eWeek articles from March 2003

eWeek archives from March 2003

McNealy: Sun Reduces the Complexity.(Interview)
March 3, 2003... Recently, Sun Microsystems Inc. hosted its annual analyst conference in San Francisco. The company faces high-end competition from IBM Global Services and low-end competition from companies including Dell Computer Corp. offering clustered...

Applix to Restate Revenues, Loses CEO.
March 3, 2003... Applix Inc., a software company that recently realigned its business around business performance management solutions, revealed Friday that it had to get its own financial house in order. And it will do so under new leadership The...

Altova Hones XML Development Tool.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Altova Inc. has been busy of late, making deals to propagate its XML technology amongst developers and to make the lives of XML users and developers easier, the company said. Beverly, Mass.-based Altova Friday announced a deal with Versim...

Sun Tackles Dell, Linux.(interview with Sun's Jonathan Schwartz)
March 3, 2003... Since taking on the role of Executive Vice President last summer, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Jonathan Schwartz has been revving up the Sun software engine, which had lost momentum in several critical areas, including development tools, application...

Sybase to Ship PowerBuilder 9.
March 3, 2003... Sybase Inc. is expected to announce Sybase PowerBuilder 9.0 on Tuesday. The Dublin, Calif., company is expected to make its announcement at the Giga Information Group Application Development and Integration 2003 conference in Orlando. ...

Tools Give IT Better Look.(Managed Object Solutions Formula 3.1)
March 3, 2003... With IT departments under increasing pressure to prove their value to the CEO or face being outsourced, vendors large and small are prepping updated software that helps businesses better understand the impact of technology infrastructure...

Cisco Toughens Up Switches.(Cisco Catalyst 2955)
March 3, 2003... More utility plants and factories are turning from proprietary networks to Fast Ethernet connectivity for process control systems, now that the technology provides high performance at off-the-shelf prices. Cisco Systems Inc., joining a...

Storage Switches Get Powered for Efficiency.
March 3, 2003... As SANs mature from a high-end niche into a mainstream technology, vendors are converting switches powering them into application appliances to lower management costs and improve efficiencies. Brocade Communications Systems Inc., McData...

UnitedLinux Gives Oracle9i Seal of Approval.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... UnitedLinux LLC on Friday announced it has completed certification of UnitedLinux 1 with Oracle Corp.'s Oracle9i Database and its database clustering technology, Oracle9i Real Application Clusters. The move follows fast on the heels of...

Rational's Devlin Eyes Tight IBM Ties.(users look to easier design of IBM's Rational software)
March 3, 2003... IBM's newest software brand, Rational, has a challenging mission: making its tools--reputed to be complex and not for fainthearted developers--simpler to use. That's according to Mike Devlin, former CEO of Rational Software Corp., now...

Opsware, Voltaire, Others Tackle Blade Proliferation.
March 3, 2003... While ultradense blade servers enable enterprises to pack more processing power into data centers, by their sheer numbers, they can create a much more complex environment to manage. At the first annual Server Blade Summit in San Jose,...

Cisco to Offer Free Licenses for WLAN Apps.
March 3, 2003... Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced plans to give away WLAN software to several semiconductor and computer manufacturers to get more client-side devices to work with Cisco gear. Through the CCX (Cisco Compatible Extensions) Program,...

Upgrades Help Rein in Business Processes.
March 3, 2003... Software upgrades from three developers--Intersperse Inc., Pegasystems Inc. and Comergent Technologies Inc. --will help companies manage the IT infrastructure that keeps their business processes moving, officials from the companies said. ...

Coming Back to Earth.(Divine sells off assets)
March 3, 2003... On paper, Divine Inc.'s plan made all the sense in the world. Buy young or failing e-business software and services companies on the cheap and mold their products together into integrated suites of content management, collaboration and CRM...

