US firms are looking to offshore centres in an attempt to overcome the worldwide shortage of information technology (IT) workers according to a report from research firm IDC.

However, on closer inspection much of the needs of these firms -- lots of cheap, skilled manpower -- are of the sort that Bermuda is unable to provide simply by virtue of the Island's size and labour situation.

The key seems to be "cheap'' and lots of it -- the kind of brain power provided by India where programming jobs, the churning out of thousands of lines of software code, is flourishing.

But there are other more highly skilled areas mentioned by IDC where Bermuda can succeed in the information technology marketplace. These areas include providing facilities for such services as Internet and software applications hosting. Bermuda firms, ranging from the telecommunication companies to the consultancies, have been gearing up for such an explosion in business, but as yet the IT migration offshore seems to have been slow. In its report, ''Mapping Offshore: A New Competitive Landscape'', IDC predicts the trend will accelerate.

Several factors, including the IT skills shortage, globalisation, and the Internet, are the reasons firms are looking offshore for help with their IT projects, according to IDC. The original impetus was the need to solve the Year 2000 computer glitch.

''Offshore IT ventures have historically been perceived as high-risk gambles whereby cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications create complications that outweigh the cost-effectiveness of the projects,'' IDC stated in the report.

Companies that used offshore providers to help with Y2K compliance found the service they received was "high quality, cost-effective, and fast'', according to IDC. Offshore providers have in turn responded by becoming more sophisticated in the types of services they have on offer.

"New technology development is enabling far more complex IT services and even business functions than ever before to be provided remotely,'' IDC stated.

''Internet services, remote hosting of applications, platform migrations, enterprise resource planning customisation and support, and business process outsourcing are just some of the functions now available from offshore providers.'' IDC predicts individual companies will use a variety of offshore centres rather then outsourcing all their needs to multiple offshore firms located in different regions of the world, mainly India, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Bermuda is well set to serve a high-end niche market and is positioning itself to take advantage of the trend.

The world of technology has given rise to some interesting coinages, some of which should be consigned to the dustbin. For example, surely we can come up with a better coupling than an "information technology'' worker to describe someone who works in the computer industry either fixing hardware or writing code. Does anyone have some better description other than geek or propeller head? One of my favourite words in technology is "robot'' which originated from the Czech word for "work'' and was used by science fiction writer Karel Capek in his 1921 play RUR, an acronym standing for Rossum's Universal Robots.

The word "bug'', as in "computer bug'', also has an interesting origin.

The usage was supposedly coined by Admiral Grace Hopper, the inventor of the COBOL programming language, after a technician fixed a glitch in a computer by pulling an actual insect out of the works.

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (http://www.wkonline.com/cgi-bin/Dict) says the actual incident was recorded in a logbook on September 9, 1947 as "1545 Relay 70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being found''. The logbook with the moth taped into it at one time sat in a display at the US Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC).

However as the dictionary notes, the term "bug'' as applied to technology had been used prior to 1947 to refer to problems in radar electronics during World War II and even earlier, to faults in electrical apparatus.

"Viral marketing'' (getting the customer to do your advertising through appended notes to free e-mail services) and "disintermediation'' (cutting out the middle-man) have become common terms for the online marketplace.

Other more modern coinages include the phrase "Airplane Rule, Banana Problem'' which refers to advice I believe most IT workers and Internet site builders don't follow. The "Airplane Rule'' is a version of "Keep it simple, stupid'' -- the more complex hardware, software or Web design becomes, the greater the risk for failure.

A two-engine plane is likely to have twice as many problems as one with a single engine, according to the lingo, although I think that with a two-engine plane I'm much more likely to keep some sort of flight going.

The "banana problem'' refers to sites where designers make a mess of everything by adding huge amounts of data, logos, moving pictures and sounds so you end up viewing a fun fair rather than getting the information you want.

The "banana'' part refers to a joke about not knowing when to stop while trying to spell the word "banana''.

I hope the following load of language for Internauts (yep, surfers) will never become part of normal speech. Wired magazine listed "It's just one iteration'' -- a reference to making upgrades to software and in remodelling Internet sites -- as one phrase in use.

"How's your bandwidth?'', which means "Are you busy?'', and "I've got to log off now'', as in "I'm hanging up the phone'', are also reportedly in use so keep your circuits open for such gobbledygook.

Now I have to RLH (e-mail sign-off for "Run like hell'') before I get caught by the language police.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at ahmedelamin yhotmail.com or (01133) 467901474.