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2000 The Year In Review : Brain drain, Linux, wireless, XML, ASP, portals, e-biz boom, e-biz bust, mergers and acquisitions as reported this year in the

January

Andersen Consulting has been unfairly criticized by Ontario's auditor over its delivery of technology to overhaul the province's welfare systems, said the consultant hired by the province to review the project.

"To me, it's grandstanding for the media," said Raymond Hession, CEO of HNA Management Services Inc. of Ottawa, about auditor Eric Peters questioning of Andersen's $575-an-hour top management rate.

"The amount of time spent by senior managers from Andersen at that level is a very small percentage of the overall (project) cost," he said, "and one that's diminishing as the project goes on."

February

Recent departures of senior executives from big enterprise resource planning (ERP) firms have sparked a debate among information technology analysts.

While some say the on-going exodus indicates that ERP itself is a spent force, others categorically reject this as an "over-simplistic" interpretation.

The ERP brain drain they say, is less technology-related and linked more to financial, even cultural issues.

According to Josh Greenbaum, a principal with Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley, Calif., however, said the biggest reason is plain old money.

March

Radical changes sweeping through business are about to kill corporate information technology departments, says an industry analyst.

"IT as we know it as a stand-alone organization won't survive," says Forrester Research Inc. analyst Bobby Cameron. He says CIOs in the not too distant future will retain as little as 15 per cent of their current assets and staff.

In a recent report he called the trends caused by outsourcing and restructuring "The Death of IT"-- which, he adds, will be a good thing.

April

Microsoft Corp.'s legal woes, combined with the growth of Linux, are shaking the company, which is good news for IT managers, says an industry analyst.

"You'll never have a better chance to push hard for deals," says Laura DiDio, server operating systems analyst at Giga Information Group Inc. Ask for steeper discounts, free on-site technical service and support, getting into beta programs and "maybe a little free hardware here and there."

May

Corel's hopes to build a Linux powerhouse with Inprise/Borland have crumbled with both parties walking away from the proposed merger agreement.

In mid-May, Ottawa-based Corel Corp. chairman Michael Cowpland backed out of a keynote speaking engagement at the New Media 2000 trade show in Toronto to announce the end of a plan first hatched on Feb. 7.

At that time, Corel and Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Inprise had outlined one of the biggest Linux-related mergers in the fledgling OS's history.

June

A member of Nunavut's CIO project office is among the winners of 1999's Top 5 Project Leadership awards sponsored by ABT Corp., a New York-based enterprise management solutions vendor. With the award, Nancy Chisholm also becomes the first Canadian recipient in the six-year history of the awards.

Chisholm was contracted by the Office of the Interim Commissioner to recruit and hire for what would become the CIO project office.

July

Canada's IS mega-project outsourcing business is in no- growth mode while the emergence of EDS Systemhouse has further raised the bar in the highly competitive field, according to Toronto-based research firm IDC Canada in its Worldwide Outsourcing Market Forecast and Analysis, 1999-2004.

According to contributing analyst Lars Goransson, with the exception of CGI Group, neither of the other major IS outsourcing players in Canada, including IBM Global Services and EDS recorded strong growth in 1999.

August

Big corporations have begun to embrace Linux, says Russell Pavlicek a Linux technical consultant for Compaq Computer Corp. The self-proclaimed Linux evangelist insists there is still work to be done selling the benefits of the often-feared OS to the masses. He warns of over-selling Linux's attributes and emphasizing advances are still being made month to month.

"Don't say 'Linux will do anything'. That's not quite right. There are limitations."

September

The VAX is dead. In a time when computer life is measured in months, not years, the demise of the over 20 year-old VAX minicomputer should come as no surprise.

Compaq Computer Corp. has announced final orders will be accepted until September 30, 2000, with a final ship date of December 31, 2000.

October

As CGI Group Inc. continues on an aggressive path of acquiring smaller companies, the 24-year-old Montreal-based consulting firm is starting to nudge the big boys in their quest for Canadian marketshare.

Pushing aside American-based heavy hitters like IBM and EDS, the numbers suggest CGI has made major inroads this side of the border.

Even before acquisitions were made over the last few months, IDC Canada analyst Lars Goransson said CGI had a strong foothold based on claims it is the largest independent Canadian-based IT consulting services firm. Its nearest competitors are U.S.-based.

November

Oracle Corp.'s relationship with the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) is worsening according to group members attending the OAUG conference here last month.

OAUG board president Jeremy Young told 4,500 attendees from 41 countries the forum is intended to provide Oracle with feedback on how to improve its applications. But while the convention encouraged independent discussion "unencumbered by concerns of share price or marketing messages," there was a noticeable, awkward shift in terms of the group's relationship with Oracle.

December

Tech support staff are just like children. You've just got to show them who's boss, keep them busy and give them a little treat once in a while.

That may be a slight oversimplification, but a successful IT team needs to know when they're appreciated and to be set boundaries, according to Jacqueline Santos, director of technology solutions for Carswell Thomson Publishing. Santos spoke at the IT Service Management Forum.