International medical vendor Mediq was expanding in a big way by acquisition and needed a standard email platform across its business, but the project's cost and the complexity of doing it alone was so daunting that the company called on outside help that costs it less in the long run.

Email managers have a lot at stake. After all, the volume of global electronic messages sent via email dwarfs all other forms of electronic communication, including social networking. Since the inception of electronic mail, which, according to some Internet historians, can be traced to a small mainframe app called 'MAILBOX' from the mid-1960s, human-to-human messages have been created, transmitted and stored in electronic format. But early email administrators could hardly have envisioned the complexity of current email infrastructure and the concomitant maze of technical, security, business and regulatory challenges.

Someday soon the digital economy will be powered by big black boxes, formerly known as datacentres, that are so self-managing they may be partly robotic.

Tech managers need to do a better job developing talent, IT pros say. There's too much judgment and not enough instruction, according to new poll data from Dice.com.

BeyondTrust, a software firm that specializes in identity and access management for the enterprise, has announced the acquisition of eEye Digital Security, which makes products for vulnerability management, patch remediation, malware defense and configuration compliance.

IT as we know it is over.

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.

Much has been said about best practices in IT management to tide over the economic downturn. Under ever-increasing pressure, many CIOs are now looking at IT Infrastructure management as an effective means to drive business transformation. While most organizations are keen to join in, there are some strategies that may be employed to get quick wins.

Online ticket sales site Ticketek was this morning paralysed by demand for tickets to AC/DC’s Black Ice Australian tour, which went on sale this morning at 9am.