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The quintessential IT professional for the future is a generalist that can find his/her way around anything. He/she is able to work on anything from networks to databases, understands operating systems on a low level, knows how to perform SQL (database) queries and can maintain communication systems. The combination of this knowledge will allow him/her to pick up on new technologies with great ease when ever this is required at any given point. It will also allow this person to be a pillar in their company: The person to talk to about anything that has to do with technology, communication and information flow, the person that intermediates with vendors on behalf of department specialists when hardware/software purchases are done, the person that can speak to -and translate between- technophiles and technophobes.

If this future IT professional cannot do the work him/herself, he/she will be able to find an external professional that can do it and use his/her general knowledge about the subject to make a weighted and sound decision on how to proceed.

This person will be able to find ANYTHING you are looking for and if there is no cookie-cutter answer, they will be able to find an answer by using their network of friends/colleagues and by using the Internet (besides the world wide web, there are 3 other Internet cornerstones that are available: Mail, Usenet and Internet Relay Chat - IRC).

Having a dedicated IT professional can be profitable when your company/department is as small as 10 people, especially if driving your business to the next tech-level is a goal for your business. If you feel uncomfortable about a persons capabilities to deliver what you want, find an IT professional that can help you with the interviewing process. Personally, I have not been very charmed by the efforts of recruiters and the people they deliver, as recruiters focus on the specifications that you have given them. When looking for a generalist, you WILL miss out on some excellent candidates when using a recruiting service as they will often deliver 'specialists' in some of the fields you described, while passing on the all-round 'masters-of-none' you are actually looking for.

In short, the ICT Professional of the future is one-stop-shopping for ALL your ICT needs. The ICT Professional of the future will make it happen, whatever 'it' is.