Fred O'Connor

A recent coding competition in the Boston area brought together IT professionals, medical workers and others with an interest in health IT to show how data analytics can improve health care.

The Health 2.0 Boston Code-a-thon, held May 11 and 12, featured approximately 85 participants who formed groups to create, in approximately one day, an application that turns large amounts of health care data into useful information for patients and care providers.

Next-generation CIOs will have to consider how technology affects other corporate departments as well as handle traditional IT management functions, especially those accompanying mobile device management and greater data analysis, according to panelists who spoke at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Consumer mobile devices have entered the enterprise and CIOs need to support them while considering their security risks, said speakers who participated in a Tuesday discussion on the challenges facing future CIOs.

Businesses can now remotely control enterprise mobile applications developed for Apple's mobile platform with the latest version of Soti's MobiControl Software Developer Kit for iOS, announced Tuesday.

According to the Ontario, Canada, company, which specializes in software for managing and tracking devices, its SDK is the first to allow this function for iOS.

An online education organization backed and funded by MIT and Harvard University will use open-source technology to offer free classes over the Internet, the two schools announced Wednesday at a press conference.

Admission will be open to anyone in the world who is connected to the Web, and classes will start in the fall, they said. Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are investing a combined US$60 million in the collaboration.

Jack Tramiel, a pioneer in the computing industry and founder of Commodore, died on Sunday at age 83, his son Leonard Tramiel confirmed Monday.

Tramiel's Commodore International in 1982 released the Commodore 64, a home computer that became one of the most popular models of all time, selling close to 17 million units between 1982 and 1994.

Whether companies require specific tech talent for a project or need extra help meeting a business uptick brought by the recovering economy, corporate IT departments depend on the contract workforce.

For CIOs, temporary staff offer the experience required to complete a specific task without the need, and cost, of permanently keeping them on the payroll. IT staffing firms see contractors as helping companies stay flexible and meeting the work peaks and lulls that accompany a recovering economy. In either scenario, contractors have been, and will continue to be, in demand for enterprise IT, according to CIOs and hiring experts.

For Gregg Leach, CFO of aircraft overhaul and repair business Able Engineering, the need to involve the IT department on major projects was never questioned. "I've got more background in IT than I do in finance," said the finance chief, whose previous work experience included serving as the CIO of a health care company, and IT positions with finance components.

From that first-hand experience, then, he knew that a close relationship with IT in finance projects with broad company implications "was critical for our decision making."

IT workers who have experience with five popular technologies may see significant salary increases this year, according to a study from IT staffing firm Bluewolf.

Companies may boost wages from 2011 levels for workers with backgrounds in mobile application and software development, cloud computing, data analysis and user interface design, according to the study.

Companies long have grappled with glitches in their ERP (enterprise resource planning) system implementations -- a situation that the recent botched-rollout record suggests won't get better any time soon. While ERP projects go awry for many reasons, each incident reveals its own set of troublesome repercussions, financial and otherwise.

IT, of course, is the first to get the call for repairs. But the CFO is rarely far behind.

Intel warned on Monday that fourth-quarter revenue will be lower than anticipated due to a hard-drive shortage. The chip maker now anticipates quarterly revenue of US$13.7 billion, down from a previous n estimate of $14.7 billion.

The entire computer industry has been grappling with reduced hard-drive supplies after recent flooding in Thailand damaged the factories that produce the components. Intel noted this in a news release, saying that while PC sales should be up in the fourth quarter, PC manufacturers are cutting back on microprocessor orders due to lack of hard-disk drives. The company predicted that this shortage would last into the first quarter of fiscal 2013 before production levels return to normal in the second half of 2013, spurring increased demand for its processors.

Cloud computing consulting firm GlobalOne Wednesday released the first of three CRM packages that aim to help financial services firms and banks transition to cloud computing with Salesforce.com.

G1 Asset Management takes software systems commonly used in asset management, such as Albridge, and adds Salesforce.com elements like user interfaces, workflows and libraries, said CTO Geoff Merrick. Next, social marketing components and a mobile element are added, he said. While these types of vertical technology packages are common, Merrick noted that GlobalOne's offering stands out because it is customized for the finance industry and gets users into on-demand computing quickly.

The disturbing rash of data breaches in recent years has demonstrated that data security -- always a huge concern of CFOs -- affects every company and its customers. Entertainment sites, clothing retailers, grocers, financial services institutions are only the latest and most obvious of organizations to have had IT systems compromised, or sensitive information stolen.

Traditionally, of course, data protection falls mainly in the IT department's domain. But while CIOs may manage the Wi-Fi networks and servers that criminals target, CFOs approve IT spending, and are often responsible for handling repercussions of a breach. That suggests that they should have a lot to say about data security planning, too, to go with their deep involvement in dealing with the fallout -- from notifying the parties affected by breaches, to reporting on the financial consequences.