Who's Who When.(security software )
March 3, 2003... A bevy of single-purpose single-sign-on products, biometric devices and integrated identity management frameworks promise reduced operational costs through streamlined user-rights provisioning. However, not much has been done to improve these...

IBM, TIBCO Deliver Views Into Business Processes.
March 3, 2003... New and enhanced products from IBM and TIBCO Software Inc. promise to give corporate analysts better views into how business processes running across a variety of integrated applications are operating. IBM this week will roll out Version...

Intel's Centrino Mobile Processor Gains Support.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Intel Corp. is expected to garner a round of OEM endorsements for its Centrino mobile platform when it is rolled out next week. But don't look for notebook supporters to eschew alternative processing and connectivity for all their new designs...

Progress Tunes ObjectStore for Enterprise.(Progress Software Corp. ships ObjectStore 6.1)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Progress Software Corp. is giving its ObjectStore embeddable database enhancements in speed, reliability and flexibility. The Bedford, Mass., developer this week will release ObjectStore 6.1, the first upgrade of the object-oriented...

EMC, Veritas Expand Their Partnership.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Users of EMC Corp. hardware will soon get earlier and certified access to new Veritas Software Corp. management tools, based on an updated partnership. The deal also means EMC and Veritas can now support each other's products, officials...

The Buzz: March 3, 2003.
March 3, 2003... PC Group Buoys HP Earnings Hewlett-Packard posted first-quarter revenues of $17.9 billion, a 1 percent drop from the $18 billion it garnered in the fourth quarter. HP--still working to integrate Compaq into the fold--saw its PC...

Take on the Challenge to Invest Technology.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... "We make the Net work," Sun president Scott McNealy told the gathering at last week's annual stock analysts meeting. While there are lots of company symbols and logos that make little sense, McNealy's statement on the 21st anniversary of the...

SPSS Expands Analytics App Beyond Siebel.(ships PredictiveMarketing)
March 3, 2003... SPSS Inc. this week will roll out its PredictiveMarketing analytic application, making a technology originally developed as an add-on to Siebel Systems Inc.'s CRM applications available as a stand-alone product. A longtime provider of data...

Multithreading Set for Processors.
March 3, 2003... Intel Corp., IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc. are each looking to incorporate multithreading capabilities into multiple-core processors. Intel last month confirmed it will put multithreading, which it calls hyperthreading, into a future...

Offerings From SAP, Manugistics and Sun Bring Efficiency to Manufacturers.
March 3, 2003... Software and technology bundles due to be introduced by SAP AG, Manugistics Group Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. at this week's National Manufacturing Week trade show in Chicago aim to make life easier for IT managers at manufacturing...

Service Helps Sites Gain Control Over ISP Traffic.(Sockeye Networks' GlobalRoute 3.0)
March 3, 2003... Sockeye Networks Inc. last week upgraded its GlobalRoute bandwidth optimization service to give enterprises using multiple ISPs a more granular view of their traffic patterns. GlobalRoute 3.0 lets multihoming enterprises--those that route...

ATM Encryption Weakness Leaves Accounts Vulnerable.(Cambridge University research)
March 3, 2003... Two Cambridge University researchers have discovered a new attack on the hardware security modules employed by banks that makes it possible to retrieve customers' cash machine PINs in an average of 15 tries. The attack takes advantage of a...

Platform Pugilists.(operating systems )
March 3, 2003... After years of working to establish the smart phone as a viable platform, Microsoft Corp. and Symbian Ltd. seem to be garnering enough support to conduct an old-fashioned operating system war in a new frontier. While some industry experts...

Alliances to Upgrade Their Smart-Phone Applications.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... The maturation of smart phones is in evidence, with major vendors earlier this month announcing cooperative efforts to improve multimedia messaging and business-focused applications. Microsoft Corp., of Redmond, Wash., and T-Mobile...

