The beginning of the year is traditionally a time for putting the joys (and frazzlement) of the holiday season behind us, getting back to work, and making an often vain effort to maintain the many resolutions we make on New Years Day.
Sometimes, through whatever miracle or display of fortitude, we maintain these promises all the way to the end of December.
Rare though such occasions are, they do happen, and it is with this optimism that the Canadian networking and telecommunications industries can hopefully make a few of their own. Here, then, are some IT resolutions that everybody in the industry would most likely enjoy seeing maintained.
Spammers: “We resolve to tone down the number of junk e-mails we mercilessly littered millions of inboxes with in 2003.”
Of course, there isn’t any hope of this materializing, but 2004 will only be considered a success on the spam front if somehow its creators are forced to live up to this pledge.
Despite the ready availability of some highly effective spam-filtering tools and the continued improvement of the ability of such products to keep the “Great mortgage rates” and “Viagra miracle worker ” missives as far from our inboxes as possible, the headache has not abated for network managers in the last year. Keeping such e-mails out of, and managing them once they’re in, the system is, needless to say, a money- and time-draining exercise for IT staff.
What we might have to see is tougher laws against spammers brought down by our governments to truly make a dent in junk e-mailers’ efforts. There were some high-profile spammer arrests made in the U.S. during 2003, but a wider, more tangible deterrent is required from Ottawa if spammers are truly going to feel any fear around their actions.
3Com: “We resolve to stay with the enterprise and continue our road back to being a key Cisco competitor.”
3Com’s big story in 2003 was its return to primarily focusing on offering enterprise-class networking equipment. In markets where Cisco Systems has garnered near-monopolistic control in Canada, such as routing and switching, a renewed push from 3Com into its territory was a bright light for those customers who believe in the adage of “competition equals lower prices.”
While 3Com still has a significant hill to climb on its way back to into the hearts and minds of large, business-class clients, it appeared to be taking the right steps last year, including the strides made around the firm’s promising partnership with Huwawei. If the push continues in ’04, network equipment buyers’ choices could legitimately be expanded.
Paul Martin: “I resolve to ensure that IT stays at the forefront of Canada’s efforts in the global economy.”
While the Industry portfolio is far greater in scope than just IT, the sector is nevertheless one of the linchpins in our economic future. Let’s hope our new PM doesn’t lose sight of that and keeps tech on the front burner.