silicon valley

Move over Silicon Valley

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Silicon Valley and New England are no longer the fastest-growing regions to attract venture capital funding. There are many new parts of the country vying for the title, including areas of New Mexico, Seattle, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C., according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Last year, investors in New Mexico put $128 million into 21 companies, an increase of 375 percent over the previous year. Los Angeles is a hotbed, too, attracting $1.15 billion into 124 companies.

"Silicon Valley and New England are well-known for their entrepreneurial spirit," Tracy Lefteroff, global managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers venture capital practice, said in a statement. "However, VCs have been encouraged to look to other markets for talented individuals with great ideas and solid business plans, in part because the cost of doing business is less in these alternative markets."

For more on expanding VC markets:
- See this cnet.com article

Silicon Valley losing middle wage jobs

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

The demographics are changing fast in Silicon Valley and this may hit the IT community first. The latest survey shows that the nation's technology heartland is losing its middle-wage work force. A survey by the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network found that from 2002 to 2006, middle-wage jobs fell to 46 percent of the workforce, from a high of 52 percent. The vanishing jobs--those between $30,000 and $80,000 in yearly income--include positions like secretaries, clerks and customer support representatives.

It's hard to say if these jobs are impacted by outsourcing but it is likely that the movement of many tech positions overseas has had some ripple effects. "If you lose the middle, it's harder to support the top," said Doug Henton, an economist at Collaborative Economics, a research and consulting firm in Mountain View, Calif., that helped prepare the annual report. Nevertheless, Silicon Valley continues to stand out because it is a center for technical innovation. It's unlikely, though, that it will be immune from a recession or the subprime mortgage crisis.

For more on Silicon Valley job loss:
- See The New York Times article

ALSO NOTED: The CIO and the customer; Wanted: A CIO for Sacramento County;

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

> The CIO and the customer. Article
> Wanted: A CIO for Sacramento County. Article
> Frank talk from Accenture's CIO. Article
> Is Seattle the next Silicon Valley? Article
> Bigger is not always better. Article
> Tax guide for small businesses. Article

And Finally... Are your workers abusing the Internet? Article

Gender gap in tech salaries

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

A man is likely to make more money than a woman in a technology job. According to a salary survey by career site Dice.com, the average salary last year for male technology professionals was $76,582, and for women, it was $67,507. Dice collected data from more than 19,000 technology professionals who use its site; respondents either filled out an online survey or replied to a request for information sent via email. "We feel comfortable that what we're seeing here is in fact representative of what's happening in the marketplace," said Thomas Silver, senior vice president of marketing at Dice. The gap was also wide in the retail, mail-order and eCommerce industries where men made 15 percent more than women. The survey found the gap narrowest in manufacturing, where men made 6.4 percent more than women.

However, the survey found that the difference shrinks as people work their way up the organizational chain. Female project managers earned $100,436 last year. Men made a little more at $101,569. Overall, Dice said that the average IT salary increased last year by 1.7 percent to $74,570, with pay varying by region. The three highest-paying areas were Silicon Valley, at $93,876; Boston at $83,465; and the Baltimore/Washington area at $81,750. Meanwhile, Detroit ranked at the bottom of 16 metro areas, with an average tech salary of $67,271.

For more on salary disparities:
- See this ComputerWorld article

ALSO NOTED: How many CIOs report to CEOs?; The sensitive CIO;

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Silicon Valley start-ups thrive. Article
> Tech helps conservation. Article
> HP, Oracle team up for midmarket software bundles. Article
> Ubuntu Linux 7.10 gets released. Article
> Rupert Murdoch: Web at the center of innovation. Article

And Finally... "I want to be a star." Article

ALSO NOTED: Flying to the U.K.? Don't plan to bring your PC onboard; Salesforce.com launches $25 million investment fund;

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Flying to the U.K.? Don't plan to bring your PC onboard. Article

> Salesforce.com launches $25 million investment fund. Article

> Former NetApp executive faces jail time, fines for embezzling $90K. Article

> The Silicon Alley vs. Silicon Valley debate continues. Blog

> VCs put their money in virtual world companies. Article

And Finally... how NASA helped jumpstart Silicon Valley. Article

CIOs face credibility challenges

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Patty Azzarello writes in CIOUpdate that the CIO position is often a thankless one, and there are several credibility challenges that CIOs must address--challenges that other C-level execs don't have to tackle. As the former CEO of Euclid, a Silicon Valley software company, and former vice president and general manager of HP OpenView, a $1 billion division of HP, she's got some hard-hitting advice for CIOs.

First off, while few outside of IT understand what CIOs do, your peers won't make the effort to bridge the gap. She advises CIOs to bridge the gap themselves. Secondly, she notes that there is quite a lot of misinformation out there about IT performance. The solution is to communicate service objectives and performance in a way that the business can relate to, (by letting them help define it). Third, there's the issue of spending and the idea that CIOs do too much of it. In executive meetings, the budget for IT often shows up as a single line item and is often very high. In some instances, it's even higher than the company's profit. "It sticks out," she says. The solution: map your budget to key business initiatives, rather than listing a bunch of technology costs.

To read all of her advice:
- see her column in CIOUpdate

ALSO NOTED: Acer to Acquire Gateway for $710M; Silicon Valley: Still best spot for IT jobs;

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Acer to Acquire Gateway for $710M; places Acer in number three spot for PCs. Article

> Silicon Valley: Still best spot for IT jobs. Article

> Yahoo Mail done with beta; better performance, speed now promised. Article

> Tips on making your boss look good. Blog

> India says no to Microsoft Office 2007 standard. Article

And finally... Forget the fake Steve Jobs. Will the fake Larry Ellison please come forward? Blog

ALSO NOTED: Silicon Valley start-up asks FCC to decide on free WiFi; SOA adoption rates exaggerated, report says;

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Silicon Valley start-up asks FCC to decide on free WiFi. Article

> SOA adoption rates exaggerated, report says. Article

> 1.6M records stolen from Monster.com. Article

> What's the first thing CIOs should do after getting the job? Blog

> Windows Home Server coming soon. Article

And finally... Typos and misleading information in spreadsheets can cost millions. Here's a look at the worst of the worst mistakes. Oops. Article

The foreign flavor of today's startups

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:01:38 -0500

A new wave of tech entrepreneurship is taking hold in Silicon Valley and it boasts a characteristic that wasn't part of the initial dot com revolution. According to a new report from Duke University, about 25 percent of today's startups are the brainchild of a foreign-born tech innovator. This new statistic certainly puts a new spin on the ongoing discussion regarding long-term Visas.

For more about the startup tech trend:
- check out the article at the Seattle Times