January 27, 2003 (Computerworld) --
Memphis has long served as home base to technology innovator and shipping giant FedEx Corp. This fall, the city hopes to become a hotbed of leading-edge technology research and learning, when the four-story, $23 million FedEx Technology Institute opens at the University of Memphis. The vision is for the center, which was pioneered and partially funded by FedEx, to become "the digital epicenter of the Mid-South," says Jim Phillips, chairman and executive director of the institute. On-campus students, professors and scientists, as well as researchers and business executives inside and outside of FedEx, will gain access to "mind-blowing technologies with unbelievable applications in an infinite number of areas," he says. A very distinct benefit for FedEx is that the institute will increase and sharpen the skills of the local IT talent pool, and it will produce graduates right in Memphis who have training and experience that jibe with FedEx's needs. But Phillips is quick to point out that the new center isn't just an adjunct FedEx training facility, nor does FedEx control its research efforts. However, he says, the institute will absolutely attract more students interested in IT to the University of Memphis, which will help FedEx and other companies fulfill their IT needs. The hope is that the training might even attract new business to Memphis. "Absolutely, I can see some really interesting and relevant centers of technology inside the FedEx Institute that relate to FedEx missions," Phillips says. At the institute's Center for Next Generation Transportation, for instance, "we're working to create an invisible plasma on the wing surfaces of airplanes to drive fuel costs down by as much as half," Phillips says. "And in trucking, we're working on a unit that plugs into the truck cab that will help save billions on diesel fuel." Beneficial Partnerships In this climate of layoffs and few new jobs, particularly at the entry level, many large employers are opting out of campus recruiting this year (see story). But a few forward-thinking companies are seeing the wisdom of working with area universities and community colleges to turn their regions into hubs for IT activity. The benefits are plentiful, these companies say: The talent, in effect, comes to you, lowering recruiting costs; you can home-grow talent in lifelong local residents, who tend to be long-term employees; and you can influence school curricula to meet your IT needs. "The majority of companies are not doing what they need to do to develop skills proactively," says Maria Schafer, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. "When things do pick up, they'll be scrambling to find people." She recommends that companies maintain relationships with universities or training
"IT help desk is informed by purchasing managers that IT will be supporting a new expense-reporting process to "increase efficiency..."
Read more...
"Besides the 2,000 Microsoft developers apparently working on Windows 7, the operating system also has 500 program managers. The PMs,..."
Read more... Read more Careers posts or See all Blogs
Netbooks, ultraportables, mini-notebooks — whatever you call them, they've been grabbing headlines. Are they here for the long term or just a flash in the pan?
Computerworld Technology Briefing: An open-source path to optimal virtualization
Download this Technology Briefing now! (Source: Novell/IBM/Intel) Virtualization is about a lot more than just lowering total cost of ownership. In fact users that have taken an open source path to virtualization have realized the additional, mission-critical benefit of markedly reduced IT complexity, as well as a more flexible infrastructure that is easier to change to meet shifting, often unpredictable business requirements. Download this executive briefing
Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You?
Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Download this webcast, free, compliments of Sterling Commerce Go to the webcast
Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility
Download this white paper, free, compliments of Novell! (Source: Novell) The structure of your workgroup environment plays a vital role in enabling your knowledge workers to be productive and collaborate securely. And IT choice and flexibility can mean the difference between reactive spending and proactive investment. Boost your competitive advantage with a workgroup infrastructure that lets you deliver the tools and services that are right for you. Download this white paper to learn how Novell offers a variety of solutions that give you the flexibility to address critical business initiatives and workforce productivity. Download this white paper
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
March 1-3, 2009
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort
Orlando, Florida
Protecting Exchange While it was once just a convenient way for employees to communicate internally, today e-mail systems like Exchange are tightly integrated with other business applications and are one of the primary methods for communicating with current and prospective customers. Protecting Exchange against costly downtime has become a top priority for more IT departments. So how do you ensure that your Exchange environment is always protected? Download this
white paper now!
XenServer FREE trial
Citrix XenServer is the simplest and most effective way to virtualize and provision servers. XenServer combines comprehensive server virtualization capabilities with unparalleled scalability, performance, economics, and ease-of-use. Based on the open source Xen hypervisor, XenServer delivers fast performance, easy management, and advanced features such as live migration.
See your link here
Subscribe to
Computerworld 
Download this Technology Briefing now! 
Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? 
Download this white paper, free, compliments of Novell!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. 
While it was once just a convenient way for employees to communicate internally, today e-mail systems like Exchange are tightly integrated with other business applications and are one of the primary methods for communicating with current and prospective customers. Protecting Exchange against costly downtime has become a top priority for more IT departments. So how do you ensure that your Exchange environment is always protected?
