And within the software sector, security software is expected to actually post double-digit gains this year, as well as next.

UBS, however, has a different assessment on IT spending. In a research note released Monday, it forecasts a 5 percent to 15 percent drop in IT spending in 2008, over last year.

“Developed economies, especially in the United States and Western Europe, will be the worst affected, but emerging regions will not be immune. Europe will experience negative growth in 2009, the United States and Japan will be flat,” Peter Sondergaard, global head of research at Gartner, said in a statement.

Growth in information technology spending next year is expected to go from a modest uptick to a virtual blip, according to a report released Monday by Gartner Research. Meanwhile UBS Securities predicts a more dire outcome.

And here’s why:

UBS expects security software spending to rise 10 percent this year, over the previous year and jump to an additional 15 percent increase next year over the current year.

And 2009 may not fare any better, with UBS analysts noting while it is difficult to access the year at this point in time, the research firm would not be surprised to see IT spending fall by a similar 5 to 15 percent next year.

Two key trends driving spend lower include: 1) revenue pressures, write-offs and cash conservation that are causing financial institutions to look at technology spending for savings as it typically accounts for the largest non-personnel expense on the P&L and 2) people are thinking about buying less yet still being able to do more. Looking out to the December quarter, while the year end is typically the busiest period to close deals with vendors, expectations are that there are not likely to be purchases of any meaningful size in 4Q this year suggesting that the typical Q4 budget flush is unlikely to occur.

Within the hardware sector, UBS expects to see storage demand drop next year, but not to the same degree as servers, which tend to have excess capacity at companies, followed by desktops, which are viewed as purchases that can easily be delayed.

IT spending is expected to grow 2.3 percent next year, a figure that’s down from earlier projections of 5.8 percent growth, according to Gartner. The lowered forecast comes as the markets have been whacked particularly hard over the past two weeks and the credit market has tightened.

The reasoning relates to the economy and layoffs that are expected to ensue across the corporate landscape.

Companies tend to ramp up on security software during times of layoffs, in a move to prevent soon-to-be ex-employees from walking off with corporate secrets and customer lists. Businesses also tend to ramp up on security software during economic downturns to prevent hackers from taking down their operations, notes UBS.

Feeling technical today? I did an exhaustive Q&A with ITBusinessEdge about SOA Governance and the role it plays in their enterprise. For those who don’t already know, “SOA governance” is the set of policies and activities that help to manage an SOA environment.

Typically, rules are not effective until there is a baseline established. This is the same for a kindergarten class or a loosely coupled IT environment. Consider, for example, what happens if you try to build a house without knowing what materials are available — sure walls made of ice would look cool, but can they hold up the roof and not melt under the heat of the sun?

Full article: Governance: A Necessity for Successful SOA

Amazon launches hard disk in the sky

Will Wright on the origins of ‘Spore’

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Photosynthing the nation’s capital

Still having a rotten time with parallel parking? Well, if you have deep pockets–and I mean really deep pockets, have I got the
car for you.

Judge: Copyright owners must consider ‘fair use’

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Today’s stories:

MessageLabs revealed that an intricate flaw in the underlying design of the Internet’s DNS (domain name system) protocol is still vulnerable several weeks after patches were made available. Elinor Mills, who covers security for CNET News, explains what’s going on.

The display ships in September for a street price of $389.99.

(Credit:
NEC)

The 22-inch NEC Multisync EA221WM is the greenest display I've ever encountered. Which isn't saying much, unfortunately.

So, thank you NEC for making me look bad. I guess I didn’t have to mention my new TV, but did so in the interest of full disclosure. Along that track I do own a hybrid
car. Good for me!

NEC is touting this as a premium enterprise display that boasts a 5ms pixel response time, a viewing angle of 176 degrees, and a contrast ratio of 1000:1.

I bought a new LCD TV last week and didn’t once think about how its energy output could affect the environment. I was just focused on getting the best TV I could afford. I’m not even sure if large-screen LCDs can be environmentally compatible. I’ll have to do some research on my new TV when I get home, but at least NEC is attempting to give us options.

