Obama's Other Running Mate: Tech

With donations of $714,108, Microsoft's staff and their families were ranked fourth amongst Obama's top contributors, closely followed by Google. IBM (IBM Quote) was ranked 14th with contributions totaling $415,196.

One part of Obama's campaign that could have massive implications for tech is his plan for electronic health information systems. Obama is seeking to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system by allocating $10 billion a year over five years to build an electronic medical record system.

That's a significant sum, particularly at a time when firms are slowing their IT spending. Specialist healthcare IT companies like Athena Health (ATHN Quote) and Allscripts (MDRX Quote), as well as services giants such as EDS (EDS Quote), now part of Hewlett Packard (HPQ Quote), could all benefit from this strategy.

Deploying electronic medical records is easier said than done. The United Kingdom's National Health Service has struggled with delays, rising costs, and contract disputes in its $20 billion attempt to implement an electronic medical records system.

The U.K.'s problems would pale in comparision with the ambitious, complex effort that would be needed under the Obama administration to implement an electronic medical record system in the U.S., with its myriad private healthcare companies.

Other planks of Obama's technology strategy include making government data easily accessible online, making the research and development tax credit permanent, and extending broadband access to all Americans.

While these moves could all potentially benefit tech companies, there are still some question marks over Obama's broadband strategy. The president-elect's Web site says, somewhat vaguely, that this will be supported through reforms of the Universal Service Fund and new tax and loan incentives, presumably for firms building broadband links.