eWeek articles from July 2003

eWeek archives from July 2003

Linux Plays Starring Role in 'Sinbad'.
July 1, 2003... The newest animated movie from DreamWorks studios and which opens to audiences this week, "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," is the first film ever created entirely on Linux. Mike Balma, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Linux business strategist,...

AOL Adds VeriSign Encryption to IM.(Enterprise AIM Services 5.2)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... America Online Inc. announced Monday a new version of its Enterprise AIM Services offering that includes encryption technology from VeriSign Inc. Encryption within the 5.2 version of AIM is enabled by VeriSign digital certificates obtained...

Microsoft Throws Hat Into ID Management Ring.(Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003)
July 1, 2003... Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday plans to announce its new Identity Integration Server 2003, a stand-alone identity management server meant for large enterprise deployments. The new offering is Microsoft's first real jump into the ID management...

IDS Scheer SME Acquires A.S. Plus.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Business process modeling software maker IDS Scheer Inc. announced Tuesday that subsidiary IDS Scheer Small and Medium Enterprises has acquired Accounting Solutions Plus Inc. A Harrisburg, Pa.-based consulting firm, A.S. Plus specializes in...

Stratus Appoints New CEO.(David Laurello)
July 1, 2003... Stratus Technologies Inc. has appointed a new chief executive as it prepares to expand the verticals it serves and to bring the company public. David Laurello, an eight-year Stratus veteran who was appointed president and chief operating...

PeopleSoft's Board Shoots Down Oracle--Again.
July 1, 2003... PeopleSoft Inc.'s board of directors on Tuesday again snubbed Oracle Corp.'s attempt to take it over, releasing a letter to shareholders that called Oracle's tender offer an underbid and a business destabilizer. Oracle's attempted hostile...

Mozilla 1.4's Key Improvements Out of Sight.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2003... The newest release of Mozilla, 1.4, offers increased usability and customization options to the popular open source Web browser. However, this release also signifies more because it is most likely the last Mozilla release we'll see: The Mozilla...

Microsoft Taps New Open-Source, Linux Strategist.(Martin Taylor)
July 1, 2003... Microsoft Corp. is getting a new open-source and Linux strategist as the end-of-financial-year staff shuffle continues. Peter Houston, who as the senior director of Microsoft's Windows Server Strategies has had to defend and explain the...

Wyse Expands Server Optimization Software.(Wyse Technology's Expedian 2.0)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Wyse Technology Inc. is expanding the capabilities of its Expedian server optimization software designed to increase the performance of applications by as much as 100 percent in a server-centric computing environment. Expedian 1.5,...

OSDL Brings Torvalds' Right-Hand Man on Board.(Andrew Morton)
July 1, 2003... Just weeks after scooping up Linux Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system, as its first full-time fellow, the Open Source Development Lab is bringing his right-hand man Andrew Morton on board as well. The OSDL, a global...

'Something Special in the Air'? No More.
July 1, 2003... This was going to be a complicated set of itineraries. *A round-trip N.Y. to Chicago for my son, Zachary, leaving in June and coming back at the end of July. *A round-trip to Chicago for myself, leaving in late July and returning on...

Grid Computing Edges Into the Mainstream.(Globus Project's Globus Toolkit 3.0)
July 2, 2003... The Globus Project Tuesday announced the official release of the Globus Toolkit 3.0 (GT3), which melds the worlds of grid computing and Web services and helps bring grid computing into more mainstream, commercial applications. Globus...

PeopleSoft Says Q2 Was Strong.(2003 )
July 2, 2003... PeopleSoft Inc. this morning announced better than expected preliminary financial results for the second quarter, adding resonance to the enterprise software maker's stance that Oracle Corp.'s hostile takeover bid undervalues the company. ...

Data Management Duo Keeping Data Real.(Lakeview Technology's OmniReplicator 4.0 and OuterBay Technologies Application Data Management Suite)
July 2, 2003... Lakeview Technology Inc. and OuterBay Technologies are coming out with ways to juggle data replication and management while retaining real-time access to that data. Lakeview, of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., is getting ready to roll out...