1,680×1,050 resolution (WSXGA) 250 cd/m? brightness Four-way adjustable stand (110mm height, tilt, swivel, pivot) Down-firing speakers with headphone jack Four-port USB 2.0 hub HDCP via DVI HDMI-compatible via adapter NaViKey screen-setting adjustment Dynamic Video Mode with five settings Built-in carrying handle Cable-management cover

By running the monitor in NEC’s ECO mode, users are able to lower their power consumption. The monitor also features a built-in carbon footprint meter that’s able to calculate and track the carbon savings of the display.

Other features include the following:

On Wednesday, NEC announced the 22-inch MultiSync EA221WM wide-screen LCD monitor. This is the second monitor in the company’s MultiSync EA series, the first being its 26-inch EA261WM, which was released in June.

(Credit:
Dell Computer)

IDC’s Reinsel also said that system redesigns will be necessary in both PCs and enterprise storage systems to reap the full benefits of SSDs. One of the challenges is that SSDs generally write data more slowly than they read data.

SSDs have received a lot more attention since companies like Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Toshiba have adopted them as alternatives to hard disk drives in laptops. Lesser known is that SSDs are also being deployed by large corporations in server-related applications. Companies like Citibank and American Express peg server performance on IOPS or input/output operations per second where SSDs beat hard disk drives handily.

The IDC report follows other reviews that claim solid state drives (SSDs) are not as power efficient as manufacturers claim–though the power-efficiency testing methodology used by some review sites has been disputed by manufacturers.

IDC tested 2.5-inch 7200 rpm desktop drives against SSDs and found that previous tests comparing SSDs and hard disk drives may be misleading, according to SearchStorage.com, which cited the IDC report.

In related news, The Tech Report also did benchmarking of SSDs and 2.5-inch hard disk drives rated at 5400 and 7200 rpm. Generally, the SSDs were faster (in some cases much faster) but not in every benchmark and not by that much in some benchmarks.

(It should be noted that 4200 rpm hard disk drives are sometimes used in comparative testing because 4200 rpm drives are offered along with SSDs in laptops such as the MacBook Air and Hewlett-Packard 2510p.)

Solid state drive offered by Dell

Solid state drives (SSDs) are considered to be generally more power efficient, faster, and in some respects more reliable than hard disk drives.

Solid state drives are attracting more scrutiny as they increase in capacity and decrease in price. (Dell’s $649 drive is a radical price drop since many drives with half the capacity still sell for more than $700.)

“Many tests have been done comparing 4200 rpm hard drives to SSDs,” said IDC analyst David Reinsel. “But 5400 rpm is now mainstream and even 7200 rpm disks are available.” The IDC report says the performance gap between computers with 7200 rpm 2.5-inch drives and those with SSDs was smaller than expected because the performance of the entire system must be taken into account.

IDC abstract here.

Last year, Denise Blair, the assistant deputy director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles said of Real ID: “We’re certainly not the rabble-rousers out there trying to lead a rebellion” against the law.” In a statement in January, the California DMV said the Department of Homeland Security’s final Real ID regulations will “further strengthen the security of our driver licenses and identification cards.”

“I quite frankly think the Legislature will support this measure, my resolution, because there are too many unanswered questions,” Nava, who represents part of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, said in an interview on Tuesday. Liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and conservative-libertarian ones like Gun Owners of America support his approach, he added.

California State Assembly member Pedro Nava

But the symbolism of the nation’s most populous state deciding–should the Legislature agree with Nava–that one of Homeland Security’s most high-profile initiatives is deeply flawed is undeniable. Because California’s costs will be so high, with one estimate in the neighborhood of $500 million, at a time when the state budget deficit has grown to $16 billion, the legislature now has a strong incentive to find a way to cut costs.

Nava’s bill was introduced on Monday; he predicts committee hearings within a month and a floor vote in the Assembly within two months.

