The global recession took a major toll on enterprise software vendors and their customers in 2009, leading to flagging license sales and tight IT budgets. But the economy also prompted a series of policy changes and concessions from vendors that could make users' lives easier in the long run, especially if they become broader trends.

Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said the economy has already hit rock bottom and now that it's emerging from the recessionary mire, companies are about to take the lid off of IT budgets.

Some sectors in the electronics industry are showing signs of recovery, but the damage caused by the recession may be felt for a few years, Gartner said in a study released on Monday.

Information technology consultant Dena L. Smith lays out a hypothetical dilemma: Should an IT department hire a more expensive vendor because the vendor shares its own company's ethics standards, or should it go with a lower-cost provider that doesn't?

The PC market is showing signs of recovery, with the freefall of PC shipments skidding to a halt thanks to competitive PC prices and a continued interest in netbooks, Gartner said on Thursday

The current recession is almost the opposite of the 2001 downturn for Cisco Systems because of permanent cost-cutting and the company's move into new technologies and markets, Chairman and CEO John Chambers said Monday.

After the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, mothballed data centers operated by bankrupt companies such as Exodus and PSINet were the most visible signs of the IT-driven downturn. Today, despite the worst recession in 50 years, Web hosting is one of the few thriving segments of the IT industry.

The severance package IBM is expected to give employees selected for a layoff includes a lump-sum severance payment, as well as counseling and financial planning services.

You think your business has it rough? The people of Battlestar Galactica have lived through a recession you wouldn't believe. With dwindling resources, a skeleton crew, enemies constantly lurking out of view, and a pervasive threat of annihilation, Admiral Adama navigates the vast unknown. Like any leader, he makes his share of mistakes--sometimes with devastating consequences. But regardless of the fate of that ragtag fleet, the tale of Galactica is rife with lessons that can benefit any business leader.