Life in the IT fun house For IT professionals, working in IT during the past few years has been a frightening whiplash tour through a carnival fun house. In the foyer of this (not so fun) fun house -- known as the 2001 Room -- the gag is simple: A rug is pulled out from under those fortunate enough to be standing, while others tumble down a dark chute, passing flashing neon signs that read layoffs and consolidation. In the background, the cacophony of late-night conference calls to Bangalore blares over loudspeakers.&lt;p&gt;ADVERTISEMENT&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.ifw.general/sbcspotrssfeed;sz=1x1;ord=200301151450?" width="1" height="1" border="0"/&gt;&lt;a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;11714255;9651165;g?http://infoworld.com/spotlights/sbc/main.html?lpid0101035400730403idlp"&gt;SBC Datacomm White Paper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Find out how Crate   Barrel expects to save \$180,000 by moving to VoIP, compared to a traditional PBX.&lt;/p&gt;