Vasconi also spends a good deal of time evaluating emerging technologies and capacity planning. The capacity planning, in particular, is a “never-ending struggle” to commit just the right amount of resources to keep customers happy without overspending, he says. He has been a champion of industry standards, especially the use of XML in messaging and application services. At the end of the day, “the only thing, the common theme that keeps me up [at night] would be, ‘Am I missing something?’ ” Vasconi says. Vasconi says emerging technology poses a unique situation for CTOs “finding that balance between wanting and literally needing to stay current on technology.” Luckily, there is a silver lining: getting first crack at shiny new tech tools. “That’s the fun part of the job,” Vasconi says. “For those of us who love technology and thus migrated into this profession; that’s absolutely one of the perks. You get to see so much new technology, a lot of which isn’t necessarily applicable to the job you’re trying to solve, but it’s pretty cool.” — S.S. Return to InfoWorld’s 25 Most Influential CTOs 2002 Technology Industry