10/10/2007 -- CompTIA's Home Technology Integrator (HTI+) certification was officially retired on Sept. 30, although those holding it are considered certified for life. In its place is the new CEA-CompTIA Digital Home Technology Integrator (DHTI+) certification. Not only did "digital" get added to the moniker, but CompTIA partnered with -- and, for the first time ever, ceded first billing to -- the Consumer Electronics Association.

While the HTI+ certification, which went live in 2002, required passing two exams, you need to pass just one exam (HT0-201) to become DHTI+ certified. That exam is weighted between six domains:

• Audio/Video (22 percent)
• Networking (20 percent)
• Documentation and Troubleshooting (18 percent)
• Security and Surveillance (15 percent)
• Home Control Management (15 percent)
• Telephone/VoIP (10 percent)

More information about the DHTI+ certification can be found here.

Technology Pioneer: Tim Ritchey
When James Gosling created Java, it changed a lot of paradigms. What didn't change, however, was the documentation vacuum that so often accompanies any new technology. The buzz about Java was immense, but any posted instructions on using it were sparse (remember, this was in the infancy of the mass Internet). This led to a lot of frustration that could've crippled its adoption.

Enter Tim Ritchey. Though he's not a household name, Ritchey had a direct impact on the adoption of Java and JavaScript. Ritchey locked himself away and began doing everything he could think of with Java with the sole purpose of documenting the results. His Programming with Java!, published in 1995, was the first book about the language and quickly skyrocketed on bestseller lists. While it's unusual for a computer book to sell well, it's very unusual for a programming book to sell well.

In 2003, Ritchey turned his attention to Web-based desktop management and became the CEO and CTO of Paragent (http://www.paragent.com), which -- following the grand tradition of Java and so many related technologies -- recently decided to make its product open source. To quote from the company's blog:

"We have been working on this move for a while now, and there is still a lot more work to get done...We have created a new Web site, and are hosting the project at code.google.com. Part of the process of moving from a closed-source company to open source is going over all the code that we are releasing. This means adding copyright/licensing boilerplate; scrubbing for passwords, e-mails and any other Paragent-specific details; creating documentation for community members; and bringing our current customers up to speed on what this all means...Subscribe to the feed, check out the new site content and download the code!"

I encourage you to do just that. Ritchey was a pioneer who made a difference 12 years ago and -- that remains just as true today.

Book of the Week: 'Self-Defending Networks'
If you're looking for a quick read, Duane De Capite's Self-Defending Networks: The Next Generation of Network Security provides a good overview of how security needs to be woven into every component of the network infrastructure. At just over 200 pages, it hits on every topic you'd expect from a book twice its size and gives you enough information to get you thinking -- and maybe do some further research on your own.