About the Authors

George Colombo has a well-deserved reputation for making technology topics accessible to general audiences. His book Sales Force Automation was published in 1993, and many industry observers consider it the starting point for today's multi-billion dollar customer relationship management industry. George has written for a number of business and computer industry publications, including Computer Reseller News, VARBusiness, Selling, and Sales and Marketing Management. George spent two years as the host of TEN-TV's Spotlight Microsoft, a weekly television show for Microsoft developers. George was also the executive producer for Conversations with Industry Innovators, an audio interview series he produced for IBM. He produces podcasts at UltimatePodcasting.com (the companion website for this book) and ProgressiveOrlando.com.

Curtis Franklin, Jr. has been introducing new products and technologies to readers for nearly 20 years. He was the founder of the BYTE Testing Lab for BYTE magazine, and since then has written about leading-edge technologies and their impact on individuals and organizations for publications such as Circuit Cellar INK, VARBusiness, Solutions Integrator, ITWorld.com, HowStuffWorks.com, InternetWeek, InfoWorld, Network World, Secure Enterprise, and Network Computing. As director of labs for Client/Server Labs, he directed testing and analysis of performance, capacity, and capabilities testing for a client list that included IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Intel, Shell Oil, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida. Today, Curtis directs podcasting strategy and production for TechWeb.com, contributes to security coverage as senior technology editor at Network Computing, and edits the Security Channel of TechWeb.com.