Suzanne Gaspar

As companies hunker down to business, many IT executives continue to rely on analyst firms for finding ways to squeeze more out of their IT investments.

When Rich Houle joined Northern Trust Corp. in 2001, application development projects were dropping on his infrastructure team like marbles hitting a tile floor. Application teams had his IT staff scrambling to meet requests to build out the network to support their work.

Jim Gallagher, telecommunications manager for Framingham State College in Massachusetts, is learning his lessons in wireless LAN deployment.

Luring IT professionals to Dover, Del., is like dropping a baited line in a well-stocked pond. The state of Delaware's IT department in Dover is netting an average of 100 resumes per job, although a year ago 25 was a big catch.

In late January, an avalanche of 15,000 spam e-mails took down a midlevel Simple Mail Transfer Protocol gateway server at a major credit information company, bringing e-mail to a grinding halt for 10,000 end users in 35 countries.

After working more than 30 years in IT, Gregg Saffer knows the rigours of the pager. He once had to cancel a Disney vacation after he got called in for the December holiday break to implement changes to the payroll system.

Network World (U.S.) asked several readers to share examples of what makes their managers special. Some of the common traits that were identified include caring, resourcefulness and flexibility.

Far more than simply providing social interaction, business networking helps IT professionals build reciprocal relationships for sharing knowledge and skills.