More Signs of the IT Apocalypse

David Card | December 09, 2005, 12:24 PM

Uh oh. Last time it was a three-fer that drove irrational IT exuberance: Y2K, ERP, and that thing called the Internet. Now we've got Internet 2.0 and Sarbanes-Oxley. If there's a trifecta on the horizon, better put your money in a little box under your bed.

A new tech sector has sprung up to provide that software. Virtually every computer and software maker is eager to tap one of the few high-growth markets in technology -- the best thing to happen in the sector since the Y2K panic caused thousands of big businesses to remake their computer rooms in 1998 and 1999. Storage companies like EMC Corp. stress the need to save audit-related materials for seven years. Security experts like RSA Security Inc. and Computer Associates International Inc. argue that companies can't prevent deficiencies if they can't pinpoint who is using the systems. A host of private companies have shifted their business models to promote their software as a cure for compliance woes.