Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

It's a New Day, So NewEnterprise Is Here

Welcome to NewEnterprise, the latest in the ever-growing stable of offerings at All Things Digital.

I am Arik Hesseldahl and I’ll be following the world of information technology with an emphasis on the enterprise. This is a deliberately loose definition that encompasses a lot, so I expect I’ll have a lot of room to roam.

Consider for a minute all the different threads that can reasonably fall under the umbrella term “Enterprise IT”: Everyone loves Twitter and Facebook and Google, but when some part of them fails to work right, phrases like “Fail Whale” enter the popular lexicon, and careers, reputations and investments are all at risk.

When they do work, the people who assembled all the hardware and software become the unsung heroes. I’m fascinated by both scenarios, because in their own way they’re both great stories that others can learn from.

You can expect me to pay a great deal of attention to developments in the burgeoning cloud computing industry, and in the traditional enterprise IT business of selling computers and other products and services to large companies.

Beyond that I’ll be looking deeper at the chips and other components inside them, and the companies and people who make them.

And I’ll also be keeping an eye on issues relating to computer and network security, an issue that has suddenly taken on significant heft, as computer worms have evolved from stealing credit card numbers to attacking nuclear plants.

Plus, I’ll be on the lookout for new start-ups aiming to change the way things are done in the workplace.

I’ve covered technology for more than a decade, most recently for Bloomberg Businessweek, and for Forbes.com before that. In those years I’ve learned to treat buzzwords and hype cycles with suspicion and to question the so-called conventional wisdom wherever possible.

So, I promise to tell you what I think is going on in straight and simple terms, and in a jargon-free manner.

In short, I think we’ll have a great deal to talk about. And that’s where you come in. I’d like to hear from you. Give me feedback. Tell me what I’ve missed and where I could do better and also whether or not you agree with what I’m saying, or where you think the next important story is.

Leave a comment here or send an email (Arik@AllThingsD.com).

What I need most are thoughtful ideas and feedback from the people on the front lines at tech companies, and those making tech-related decisions at non-tech companies.

Remember those unsung heroes I mentioned before? They’re you. And NewEnterprise is nothing without you.

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work