Takeaway of the week is it's still a "New York State of Mind" when it comes to the place to be for tech startups. In other news, well, let's just say the recent worldwide software market forecast wasn't as rosy as things are these days for techies looking for jobs in the Big Apple.
The Big Tech Apple
Hey, did you hear the one about New York being the hot destination for tech startups these days?If you need more proof, check out the recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, which highlights a few of the new tech players in the Big Apple.
While Silicon Valley still ranks as the epicenter of the tech scene, New York's buzz continues to build and build, leaving experts in the field to argue over whether the trend will continue to grow — or even last long.
Company honchos are uprooting their firms to put roots in the most expensive city in the United States just to be near the new tech heartbeat and have access to a burgeoning talent base and, unfortunately, deal with the higher tax rates, telecom bills and payroll taxes.
For those who have made the move, many are already starting to see the payoff.
Some are even doing the uprooting from California to come over to the other coast.
"It moves you out of your self-contained little bubble and helps you avoid group think," said Aaron Harris, who recently moved his startup, Tutorspree, to New York's Tribeca area.
Gloomy IT Market Forecast
It's cloudy with not much sunshine: Such is the dour report for the tech market based on current conditions across the globe.That's the findings in a nutshell for the sector pulled out of the latest Worldwide Software Market Forecaster conducted by IDC, as reported in CIO-Asia.com. The worldwide software market, producer of nearly double-digit growth in 2011, isn't expected to continue such growth, the study indicates.
"IDC expects the overall software market to return to more conservative growth in the years to come," said Patrick Melgarejo, director of the firm's software trackers.
The fastest growing software applications, according to the survey of more than 1,000 software vendors in 49 countries, are expected to be enterprise social software, virtual machine software and team collaborative applications.
Forecasters expect to see a slowdown especially in the Asia/Pacific and Japan regions, which experienced the highest rate of growth among all regions last year. North America and Latin America are expected to remain relatively stable within the next few years, according to study estimates.
The news wasn't much better for the storage market.
IDC's Worldwide Storage Software QView, released this month, showed that market did have a year-over-year increase, but the growth rate has slowed down to levels not seen since 2009.
Data and Value the Focus of Healthcare IT
IT investments made by healthcare organizations are driven by accountability and value-driven data quality, a new report suggests.More healthcare providers are seeking IT tools to help implement a purchasing model based on both cost and quality of care, while others are in need of slightly different tools to see just what data will help them.
That's the gist of the recent Forbes Insights report titled, "Getting From Volume to Value in Health Care: Balancing Challenges & Opportunities," discussed in a recent InformationWeek article.
The value-based purchasing model for hospitals and other healthcare organizations, in which healthcare services hold providers accountable for both cost and quality of care, is becoming more common today, the article notes.
With that in mind, the role played by healthcare IT — and the staff running the systems — becomes more critical in both financial and clinical preparedness.
