We started the year with the New England Patriots posting an undefeated regular season record of 16 – 0.  It appeared to be conclusive; the Patriots would win the Super Bowl – not so fast – the wild card New York Giants made an unpredictable and disruptive move by narrowly defeating the favored Patriots.  It was inevitable that the Patriots lose at some point in the season, it just happened to be the last and most important game.

In July, the greatest sporting event, the Tour de France departed with no defending champion for the second consecutive year!  Team Astana, with two of the three podium finishers of the 2007 race appeared to have very good odds of gaining one of the top three spots again.  Surprise! Team Astana was banned and Team CSC with Carlos Sastre and company rode to an unpredictable and disruptive victory.  It was inevitable that the Tour de France could not escape controversy.

Disruption and unpredictability seem to be the prevailing themes for 2008. In a year when radical and unexpected occurrences were commonplace, should technology be any different?  Let’s take a look at the big issues that may have shocked us, but in reality, were inevitable...

Oracle’s intent to acquire the e-TEST Suite assets from independent application and network equipment testing vendor Empirix is a complementary move and converts to a win / win for both companies.