Microsoft Lines Up Partners for VS .Net.(Visual Studio .Net 2003)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Microsoft corp. has garnered a groundswell of support for the upcoming version of its flagship software development platform, Visual Studio .Net. Visual Studio .Net 2003, due to be released next month, has spawned dozens of complementary...

Security Is in the Smart Cards.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
March 3, 2003... Aren't we smarter than this? News that a hacker recently accessed as many as 8 million Visa and MasterCard accounts would have been shocking if we weren't becoming so disturbingly numb to such break-ins. We really can't go on this way if...

HP Zeros In on Web Services Management.
March 3, 2003... Hewlett-Packard Co. announced several initiatives around Web services management Monday, including the formation of a dedicated Web services management team within the company, a focus on Web services management in the Java environment,...

Siemens Nudges VOIP Software Away From Proprietary Systems.(HiPath ComScendo communications suite)
March 3, 2003... Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc.'s Enterprise Networks division last week moved to decouple its VOIP software from proprietary hardware and operating systems with the launch of its HiPath ComScendo communications suite. ...

IBM Plugs Faster CPU in to Unix-Based Servers.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... IBM is putting its 1.45ghz power4+ chip into its one-to-four-way eServer pSeries p630 Web server systems, the latest step in an initiative to outfit all its Unix-based servers with the new chip. The Armonk, N.Y., company in November equipped...

Farewell to Floppies?
March 3, 2003... As the is manager for a 32-member IT department, Scott Taylor is responsible for data spread throughout the IT infrastructure at furniture manufacturer Smed International Inc. There is one place Taylor doesn't want data stored--on floppy-disk...

Scale Eight NAS Device Runs on Commodity Parts.(N2200)
March 3, 2003... Storage outsourcer scale Eight Inc. is getting ready to try its hand at NAS using skills and software developed internally over the past three years, according to officials. The San Francisco company this month will announce N2200, a...

Microsoft Posts Windows Server 2003 Pricing.
March 3, 2003... Microsoft Corp. on Monday finally released the licensing and pricing options for its upcoming Windows Server 2003 family, which is slated for shipment in late April. The licensing model consists of a server operating system license and...

Sendmail Flaw Puts Millions of Mail Servers at Risk.
March 3, 2003... Researchers have discovered a critical new security vulnerability that places millions of mail servers all over the Internet at risk of compromise. The flaw is in the immensely popular Sendmail Mail Transfer Agent and could enable an attacker...

Polycom Expands Conferencing.(Polycom's SoundStation VTX 1000)
March 3, 2003... In an effort to make videoconferencing as convenient as audio conferencing, Polycom Inc. last week launched a series of products that integrate video and audio technologies to create a unified conferencing system. Traditionally, video...

Sony Rolls Out Low-End Tape Drives.(Sony Electronics' AITe90-UL, AITi90-A/S, AITi130-A/S)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Sony Electronics Inc. Monday announced new low-end tape drives for remote users and small businesses. As part of the StorStation family, an external model called AITe90-UL connects to servers and workstations with USB or Firewire, while...

Whirlpool Cleans Up With Single Sign-On.
March 3, 2003... Persuading business executives to spend money on security technologies can be harder than pulling teeth. It can be much less difficult, however, if you are able to show how a new technology can make executives' lives easier and cut costs while...

Tamino Gains Query Power.(Software AG's Tamino XML Server 4.1.1)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 3, 2003... Organizations using XML-formatted data and struggling with ways to keep mounting XML data collections under control will find Software AG's Tamino XML Server 4.1.1 an effective tool. The software let eWeek Labs store XML data directly in...

Vantage 8.5 Consolidates Functions.(Compuware's Vantage 8.5 network management software)(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 3, 2003... Compuware Corp.'s Vantage 8.5 nicely pulls together system, network and client management functions under a newly added Web-based console, but other tools offer more expert modules out of the box. Vantage 8.5, which is priced starting at...