Nava’s legislation isn’t as sweeping as what other states, such as New Hampshire, Montana, and South Carolina, have already enacted. It still would permit California to comply with Real ID while its congressional delegation tries to rewrite the law.

Until now, California has been a lukewarm supporter of the law. Federal regulations creating a uniform national ID card–called Real ID–take effect on May 11. The law promises to cause travel headaches and problems entering federal buildings for residents of states that have not agreed to comply or request an extension. (See our special report from last month.)

(Credit:
Pedro Nava)

California State Assembly member Pedro Nava, the influential Democratic chairman of the transportation committee, has introduced an anti-Real ID resolution. It asks the state’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to “support measures to repeal Real ID.”

(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

Ready to pony up $200,000 for a ride into space? Virgin Galactic unveiled its final design for SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spacecraft for private citizens, at an event Wednesday at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

CNET News.com’s Caroline McCarthy was on hand to witness Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and Scaled Composites CEO Burt Rutan show off images and mockups of the spacecraft.

For a look at Wednesday’s event and to get an idea of what SpaceShipTwo will look like, check out this News.com gallery: Photos: That’s one small step for SpaceShipTwo

The passenger vehicle will be mounted to WhiteKnightTwo, its “mother ship,” which will fly the craft to the upper atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo has a 42-foot wingspan and wide windows so that passengers will have a mega-view of the Earth below. And despite the pricey $200,000 tickets, more than 100 folks have already signed on for the flight, according to Virgin Galactic.

Rentbits lets you search though local housing listings from all over the Web, although only a handful of listing suppliers are included in the crawler right now.

The tool grabs sources from all over the Web with its crawling technology. In most cases I found the results came from ApartmentHunterz.com, but mixed in with those were listings from Sublet.com and CityCribs.com. A lot of it depends on which city you’re looking in, as the service includes some local listing sites. Craigslist however, is nowhere to be found, which is unfortunate.

I’m in the middle of a hunt for a new place to live, and have been using a variety of tools to keep an eye on local openings. The best offense against the horde of competitors seems to be finding those small, obscure listings, as well as utilizing as many sources as possible.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

Also missing is an advanced search. You can set how many rooms you’re looking for and how much you want to pay, but there’s no way to add things you’re looking to be included like hardwood floors, a dishwasher, or laundry room. If these amenities are listed, they’ll be included as part of the search results, but some way to weed out places that don’t have some of these amenities would be useful.

Despite the handy metasearching qualities of Rentbits, I continue to be impressed by another search vertical called HousingMaps. It’s a very simple mashup that uses Craigslist data and keyword search, and combines that with Google Maps. However, the key in any of these services is to mix a great list of sources with a highly customizable search tool–something that Rentbits doesn’t quite have yet.

Contestants have until October 5 to submit news clips three-minutes long or less that must focus on stories largely overlooked or ignored by traditional media. The Pulitzer Center will judge the competition and plans to trim the contestants down to 10 finalists following the initial round.

The winner will receive a $10,000 grant for travel abroad and the opportunity to work with the Pulitzer Center. When the field of contestants gets down to five, they will be given Sony cameras to work with.

Google is working with a titan of traditional journalism to help promote citizen journalism.

YouTube announced Monday that it has partnered with the Pulitzer Center to create a journalism contest designed to unearth the best news videographers.

Though many carriers prorate their ETFs already, they are not required to do so. If the FCC assumes ownership of the fees, such policies would become compulsory for carriers. But in exchange, the new federal oversight would preempt the class action lawsuits.

Carriers have long held that ETFs are a way for them to recoup costs for offering free or heavily discounted new phones to customers. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents carriers in Washington, supports ETFs for the same reason.

Though Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has proposed similar rules in her Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act, the Post reported that she is against FCC oversight, saying the states are the “best watchdogs” for the industry.

The FCC already is negotiating with several carriers on how it would assume federal oversight over EFTs, which currently are subject to state laws. The proposals include capping the fees at an undisclosed amount, requiring carriers to prorate ETFs, and prohibiting the providers from charging an ETF in the first 30 days of a customer’s contract.