It has "shown a vitality with few comparisons in the worldwide information-technology industry and a profitability that is exceptional for the European sector," he told shareholders.

Selection Process Companies increasingly are farming out computer operations to outside contractors, making this practice, known as outsourcing, one of the fastest-growing fields in the information-technology industry.

Downtown provides a true physical community center for the city's rapidly growing information-technology industry.

Mr. Prabhu will be responsible for seeking out investments in the communications and information-technology industries.

An Olivetti statement on Tuesday attributed the decline to "a tightening of operating margins, which, in many ways, is characteristic of the information-technology industry at large."

The resultant tumult, opportunities and risks are being shared by suppliers, customers and investors throughout the information-technology industry.

"We are about to close the books on the most difficult year in the history of the information-technology industry," Mr. Akers said.

"It's a school-to-work model for the information-technology industry," he said.

There's a general sense that downtown is an emerging center of the information-technology industry.

The information-technology industry beckons the young.