Microsoft, Korean Firms Launch .NET Solutions Providers Association.
July 2, 2003... Seeking to enhance its position in the enterprise software market, Microsoft Korea has teamed up with 40 local IT firms, including solutions providers, system integrators and hardware companies, to etablish a .NET solutions providers...

Neoware Buys Pericom for $9.8 Million.
July 2, 2003... Neoware Systems Inc. this week expanded the reach of its thin client software into legacy applications with its $9.8 million acquisition of Pericom Software from Pericom Holdings PLC. The acquisition comes as Neoware and rival Wyse...

Microsoft Will Drive iSCSI Closer.(iSCSI driver for Windows Server 2003)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... On Monday, the road to iSCSI deployment got a bit smoother when Microsoft released its iSCSI driver for Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional . The release of a driver is seldom front-page news, but in this case,...

Web Site Warning: Defacement Contest Sunday.(July 6, 2003)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2003... Crackers and low-level online vandals are planning some post-Independence Day fireworks this weekend with a so-called Web site defacement challenge. The goal is for participants to deface as many sites as possible within the six-hour time...

HP Aims New Desktop PC at SMBs.(HP Compaq Business Desktop d220 Microtower,)
July 2, 2003... Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday rolled out a desktop PC aimed at small and mid-sized businesses. The HP Compaq Business Desktop d220 Microtower, powered by Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 or Celeron chips, can come customized or preconfigured,...

Tamino XML Server Searches Non-XML Docs.(Software AG's Tamino XML Server 4.1.4)
July 2, 2003... Software AG Inc. is releasing an upgrade of its Tamino XML Server that includes a new indexing tool for metadata searches on non-XML documents such as Microsoft Corp. Word and Sun Microsystems Inc. StarOffice files, the company announced...

BMC, EMC Team on Storage Management.
July 2, 2003... Systems management vendor BMC Software Inc. will resell EMC Corp.'s storage management software, and EMC has acquired the rights to BMC's defunct Patrol Storage Manager, officials from both companies said Wednesday. The deal, long rumored,...

The Heat Is On Oracle.
July 2, 2003... Oracle Corp. is facing new anti-trust obstacles and a potentially bigger price tag in its bid to buy enterprise software maker PeopleSoft Inc. A group of state attorneys general have formed a working group to look at the antitrust issues...

McBusted.
July 2, 2003... The most important shareholders' meeting in McDonald's history was about to start. It was early May 2003 and several hundred stockholders and analysts were wedged into the Hyatt Lodge ballroom on the sprawling McDonald's Oak Brook, Ill.,...

McDonald's Technology Trials.
July 2, 2003... At a busy McDonald's on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, Internet access comes free with a Value Meal purchase. Or, at least, the promise of it does. The dining room at this high-volume restaurant, just across the street from Grand Central...

Pervasive Pairs Search Software, Embedded Database.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2003... Pervasive Software Inc. is pairing full-text search software with its Pervasive.SQL embedded database. The company is expected to announce on Monday that it has licensed the technology from Abacus Research A.G., of St. Gallen, Switzerland....

The Dilemma of Ko Hyun-jin.(former CEO of Microsoft Korea)
July 3, 2003... Ko Hyun-jin, who previously served as the CEO of Microsoft Korea, recently became the president of the Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA). KIPA is a government agency that promotes the development of the Korean software industry and...

WebMethods Reports Lowered 1Q Earnings.(2003)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2003... Citing weakness in its North American commercial business, integration software maker webMethods Inc. announced disappointing preliminary first-quarter earnings this morning. The Fairfax, Va., company expects to report greater-than-expected...

Oracle Faces Decision.
July 7, 2003... Oracle Corp. is feeling intensifying pressure in its quest for PeopleSoft Inc. Late last week, sources confirmed that 15 states have formed a working group to look at the antitrust issues involved in the proposed takeover. While the...

