H-1B visas were originally intended to allow US companies to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering and other fields when such workers were in short supply in America. However, recent data released by the US government show that offshore outsourcing firms – particularly from India – dominate the list of companies awarded H-1B visas in 2007.

Infosys Technologies and Wipro, both based in Bangalore, India, top the list of visa beneficiaries in 2007, with 4,559 and 2,567 approved visa petitions, respectively, according to data from the US Citizenship & Immigration Services. Overall, six of the top 10 visa recipients in 2007 are based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions and UST Global, are headquartered in the US but have most of their operations in India. Microsoft and Intel are the only two traditional US tech companies among the top 10. Microsoft received 959 visa petition approvals, or one fifth as many as Infosys, while Intel received 369. More...

New research from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company, reveals that the organizations getting the best security performance include some managed security services as part of their defense. The new report, "Best Practices in Choosing and Consuming Managed Security Services," provides insight gleaned from close to 200 survey respondents, supplemented with in-depth interviews with veteran consumers of managed security services.

"These findings are significant because they reflect a shift in market awareness. Often organizations have been turning to managed security services to help with compliance issues, or reduce the management associated with maintaining ongoing security or to reduce their costs," said Carol Baroudi, research director in the IT Security practice, Aberdeen. "The market is realizing that some kinds of security are better delivered from a managed security services provider (MSSP) that has visibility into security events across networks and across a spectrum of customers, allowing for earlier detection and earlier prevention. Additionally, the availability of certain kinds of security services on demand makes stronger security affordable to organizations that may not have the resources to deploy it in-house." More...