Cashing in on HIPAA.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act boosts IT job market)
March 3, 2003... When Julie Harris, IT director for Iowa's Keokuk County, attended HIPAA Academy classes in January to achieve certification as a Certified HIPAA Professional, she was surprised to find herself surrounded by career changers, many of them IT...

Sutter Health CIO Discusses Single Sign-On.(Nelson Ramos)(Interview)
March 3, 2003... eWeek labs senior analyst Cameron Sturdevant recently discussed identity management and single sign-on, especially as the technologies pertain to the health care industry, with Nelson Ramos, an eWeek Corporate Partner and vice president and...

EZQuest Raises Capacity.(EZQuest's Cobra+)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... EZQuest's latest external Cobra hard drive boasts superb storage capacity, a high-speed FireWire interface and a compact form factor. My tests showed the Cobra+, which shipped in January, is an ideal portable storage system for adding large...

Managing on the Move.(Expand Beyond's PocketDBA 2.0)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Expand Beyond's PocketDBA 2.0 provides database administrators with a lightweight, HTML-based administration console for on-the-move management. The previous version, 1.4, was an Oracle-only product, but PocketDBA 2.0 broadens users'...

Tips for Managing eDirectory.(Tips and Tricks Guide to Active Directory Troubleshooting)(Book Review)
March 3, 2003... Following up on a conference last year that focused on Microsoft's Active Directory, NetPro Computing recently completed a conference on managing Novell's eDirectory. Concurrently, NetPro announced its second e-book, "Tips and Tricks Guide...

Better Backup for Windows Shops.(Veritas Software's Backup Exec for Windows 9.0)
March 3, 2003... Veritas Software Corp.'s Backup Exec for Windows gains close to 100 new features and enhancements with Version 9.0, including support for the prerelease Windows Server 2003, a more useful GUI, and improvements to groupware and database agents...

It Is Becoming a Virtual World.(Microsoft acquires Connectix)
March 3, 2003... Microsoft became a virtual company with its recent acquisition of Connectix. It's only a matter of time before Microsoft positions Windows as the core operating system capable of virtualizing and managing Linux server distributions. The...

A Better Windows Than Windows?(Connectix Virtual PC 6.0)(Software Review)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... My family members expect the unexpected when I say, "Take a look at this!"--but I produced a satisfying double take from my 11-year-old son when he saw a Windows 2000 desktop, running in a window of its own, on what he knew perfectly well was...

Microsoft Renames SharePoint Services.(to Windows SharePoint Services)
March 3, 2003... Microsoft Corp. has again changed the product name of a shipping product. On Monday, the Redmond, Wash., firm said it was changing the name of its team collaboration technology, SharePoint Team Services, to Windows SharePoint Services. ...

Cultivating Organic Tech.(Forrester Research report)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Give Forrester Research credit for one thing. Faced with a nuclear winter of IT spending, the IT think tank has come up with a green-sounding slogan to describe our predicament: organic IT. The catch phrase was introduced nearly a year ago, and...

El Gato to AOL Execs: What's in a Name?(Brief Article)(Column)
March 3, 2003... As reports of the impending death of the music CD continue to pop up, there's no denying the validity of the media mantra that "record company execs just don't get it." But the Furball is starting to wonder if anyone at the big Internet...

Gov't, Defense IT Salaries Buck Trends.(Industry Overview)
March 3, 2003... Government and defense IT salaries spiked 7 percent in 2002, likely as a reaction to terrorism, a looming war and the push for homeland security, according to a recently released salary survey from online IT job site Dice Inc. This,...

Salesforce.com Reaches Profitability.
March 3, 2003... Salesforce.com is close to making new hosted back-office application services available and has reached profitability. The hosted customer relationship management software provider has long planned to offer hosted back-office applications....

Palm Lowers Revenue Outlook.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Palm Inc. on Monday warned that its third-quarter fiscal 2003 results will be lower than expected because of weak demand for its high-end Tungsten line of handheld computers. Revenues now are expected to be between $205 million and $210...