Tool Modifies Reports Via Web.(Cognos' ReportNet)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Cognos Inc. plans to launch a reporting application in the fall that it expects will solve enterprises' concerns about usability and having to deploy multiple products from multiple vendors. The Web-based ReportNet tool supports not only...

Lakeview, OuterBay Forge Data Management Tools.(Lakeview Technology's OmniReplicator 4.0 and OuterBay Technologies' Application Data Management Suite)
July 7, 2003... Lakeview Technology Inc. and OuterBay Technologies are each readying technologies to juggle data replication and management while retaining real-time access to the data. Lakeview, of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., next month will roll out...

Linux Goes to the Movies.
July 7, 2003... While the Linux operating system has transformed the digital animation movie business over the past two years and now plays a mission critical role in those enterprises, the major Linux vendors are gearing up to address the next set of...

Oracle Extends Tender Offer for PeopleSoft.
July 7, 2003... The saga continues. Oracle Corp. announced this morning that it has extended its tender offer to acquire rival PeopleSoft Inc. to midnight Friday, July 18. Oracle's initial purchase offer, logged June 9, expired today. As of the...

Microsoft Readies SBS 2003.(Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Microsoft Corp. last week made available the release candidate for its Windows Small Business Server 2003, the latest product in the Windows Server 2003 family headed for release. The Redmond, Wash., company also introduced a new standard...

Defacement Contest Ends With a Twist.(Sunday, July 6, 2003 counterattack)
July 7, 2003... Rather than spending Sunday defacing Web pages--which, let's admit it, has become a bit passe--some crackers decided instead to disrupt a planned defacement contest by knocking offline the Web site where competitors were supposed to record...

Dell Rides Wireless Wave.
July 7, 2003... For a company that got into the handheld space late in the game, Dell Computer Corp. is juggling a lot of options for giving customers remote access to back-end data on handhelds. "Clearly, wireless messaging as it relates to a server is a...

ISS Lists Security Risks.(Internet Security Systems Inc. )
July 7, 2003... Internet Security Systems Inc. last week unveiled its first Catastrophic Risk Index, a compilation of the 31 most serious current vulnerabilities and attacks. The index is designed to give administrators a constantly updated...

Big, Fault-Tolerant Servers Meet Linux.(NEC Solutions America Express5800/320La Technologies)
July 7, 2003... NEC Solutions America Inc. and Stratus Technologies Inc. are looking to Linux as a way to expand the reach of their respective fault-tolerant servers. To date, telecommunications companies and other enterprises have deployed the...

Combating Spam.
July 7, 2003... In his open e-mail letter "towards a spam-free Future," Bill Gates begins his remarks with the development of e-mail in the early 1970s. But when was the first spam message? For that answer, you'd have to turn to Brad Templeton's Home Page...

.Net: 3 Years of the 'Vision' Thing.(Column)
July 7, 2003... The end of last month marked the third anniversary of Microsoft's launch of its .Net strategy, which executives such as Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said at the time was a "bet-the-company thing." But three years later,...

CoCreate, IBM Automate Product Design.(CoCreate's OneSpace.net and IBM's Catia 5.0 and Smarteam for PLM Express plan)
July 7, 2003... IBM and CoCreate Software Inc. are each readying new product lifecycle management (PLM) software to ease the creation of manufactured products by small and midsized workgroups and companies. CoCreate, of Fort Collins, Colo., on Tuesday will...

Casting a Wider .Net.(Microsoft's strategy according to Neil Charney of Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group)(Interview)
July 7, 2003... On June 22, 2000, Microsoft Corp. announced a new strategy and vision for the company known as .Net, which it claimed would completely change the way companies use the Internet and transform Microsoft's business. Neil Charney, the director of...

