communications are the top three emerging technologies in the enterprise these days according to a survey of 280 senior IT leaders. Following that we have 802.11n wireless networks, hosted productivity applications such as Google Apps and Office Live, rich internet applications, RFID sensors, Linux on the desktop, social network analysis and finally cloud computing. While the top three technologies show continued interest in brass tack issues the number of Web 2.0 technologies on the list might take some folks by surprise. However, when asked what technologies will contribute most towards increasing revenue, the top three items on the list were service-oriented architectures and rich internet applications. After that, this list includes smart phones, AJAX, application virtualization, storage virtualization, wikis, RFID sensors and social networks.

Hewlett-Packard's Bid for EDS Raises Lots of Questions about Vendor Neutrality
It's no secret that HP has long hankered to increase its presence in the IT services space in order to do battle with IBM so a $13.9 billion bid for EDS should surprise no one. Nonetheless, reactions pro and con are all across the board but the most complicated issues HP might face will probably be in the channel. Elsewhere, HP is said to be working on an outsourcing alliance with British Telecom that could raise additional opportunities and challenges in the IT services space.

Google, Facebook and MySpace Embrace Data Portability
After resisting the concept for years the big players on the Web have finally come around to the idea that the customer owns their own data. The upside of all this is that more people will create applications that leverage the Open Social APIs to create more applications. Even stalwart providers of enterprise application software are starting to see the value of Open Social. Meanwhile, the Yahoo saga continues with Carl Icahn now looking to jumpstart talks with Microsoft by replacing the Yahoo board with candidates of his own choosing.

IT Professionals Starting to Take Hits on Salaries
Showing that nobody is immune even if some skills are allegedly in short supply, IT professionals are starting to take some significant hits in terms of the salaries they can command.

eWeek Study Finds Blackberry is the King of Mobility in the Enterprise
But even as Research in Motion finds itself selling the most used mobile devices in corporations, there appears to be a lot of momentum building for Windows Mobile as we prepare for the next generation of mobility in the enterprise. In the meantime, RIM has a new Blackberry out and has partnered with Microsoft and IBM on services while Verizon says its going with Linux for its next generation of smart phones.

Channel Insider Identifies Top Products in the Channel for 2008
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, as might be expected, did well this year across almost 30 different product categories but what might surprise a lot folks is how well Dell did on the client among a community that is suppose to have little love for the champion of the direct sales model.

Trojan Infects Over Half a Million Machines
With Zombies every where and nobody taking any real responsibility is it little wonder that a Trojan embedded in MP3 files could spread like wild fire. Experts says it's only a matter of time before the next major data breach happens.

Ten IT Problems You May Not Know You Have
The folks at eWeek Labs have come up with a list of potential IT problems that many IT organizations are probably blissfully unaware of until it's too late.