VARs Have Long Wish List For New National CTO

President Barack Obama is expected to soon announce his selection for Chief Technology Officer of the U.S., the first time such a role will be filled. The job could have significant implications for the high-tech industry, solution providers say, but warn that it's important to provide the CTO with tools that are up to the task.

Some are even just a bit dubious about the prospect of a nationwide CTO.

"We've got multiple segments of government all with their own CTOs," said Joel Schleicher, CEO of Presidio (VARBusiness 500 rank 69). "Why do we need a CTO of CTOs? It's not like the government has been buying technology without rhyme or reason. I'm not sure a CTO tech czar will add anything without having budget responsibility."

Others argue that the value of having a U.S. CTO is the same as what it would be to a private-sector company: It's a position charged with setting the vision and strategy around key technologies.

"A good CTO has a good mix of both understanding technology and also understanding the market," said Colleen Smith, director of SaaS at Progress Software (2008 VARBusiness vendor 40 list rank 34). "The biggest difference between a CIO and a CTO is that the role of the CTO is to bring the combination of technology and market awareness—the role is more focused on how technology addresses business drivers, where a CIO is usually just focused just on IT."

So it might well be that the CTO will be tied in to figuring out how technology can be factored into any economic stimulus package.

Still others see it as an opportunity to improve the country's technological infrastructure.

Nationwide Broadband

"The U.S. penetration of high-speed, affordable Internet access to the home is woefully inadequate when compared to some other areas of the world," said Bob Cagnazzi, president of BlueWater Communications Group, New York. "Japan and Korea are good examples of affordable, extremely high-speed Internet access provided in a ubiquitous fashion. Long term, this becomes a competitive disadvantage for the U.S. in the global marketplace. I would hope a U.S. CTO would be prepared to address this issue." The position would likely have a big impact on how technology would be positioned within the classroom as well.

"What would it take to have high-speed broadband Internet in every school in the country? How would this change the quality of education, the nature of education, and how can we use this to get kids excited about technology and being a part of this country's future technology?" asked Leah Jamieson, Ph.D., 2007 president of the IEEE and the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University. "This is an opportunity to speak to the younger generation in a way that is very different. I think the opportunity there is huge."

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