Digital Remedy.(Chain Pharmacy Advisory Council uses SureScripts Messenger Services to help automate supply chain)
July 7, 2003... Automating the supply chain has been an ongoing effort in areas such as manufacturing. But with the help of a new, dedicated transaction network, supply chain management is reaching a new market: drug prescription. Executives from a dozen...

iAnywhere Revs Wireless Tools.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Sybase Inc. subsidiary iAnywhere Solutions Inc. last week introduced a family of wireless e-mail products for desktop and server environments. The Pylon family leverages technology Sybase gained when it acquired wireless communications...

Hiring on the Fly.(Northrop Grumman IT)
July 7, 2003... Northrop Grumman IT has a large contingent work force with 750 temporary employees and has contracts with dozens of staffing companies to hire and manage these employees. Because the highly skilled workers are hired by numerous...

Job 1 on the Desktop.(software installation)
July 7, 2003... Software installation is what most defines a computer, but it's become one of the worst parts of enterprise computing. Complexity, inconsistency and risk of collateral damage entail substantial costs to IT vendors, administrators and help...

Tool Migrates Users' Settings.(Miramar Systems' Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition 4.6)
July 7, 2003... Miramar Systems Inc. will bring a new twist to Microsoft Corp.'s Active Directory server migrations with the ability to migrate end-user desktop settings. The Santa Barbara, Calif., company's Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition Version 4.6...

App Eases HIPAA Compliance.(Avolent's BizCast 5.3)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)[Brief Article]
July 7, 2003... Financial relationship management software maker Avolent Inc. will announce July 21 the availability of its BizCast 5.3 FRM software. At the core of BizCast 5.3 is the ability for insurance, retail and health care companies to provide...

Revving the Supply Chain.(PeopleSoft Supply Chain Planning 8.8 and Optiant's PowerChain 4.5)
July 7, 2003... PeopleSoft inc. and Optiant Inc. are each offering software upgrades that take a performance-driven approach to supply chain planning and management. PeopleSoft, of Pleasanton, Calif., last month announced the general availability of its...

Microsoft, Sybase Step Up BI.(Microsoft SQL Server Accelerator for Business Intelligence 1.2 and Sybase IQ 12.5)
July 7, 2003... Enterprises looking for speed when it comes to business intelligence applications are getting help from Microsoft Corp. and Sybase Inc., which each announced new products to accelerate database performance. Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash.,...

New 'Normal' Around Corner.(Industry Overview)
July 7, 2003... When an industry figure like Michael Dell states, as he did recently, that the economy is stabilizing and improving moderately, many people react like Columbus' sailors hearing the first shouts of "Land!" from the mainmast. But just as Columbus...

What, Me Worry? You Bet!(IT recession)(Column)
July 7, 2003... I'm worried. we are in the middle of the worst it recession in the history of data processing. And since I started programming on machines such as the UNIVAC I, Bendix G20 and IBM 7090, I can claim to have been around for the entire history of...

City Maps Services With GIS.(San Francisco uses ESRI's ArcSDE and ArcIMS)
July 7, 2003... For Erich Seamon, location is everything. Last year, as most IT organizations were cutting budgets, Seamon, geographic information systems manager for the city and county of San Francisco, was moving forward with a project to integrate the...

Hurdles to GIS Lowering.
July 7, 2003... Based on eWEEK Labs' testing and evaluation of GIS in action, there is good reason to believe that investments in geographic information systems technology today could help drive new business and open new markets, as well as cut costs down the...

Open GIS Consortium Focuses on Interoperability.
July 7, 2003... With so much--and such disparate--geo-spatial and location information available, standards are key to the interoperability and wider use of geographic information systems technology. The Open GIS Consortium, an international standards body...

MetaCarta's GTS Tool Links Information, Geography.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MetaCarta Inc.'s geographic text search appliance is an interesting product that attempts to link knowledge management with geographic information systems. Funded by In-Q-Tel, the venture-funding arm of the CIA, MetaCarta's solutions are...

Database Server Clash Revisited.(IBM's DB2 7.2 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000)
July 7, 2003... eWEEK and sister publication PC Magazine early last year published results of a comparative performance test of database servers. It had been almost a decade since either publication had performed a similar test, so we expected significant...

