Ann Bednarz

The wholesale banking division of Wells Fargo & Co. had so much success with its customer-focused Internet efforts, it decided to replicate the infrastructure internally.

Entrepreneur and corporate strategist Michael Treacy says one-third of IT jobs will be lost to automation over the next decade. An equal number of IT jobs will be outsourced to national or offshore providers.

Retailers have shed their reputation for being technology laggards and are funneling IT dollars to nearly all areas of their businesses, according to one Gartner Inc. analyst.

According to legend, when researchers working out of Building 20 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology needed to run wires between laboratories, they'd grab a broom and drive the handle through the building's interior walls to make the necessary connections.

Amusement park Legoland in Billund, Denmark, has taken the concept of "lost and found" to a new level. If a child gets lost somewhere between Titania's Palace and Safari Park, a parent quickly can home in on the youngster's location using a cell phone and rented ID worn by the child.

Three vendors with roots in business-to-business integration have snapped up data synchronization specialists in recent weeks, highlighting the growing importance of data quality in electronic transactions.

Supply chain vendors have marked the year with a rush of acquisitions, anticipating that customers are ready to act on a pent-up demand for products and services to help eliminate operational waste and improve forecasting abilities.

IBM Corp. has plans to expand its portfolio of WebSphere integration middleware with data synchronization software from Trigo Technologies Inc.