By
John Gallant
Network World, 09/24/01
Remember the Conrad Aiken short story "Silent Snow, Secret
Snow"? In it, an emotionally troubled boy retreats into the enveloping whiteness
of his imaginary snowfall. Cut off from the world, wrapped in a delicious
blanket of snow that silences the harsh noises and reality, he can drift off
to sleep and forget the world.
You may be feeling the same way today.
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In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington,
D.C., and Pennsylvania, your mind reels and longs for some quiet. The crisis
threatens to disrupt even further the economy, which was already gyrating,
and it's battering a stock market already beaten down hard from the death
of dot-coms and competitive local exchange carriers.
Layoffs. Bankruptcies. Shutdowns. The snow falls thick and
heavy on the technology world, which only recently basked in the red-hot glow
of its own revolutionary fervor. The snowflakes pile up on empty office buildings
in Silicon Valley, Silicon Gulch in Austin, Texas, and other regions with
their silly, knock-off "Silicon-something-or-other" monikers (Silicon
Sandbar for Cape Cod?).
In the quiet, as the drifts rise, you might want to ease up -
just take it slow for a while. Sure, you're probably working just
as many hours -maybe more, if you can't fill those open job reqs.
But the corporate muckety mucks aren't spouting the e-everything
nonsense they picked up last year in Forbes or Fortune. They're
not blathering on so much about transforming the company into
a Web-telligent powerhouse that seamlessly interconnects with
customers and suppliers, and can turn on a market dime. Your budget
has been pared down. New projects get harder and harder to approve.
So you can pace yourself. Relax. Sleep.
NO! Snap out of it! Wake up! (Slap! Slap!)
Ignore the urge to curl up in the powder. Don't you remember
what happens in the movies? The lost pioneer lays down and fades off, while
a mere 100 yards away, a snug little cabin beckons, with a fire blazing on
the hearth and stew boiling in the pot.
Just beyond you - maybe three months out, maybe a year
- is an economic turnaround. We'll get through all of this, no matter how
bad it seems. In the grand sweep of the business world and your career as
a network professional, this wintry period will be nothing but a blip, a pothole
in the road - bigger or smaller depending on the particular industry with
which you are associated.
Nothing's really changed. The demands on your network and
your applications will only grow. The threats to your security get scarier
and scarier. Workers will become more mobile and tech-savvy. If you slow down
- or sleep - during this slowdown, you will be left behind by rivals who keep
moving.
Case in point: mobility. In this one area, there are incredible
developments to digest - from 3G and 2.5G wireless services to 802.11a and
b wireless LANs, not to mention myriad tools and technologies for handheld-enabling
your applications and securing your airborne data. As with e-business, mobility
presents an amazing opportunity for you to help your company conduct business
better and smarter - to really link IT and business goals. Developing
expertise in this arena, you can envision and champion new services and applications.
Yes, our minds are elsewhere right now. But don't
let the bad news drown out the buzz of new ideas. The network
world continues to change at a rapid clip. There are innovative
technologies and new buzzwords to sort out, emerging opportunities
to dissect, start-up companies with new products and services
that you need to understand. That's what the Buzz Issue is for
- to keep you alert, awake and prepared for anything. Consider
it a hot cup of knowledge java that fights off the biting cold.
For another blast, make plans to attend our Emerging
Technologies conference this fall. There, you'll hear the
latest on the hottest technologies from experts in the field.
Don't be hypnotized by the snowflakes fluttering down in
the chilly air. We've got to stay sharp!
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