techxny2004

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

Technology TechXNY2004 by David Katz The TechX series of computer conferences and expos provide a valuable window into what is currently hot in the corporate IT world. TechXNY2004, held this month at the Javits Center, showed that outsourcing is still a major focus, that Microsoft is still casting around for markets to supplement their rapidly slipping server and desktop moneymakers, that security and disaster recovery are still important concerns, and that storage has become cheaper than borscht.

Microsoft debuted MSN-TV, an internet media device and service aimed at the computer-phobic. By plugging the device into your TV set, you can do email, web surfing, play Windows Media Player compatible music and video from the internet or from files on your computer, and show photos stored on your computer or directly from your digital camera. You can set up a playlist using this device and have background music playing through your TV (with the attendant power cost of TV vs radio!). Most previous devices that attempted to bring the internet to the computer phobic have not been notably successful, including Microsoft’s own efforts. This one is not likely to fare any better. Since most of the services will be ported to other devices, such as phones, digital TV, DVD players, etc., this latest Microsoft offering appears to be a test bed for these more lucrative markets.

Outsourcing, a focus of last year's TechXNY show (see Outsourcing Knowledge Work, September 2003), is back again as an important component. Software and call center providers from nine different countries exhibited, as well as a number of US companies representing foreign outsourcing firms. Romania, China Argentina and Bulgaria had the largest presence at the show. Despite political railing against the practice, outsourcing continues to grow both in dollar volume and in the number of companies providing services. Romania alone has over 5,000 companies bidding for US software outsourcing, although it has very little presence when it comes to in-country software origination. While India has a very healthy indigenous software industry creating its own products, it is a heavy participant in outsourced call centers. China favors contract programming, while the United Arab Emirates seems to lean more towards call centers.

Training sessions special functions at the Expo included a Windows Server boot camp, a Linux boot camp, Backup and Disaster Recovery Planning for the Enterprise, Digital Home Theater sessions, a Security University program with sessions on hacking and viruses, and an Entrepreneur Pavilion. A special section was devoted to the Digital Home, with a mock apartment set up to showcase products and techniques for integrating computers and electronics into daily living.

The Linux juggernaut continues to roll. Every year more products are built embedding Linux as the operating system, and more software either runs on Linux exclusively or has been ported to Linux. The days of software vendors creating Windows-only products appear to be numbered.

No startling new hardware was on exhibit – this was never the focus of the TechX expos – but the hardware shown here continued the trend towards smaller, faster, better. Storage media have plummeted in price per gigabyte, embedded systems are cheaper and more powerful, and portability is a powerful selling point for many of the products. Even hard drive duplication has gone portable with Logicube's handheld high speed back-up device. Distributed activities also continues to grow, from workplace collaboration systems to distance learning tools.

TechXNY2004 shows an evolutionary change, rather than a revolutionary one, from the prior year, as does the industry as a whole.