Hadoop is coming out of the shadows and into production in IT shops that are drawn to its ability to store, process and analyze extremely large volumes of data. But the relative newness of the open-source platform and a shortage of experienced Hadoop talent [link to sidebar TK] pose technical challenges that enterprise IT teams need to address.

News on financial reports and awards

At Airlie Gardens in this coastal North Carolina city, 400-year-old live oaks nestle next to natural wetlands and cutting-edge technology. In the guard house a quarter mile from Airlie's entrance, a monitor displays high-definition images of the security gate captured by a remote camera.

In yet another sign that growing revenues are reshaping the vendor outlook in the network management sector, Gartner recently named vendor Silver Peak one of the leaders in its magic quadrant for the WAN optimization market.

Apple became the biggest buyer of semiconductors last year, ahead of Samsung Electronics and Hewlett-Packard, according to Gartner.

To be successful in a difficult economy, companies should continue to focus on their business strategy and on differentiating themselves from rivals, Gartner has advised.

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

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.

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.

In a 2009 Gartner survey of Asia-Pacific organisations about their software spending intentions, positive outlook increasingly varied by country, and was not only dominated by emerging countries such as China and India. Mature countries such as Australia and Singapore are not conservative in their software budget plan.

As the curtain lifts on 2010, issues around adopting and migrating to the cloud continue to hinder take-up. For every customer diving in the deep end, there are many organisations sitting on the edge of the pool, wary of dipping their toes in.

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.

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.