CIO weekly wrap-up: Cutting IT costs, virtualization and more

In case you missed it, we’ve had a very active discussion on FatWire’s sex-site demo at a Boston Web 2.0 conference. Feel free to add your own views and, while you’re at it, check out our stories and virtualization guide from SearchCIO.com this week:

• Six Sigma, ITIL, other business processes cut IT costs in lean times – Looking to cut IT costs? Who isn’t nowadays? Don’t be too hasty: Business processes such as Lean Six Sigma and ITIL are better ways to reduce your IT costs than just blindly making cuts, say Forrester experts.

• Domestic and offshore outsourcing facts CIOs need to know – Think you’re up on the latest trends in outsourcing, which has seen both highs and lows this past year? Take this outsourcing quiz on offshore and domestic outsourcing to determine your knowledge of the IT outsourcing industry.

• Internet search technology shifts from content to intent – You know how it sometimes seems like search engines can read your mind? There’s a reason for that: Internet search is moving from content to intent, Yahoo says. The company’s new open source development tools allow users and developers to customize how their search results look.

• Data center and desktop virtualization guide for CIOs — Data center virtualization has become fairly widespread, but now focus is shifting to the desktop. In addition to general data center and virtualization trends, execution strategies and tools and technologies, this guide addresses decision criteria for extending virtualization to the desktop; hardware and software options; best practices in deployment; cost analysis and network considerations.