Mark Els

Microsoft Windows administration and Cisco network management have emerged as two of the hottest technology skills predicted for 2006. The latest IT employment and salary research by Robert Half Technology and Foote Partners LLC seeks to pin the most sought-after skills for the coming year

Luanne Albino is bent on creating friendly exchanges and finding quick fixes. Neither is always evident in customer service, but Albino has determined that an amiable communications environment and efficient problem resolution are two key business objectives in improving her real estate call centre.

Microsoft Windows administration and Cisco network management have emerged as two of the hottest technology skills predicted for 2006. The latest IT employment and salary research by Robert Half Technology and Foote Partners LLC seeks to pin the most sought-after skills for this year

Sang Mah sees her cell phone from a different angle these days. As the new president of the Wireless Innovation Network of BC (WINBC), Mah lives at the forefront of advances in technology. She's also been digging up some evocative anecdotes on Canadian wireless history.

For anything more than marginal cost savings, a large enterprise might consider that printers and other imaging paraphernalia deserve better than peripheral treatment. A leading natural gas producer in Alberta is saving $2 million annually by better managing its fleet of printers, photocopiers and fax machines, according to Michael Traynor, president of ComPrint Solutions Ltd.

The U.S. Department of State has selected a Canadian company to work on a pilot project for Homeland Security, aimed at meeting the requirements of a presidential directive. Cryptography specialist WinMagic Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., was chosen for its SecureDoc encryption software that enables full-disk encryption at pre-boot level, which can be integrated with USB identification tokens and authentication smart cards.

Enterprises with high-level security concerns should ban the use of Skype from the corporate environment, as they would any other peer-to-peer application, according to Info-Tech Research Group Inc.

Microsoft Canada Co. is showing no signs of relenting in its fight against piracy at the Federal Court of Canada, suing seven Ontario resellers for copyright and trademark infringement. The Mississauga-based company has announced that Microsoft Corp. filed lawsuits against the seven PC system builders for allegedly selling unlicensed, pre-installed copies of its software on computers.