Dell understands some computing environments like healthcare, government and education require integration with specific industry software and additional levels of security will be offered with enhanced security features for industries where the ultimate in data protection is required.

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Duncan said the strongest trends his company sees in these development initiatives are in the growth of service-oriented software architectures, subscription-based software sales and industry-specific standards in areas such as radio frequency tags and cellular telephony standards.

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"Lawyers, advertising agencies and recruiting firms have all developed skills and services specific to the technology industry, " says software entrepreneur Ashok Soota.

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The trick is writing software and algorithms that tackle industry-specific problems, such as flight scheduling that keeps pilots below flying limits and financial models that account for the cost of currency exchanges.

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Nyberg's problem is the one described by Peter Drucker in this issue's cover story: In an era when technology is no longer industry- specific, NCR must compete for its business with just about anyone who makes and peddles software.

FORBES: Too little and probably too late