Court Battle is Over More Than Printer Ink.
March 3, 2003... I have an inkjet printer at home that I rarely use. The thing's always out of ink, and when I go to my local office supply superstore to buy cartridges for it, I'm always too dumbfounded by the cost of those little plastic boxes of ink to buy...

If You Can Fix It, It's Not Really Broken.(Column)
March 3, 2003... If changing the oil in your car might cause the radio to stop working, or maybe even lock you out of driving in reverse, then preventive maintenance wouldn't be as obviously good an idea. That was the gist of a comment I saw in an online...

Sun's Project JXTA Goes Over 1 Million Mark.(peer-to-peer technology)
March 4, 2003... Sun Microsystems Inc. Tuesday announced that its peer-to-peer technology, known as Project JXTA, has experienced strong adoption since its rollout nearly two years ago. According to Sun, more than 1 million developers have downloaded...

Tool Monitors Database Performance.(BMC Software's ASE Performance Monitoring Option-DBXray for Sybase)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2003... Sybase Inc. on Monday released a performance monitoring tool for Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.5.0.3, the company's enterprise-class relational database management system. The tool, BMC Software Inc.'s ASE Performance Monitoring...

EMC, Hitachi Settle Patent Suit.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2003... Ending four years of stalled talks and an 11-month patent lawsuit, Hitachi Ltd. will make payments to EMC Corp., and the storage leaders will share programming interfaces with each other, both companies announced Tuesday. For users, the...

IBM Recalls 117,000 Computer Monitors.(G51 CRT, G51t Touch Screen cathode ray tube models)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2003... IBM is recalling 117,000 of its computer monitors to fix a circuit board that can overheat and smoke, causing a fire hazard. In cooperation with the CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission), the Armonk, N.Y., company on Tuesday said...

Veritas, BMC Team on Database Recovery.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2003... With the goal of getting crashed databases up and running more quickly and more reliably, BMC Software Inc. announced Tuesday that it has integrated its database backup and recovery product, SQL-BackTrack, to Veritas Software Corp.'s NetBackup...

Keeping the Data Center Cool.(Hewlett-Packard)
March 4, 2003... Enterprises today are putting more powerful systems that carry more processing power into their data centers, putting a premium on cooling the data centers. Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday unveiled a service designed to help businesses...

Toshiba, Accenture to Offer 'Hot Spots'.(wireless LAN 'hot spot' services )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2003... Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to join with Accenture Ltd. to offer wireless LAN "hot spot" services throughout North America. By 2003 the companies hope to have launched up to 10,000 hot spots, which...

Firstwave, Surebridge Latest to Join Acquisitions Parade.
March 5, 2003... Firstwave Technologies Inc. and Surebridge Inc. on Tuesday became the latest technology companies to announce acquisitions in a week that has already been heavy in consolidation in the software and services space. In a cash-stock deal,...

A Patently Offensive Threat.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2003... I missed out on the big tech stock bubble, probably because I'm not allowed to own tech stocks, which kept me from potential riches but also saved me when the bubble burst. But I'm ready now to take advantage of the next big easy-money...

Feds Make Push for Cyber-Security Plan.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2003... SAN DIEGO--Now that the federal government has released its plan to secure the nation's critical networks, officials are asking the rank-and-file security specialists and network administrators to take an active role in implementing the...

Storage Networks Up for Sale.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2003... Storage Networks Inc., the once-popular service provider turned software company, is the latest storage firm up for sale. "We anticipate that our Board of Directors will be required to focus significant energy and time working with our...

Corel, Microsoft Ready Office Suites.
March 5, 2003... The office desktop productivity suite wars are heating up, with Corel Corp. on Wednesday unveiling the first beta of WordPerfect Office 11, which is expected to be available in North America late next month. For its part, Microsoft Corp....