Database Servers Making Evolutionary Progress.
July 7, 2003... Since we performed our comparative database server performance tests, there's been incremental change in the products but no big shifts in any server's design or market presence. IBM's DB2 8.1 has superseded Version 7.2, and the 8.1 release...

PeopleSoft Throws Customers a Security Blanket.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... PeopleSoft Inc. has thrown a security blanket around its customers during the ongoing drama of Oracle Corp.'s attempt to acquire it. To minimize business loss and mollify queasy customers, PeopleSoft on Thursday created a so-called customer...

Requiem for a Hacker.
July 7, 2003... Security has become a very big business in IT over the past few years. You'd think its growth as a commercial market would have made all our information more secure. It hasn't. Aside from the vendors that provide scanning, assessment and...

G5 Energizes 64-Bit Race.(IBM PowerPC 970 )
July 7, 2003... With the arrival two months from now of Apple Computer Inc.'s new desktop machines and their 64-bit CPUs, the race to the next generation of mass-market processing power suddenly has a third horse running hard. Intel Corp.'s Itanium, Advanced...

FreeBSD 5.1 Shows Handy New Features.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 7, 2003... Although Linux tends to grab most of the open-source operating system spotlight, it's hardly the only solid free software option. eWEEK Labs tested one open-source alternative, FreeBSD Version 5.1, which started shipping last month. The FreeBSD...

Bloki eases Web page creation.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 7, 2003... Twelve years into the communications revolution sparked by the World Wide Web, companies are still searching for a product that will make it truly simple to create Web pages. The latest option, Bloki, is a useful tool for ad hoc page creation...

Win4Lin Plays Windows Apps on Linux a WLAN Hot Spot in a Small Box.(Netraverse's Win4Lin Workstation Edition 5.0)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 7, 2003... Almost every Linux user encounters certain Windows-only applications that they must or would like to run. There are workarounds, however. One such option for running Windows applications within Linux is Netraverse's Win4Lin Workstation Edition...

A WLAN Hot Spot in a Small Box.(ZyXel B-4000 )(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... ZyXel'S B-4000 wireless service gateway is targeted at organizations looking to deploy public WLANs. The B-4000, which was released last month, combines an 802.11b wireless access point, router, four-port switch and wireless service...

IBM to Offer DB2 Mastery Exam.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... IBM is launching a mastery exam to help DBAs identify and resolve thorny issues, the company will announce on Tuesday. The new DB2 Problem Determination Mastery Exam is designed to give database administrators the skills to investigate and...

V2i Simplifies Disk Backup.(PowerQuest's v2i Protector 2.0)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 7, 2003... PowerQuest Corp.'s v2i Protector 2.0 gives IT managers a simple yet effective tool for disk-to-disk backup of servers and desktops. Downtime is one of the most important statistics in evaluating IT performance, and disk-to-disk backup...

MySQL Teams With Pogo Linux.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MySQL AB has teamed up with Pogo Linux Inc. to put its open-source database into a box. The Uppsala, Sweden, database maker announced the partnership on Monday and will preview the integrated hardware/software database appliance at the...

MetaFrame Eases Net Chores.(Citrix Systems' MetaFrame XP Presentation Server Feature Release 3 XP)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 7, 2003... Citrix Systems Inc.'s MetaFrame XP presentation server feature release 3 leverages Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Server 2003 environment to provide centralized application management and thin-client remote access for most Windows shops. eWEEK Labs'...

The Lowdown on CRM.(customer relationship management )
July 7, 2003... During a recent Ziff Davis Media Inc. eSeminar on customer relationship management, a relatively small but very focused audience asked some pointed questions about the economic, technologic and industry influences on enterprise adoption of and...

Test Leaves Sour Taste.(Apple Power Mac G5)
July 7, 2003... If there's ever been a personal computer that everyone's gotta get, it's the Apple Power Mac G5. Even x86 fanatics have to admit that the G5 has everything they could possibly want in a personal computer. The G5 is a screamer, with a 1GHz...

