2009 seems likely to be a bad year for IT pay, but data from research-firm Computer Economics projects slight growth, with developers leading the pack. The biggest question is, of course, will even this slim growth hold up? Click here for the rest of the article.

Last year, the Test Center built a green PC. We thought it would be interesting and give us a way to examine the claims many manufacturers were making of the first-green-this or most-green-that. Although we realized that there were various definitions of what “green” meant, we thought, from a business perspective, that a system with comparable performance to a typical PC, while drawing less power, would be where most of our readers’ interest lies.

With this goal in mind, we sourced parts and put together a system. Soon after, we published a story on what we did and the lessons learned. Click here for the rest of the article.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) has leaked a memo which tells its solution providers it is committed to its System x family of x86-based servers despite a technology agreement with Lenovo that gave Lenovo rights to build similar servers, but VARs said the company was preaching to the choir.

Instead, solution providers said they have not seen a drop in IBM’s commitment to the product line, especially in the entry-level line where Lenovo also competes, although they have seen moves by IBM that indicate a shift in emphasis in its marketing to that segment of the server market. Click here for the rest of the article.

Corporate IT systems are at risk from the flood of counterfeit electronics entering the UK each year, an industry body has warned.

According to trade body UK Electronics Alliance (UKEA), millions of pirate electronic components ranging from CPUs to memory are in danger of being used by businesses and the public sector. Click here for the rest of the article.

Dell has had an active few months since our previous server snapshot in May 2008. While there are largely incremental changes with regard to tower and rack gear, blades blazed the trail of innovation in the form of the PowerEdge M-series blade family. Rather than taking on IBM (Armonk, N.Y.) and HP (Palo Alto, Calif.), in an across-the-board blade server war, Dell appears to be targeting specific segments of the blade market with its M-series offerings. Click here for the rest of the article

Anyone involved with information technology suffers from buzzword fatigue, and the jargon keeps coming. “IT transformation” has become a popular piece of the techie vernacular, but what it means depends on whom you ask. Query 10 CIOs or IT executives about the basic definition of transformation, and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. Click here for the rest of the article.