Six/Four: The Internet Under Cover.(Hacktivismo's peer-to-peer technology)
March 6, 2003... The Six/Four System is peer-to-peer technology that makes it possible to carry out almost any Internet activity securely and--more importantly, for all sorts of reasons--anonymously. The Hacktivismo system, or anything based on it, just may...

IBM Ties Web Services to Mainframe Apps.
March 6, 2003... Capitalizing on the strengths of its heritage, IBM announced Wednesday that it will offer a CICS SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) Technology Preview to provide connectivity to CICS mainframe applications via Web services. Bob Sutor,...

IBM Plans 32-Way Intel-Based Server.(IBM x445)
March 6, 2003... IBM, which late last year began shipping a 16-way version of its powerful eServer x440 system, later this year will begin shipping a 32-way version of the Intel-based server. The x445 will ship begin shipping in midyear, in keeping with...

Microsoft Debuts Collaboration Server.(Greenwich)
March 6, 2003... Microsoft Corp. on Thursday made available the long-awaited beta of its Greenwich real-time communication server along with a strategy designed to make Greenwich an emerging standard for embedding instant messaging and presence detection in...

Intel on Target for First Quarter.(ending Mar 29, 2003)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Giant chip maker Intel Corp. on Thursday said revenues for the company's first quarter should come in between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion, which is close to what had been projected earlier. Officials with the Santa Clara, Calif., company...

Sun Set to Release StarOffice Beta.(StarOffice 6.1 beta)
March 6, 2003... Sun Microsystems Inc. will release the first beta of StarOffice 6.1 next week, further heating up the competitive war in the office desktop productivity market. News of the upcoming StarOffice 6.1 beta, which is focused on the corporate...

Microsoft Consolidates SQL Server Tools.(SQL Server 2000 SQL Scan, SQL Check and SQL Critical Update )(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Microsoft Corp. has consolidated the database security tools that shield SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 installations from the Slammer worm. SQL Server 2000 SQL Scan, SQL Check and SQL Critical Update are now available in a single download, the...

SCO Group Slaps IBM with $1B Suit.
March 6, 2003... The SCO Group, which holds all the intellectual property rights to the Unix operating system, on Thursday filed suit against IBM for more than $1 billion in the State Court of Utah alleging that IBM made "concentrated efforts to improperly...

With BuildIt, .Net-Based Apps Will Come.(Brief Article)
March 7, 2003... Sapient Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have jointly developed a new tool that automates key steps necessary in building applications and Web services based on the .Net Framework. The tool, known as BuildIt, automates many oft-repeated actions...

Getting the Most Out of ATM WAN Links.(Compuware's Network Vantage enhancement)
March 7, 2003... Compuware Corp. on Monday will help WAN managers better understand how their expensive ATM WAN links are being used through new support in its Network Vantage performance management tool for 155M-bps ATM OC-3 links. The Farmington Hills,...

IBM Juggles IT Resources On The Fly.
March 7, 2003... Forecasting is hard--especially when it's about the future. IBM is proposing to change all that with three new autonomic software technologies that it planned to unveil today and demonstrate at next week's CeBit trade show, in Hannover,...

SCO: IBM Suit Not About Linux.
March 7, 2003... The legal action the SCO Group brought against IBM on Thursday has nothing to do with Linux or the open-source community, Darl McBride, CEO and president of the SCO Group, stressed in a media conference on Friday morning. "This case is not...

IBM, Open-Source Community Decry SCO Suit.
March 7, 2003... IBM on Friday responded to the $1 billion lawsuit filed against it by the SCO Group on Thursday, saying the suit is "full of bare allegations with no supporting facts." IBM corporate spokesman Bill Hughes told eWEEK on Friday that company...

Single Sign-on? How About a Password That Works?(Cingular Wireless website)(Information Service Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 7, 2003... Plenty of mobile phone customers have legitimate complaints about bad service, dropped calls and insanely-difficult-to-decipher billing charges. After an upgrade of the Cingular Wireless network here in the Bay Area late last year, I've had...