.Net Separates V37 From Other PDAs.(from ViewSonic )(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... ViewSonic May Be Known as a Monitor Company, but it can turn out a good PDA, too. The Pocket PC V37, which will list for about $399, is small, light and fast, and it has Microsoft's .Net Compact Framework inside to boot (so to speak). The...

Cluster Options Increase.(PolyServe's Matrix Server and IBM's Deep Computing on demand service)
July 7, 2003... PolyServe Inc. and IBM have introduced offerings that promise to provide enterprises with a lot of computer processing power at a relatively low cost. A major upgrade of PolyServe's Matrix Server cluster management software features a...

AOL Enables IM Encryption.
July 7, 2003... America Online Inc. is offering an upgrade of its Enterprise AIM Services as a way for enterprises to take advantage of the real-time communications capabilities of instant messaging without opening up security holes or causing directory...

The Buzz: July 7, 2003.
July 7, 2003... Peregrine Systems continued its long slog out of bankruptcy last week with the settlement of some of the Securities and Exchange Commission's charges against the company. Peregrine, which develops asset and service management software,...

This eWEEK.
July 7, 2003... Imagine a symposium attended by several hundred that's dedicated to a single contract. Then you'll have a picture of the recent gathering in New Orleans that was dedicated to the largest outsourcing deal ever, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet...

Ixia Acquires NetIQ Source Code.
July 7, 2003... Network performance testing provider Ixia on Monday announced it has acquired the source code rights to NetIQ Corp.'s Chariot network traffic simulation software. The Calabasas, Calif.-based company acquired exclusive U.S. and Canada...

Athlon 64 To Launch Sept. 22, AMD Document Says.
July 7, 2003... A summary of upcoming press releases accidentally sent to reporters reveals that AMD will release the Athlon 64 and mobile Athlon 64 on Sept. 22. The summary, which also revealed the launch date of the Opteron 246, also indicates that AMD...

IT Plays Vital Role in Disaster Readiness.(Column)
July 7, 2003... Emergency management is becoming a high-profile topic in government agencies, at industry sites and even on college campuses. In all of these settings, IT developers should take an active role in assuring the readiness of both infrastructure...

New Web Services Security Spec on Tap.
July 8, 2003... Led by Microsoft Corp. and IBM, a group of companies Tuesday plans to announce a new Web services specification for handling security in Web services environments. At the Burton Group Inc.'s Catalyst conference in San Francisco, IBM,...

Microsoft Invades Open-Source Show.(O'Reilly Open Source Convention)
July 8, 2003... As Microsoft Corp. continues to try and better gauge the attraction of open-source technologies to its customers and developers, a number of its officials will be attending this week's O'Reilly Open Source Convention (Oscon) in Portland, Ore....

SCO's McBride Heads to Japan to Explain Linux Stand.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2003... Darl McBride, CEO for The SCO Group, is in Japan this week for a weeklong visit where he will meet a number of the Lindon, Utah, company's OEM partners in that country to explain his stand on Linux as well as to brief the Japanese press. ...

EMC Buys Legato.(Brief Article)
July 8, 2003... Storage giant EMC Corp. today announced its acquisition of backup software player Legato Systems Inc. for approximately $1.3 billion in stock. EMC, of Hopkinton, Mass., has bought nine smaller companies since beginning its software blitz...

BMC Aims to Streamline Data Reorgs.(MAXM Database Advisor for IMS )(Brief Article)
July 8, 2003... BMC Software Inc. is releasing data management software that promises to streamline data reorganizations by eliminating guesswork and unnecessary maintenance, the company announced on Tuesday. MAXM Database Advisor for IMS automatically...

Did Microsoft Threaten Linux OEM?
July 8, 2003... If there was any lingering doubt, Massachusetts, the sole state refusing to sign on to a Microsoft Corp.-crafted federal antitrust settlement, has now made it clear that it will not ease up in the pursuit of tougher remedies. The Bay State,...