What will 2009 bring...a view from our North America Recruitment Team...by Jason Nowell

Like many of us, I have found myself searching high and low for some positive news about the global economy. As the media continues to report on how 2009 is shaping up to be a bumpy ride, I recently came across some interesting articles that speak about what might be in store.

The following article discusses how the Obama administration plans to make major investments in technology as Obama will appoint the first ever “Chief Technology Officer” to tackle some of these tough issues.

"Clearly the government will be a major spender on a variety of projects, including technology," said Scott Kessler, head of Standard & Poor's information-technology unit. "Obama has talked a lot about improving the nation's digital infrastructure."

Some other key initiatives are protecting the openness of the Internet and improving America’s competitiveness. Click here to view the Obama technology plan in more detail.

The article also references some of the challenges our industry is facing in 2009 as some companies will be trimming their technology budgets. While the Nasdaq is down 40% from last year’s high Oracle seems to be especially well positioned for 2009 and beyond.

New reports show Oracle is positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in each of the three new Gartner Magic Quadrants focused on application infrastructure. These three segments for Application Infrastructure include: SOA Composite Application Projects; New Systematic SOA Application Projects; and Back-End Application Integration Projects.




This is especially encouraging because so many deem SOA to be critically important to the future evolution of software. While 2009 promises to be a challenging year I think it’s important to remember how crucial our industry will be to the success and competitiveness of our customers in the 21st century.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle North America Recruitment Team for the past two plus years and can be contacted at jason.nowell@oracle.com