eWeek articles from May 2005

eWeek archives from May 2005

3Com Targets Managed Services.(product enhancement in partnership with Motive Inc.)
May 2, 2005... 3Com on Tuesday will launch its bid to deliver automated managed services offerings based on its voice, security and high-end data networking products. Through a partnership with Motive Inc., 3Com Corp. intends to build automated...

Phishing Attempts Decrease, Report Shows.
May 2, 2005... Two recent reports suggest that the flood of phishing attacks that has washed over Internet users in recent months may be ebbing. Managed e-mail provider Postini Inc. said Monday that phishing attempts decreased 45 percent between March and...

Captaris Upgrades E-Mail Archiving Tool.(Exchange Archive Link for Captaris Alchemy)
May 2, 2005... Business information vendor Captaris has introduced a new version of its e-mail archiving tool that is more scalable and integrates better with the records management module of its fixed content management product. The newest version of...

Airpath Announces Wireless Metro Platform.(Airpath Wireless Inc. launches RoamBOSS Metro)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Airpath Wireless is rolling out a new host platform for metro-scale broadband wireless deployments. The platform, called RoamBOSS Metro, promises a carrier-class open OSS (Operational Support System) with roaming and clearinghouse...

Business Inaction Could Lead to Cyber-Security Law.(Department of Homeland Security's technology policy)
May 2, 2005... WASHINGTON (Reuters)--U.S. businesses for years have urged the government to let them set computer-security standards of their own, but their inability to do so could now prompt Congress to step in, experts say. Those who worry that...

Microsoft Updates XP Wi-Fi Security Support.(enhancement of Microsoft Windows XP)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft over the weekend rolled out an update to its Windows XP operating system to add support for WPA2, aka Wi-Fi Protected Access 2, the wireless security specification approved by the IEEE. The update was originally announced in early...

Lenovo Completes Purchase of IBM's PC Business.(Lenovo Group Ltd.'s acquisition of IBM Personal Computer Co.)
May 2, 2005... Lenovo Group Ltd. has completed the $1.75 billion purchase of IBM's PC business. The two companies announced the closing of the deal Sunday. The purchase creates the third largest PC vendor in the world--with $13 billion in revenue and 14...

IBM's Devlin Retires as Rational GM.(Rational Software Corp.)(retirement of Mike Devlin from International Business Machines Corp.)
May 2, 2005... Mike Devlin, co-founder of Rational Software Corp. and most recently general manager of IBM Corp.'s Rational business unit, has retired from the systems giant. Sources said IBM announced Devlin's retirement internally last week, along with...

New Dell Switches Offer Web-Management Capabilities.(launch of Dell PowerConnect 2700)
May 2, 2005... Dell Inc. is rolling out a family of Gigabit Ethernet switches that can be changed from unmanaged to Web-managed by pushing a button. The PowerConnect 2700 series, aimed at SMBs (small and midsize businesses) will replace Dell's current...

Palamida Taps Former Sun Exec Mark Tolliver as CEO.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
May 2, 2005... Palamida Inc., a startup focusing on intellectual property management and compliance technology, Monday announced the appointment of Mark Tolliver as president and chief executive of the company. Tolliver, who was most recently the...

SANS Reveals Top 20 Vulnerabilities.(SANS Institute)
May 2, 2005... The SANS Institute issued an update to its annual list of the Top 20 Internet security vulnerabilities on Monday, warning of 12 new holes that pose a critical threat to organizations that do business on the Internet. The new...

MCI Accepts Verizon's Raised $8.5 Billion Offer.(Verizon Communications Inc.'s acquisition)
May 2, 2005... WASHINGTON (Reuters)-- MCI Inc. on Monday accepted a raised $8.5 billion bid from Verizon Communications Inc., saying its large business customers might defect if it accepted a higher bid from rival suitor Qwest Communications International...

Globus Toolkit 4 Broadens Choices, Challenges Teams.(Globus Consortium's product launch)
May 2, 2005... Version 4 of the Globus Toolkit, released today with the sponsorship of the Globus Consortium, is a Web services-oriented platform that signals the readiness of grid computing for mainstream enterprise applications as well as research and...

Longhorn Evangelism 'Team 99' Resurfaces.(Robert Scoble's authorship on his blog)
May 2, 2005... It looks like the Longhorn information floodgates are officially open--again. Microsoft employee and Longhorn evangelist Robert Scoble announced on his blog this weekend that he has been authorized to restart the "Team 99" Longhorn...

Macromedia Refreshes Breeze Meeting Software.(Macromedia Breeze 5.0's enhancement)
May 2, 2005... Macromedia Inc. launched an updated version of its Web conferencing and communications software on Monday in a bid to compete against products from IBM, Microsoft Corp. and WebEx. With Breeze 5, Macromedia has introduced a wide range of...

Newspaper Backs Up Macs with BakBone.
May 2, 2005... When a large publishing company replaces old Mac OS 9 workstations and servers in a mixed-platform environment, it typically chooses between Windows and Mac OS X. The Las Vegas Review Journal, a company with 1,600 networked users in multiple...

Sober Virus Preys on World Cup Soccer Fans.
May 2, 2005... There's no such thing as a free World Cup soccer ticket, especially those that arrive via unsolicited e-mails. That's the message from anti-virus vendors flagging a new variant of the Sober mass-mailing worm that spreads by promising ducats...

NetSuite, Epiphany Enhance CRM Products.
May 2, 2005... NetSuite and Epiphany on Monday announced updates that extend the functionality of their respective customer relationship management technologies. NetSuite Inc., a provider of hosted front- and back-office application services, announced a...

Time Warner Loses Backup Tapes with Employee Info.
May 2, 2005... Media giant Time Warner said Monday that it lost a container of computer backup tapes with information on current and former employees. The tapes, which were misplaced by an outside data-storage company, contained company data including the...

SQL Server 2005's Incredibly Cool CLR Integration.
May 2, 2005... T-SQL is great for database code, but writing procedural code in T-SQL has always been difficult. Invariably, your project includes a stored procedure or two, requiring some text parsing or complex math operations. Doing this in SQL Server has...

The Future of Windows' Graphics Technology.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Last week we attended several presentations discussing the future of Windows graphics at WinHEC. What follows is culled from two presentations given during the graphics track on May 27th, 2005. David Blythe, one of the lead architects in the...

Cisco Launches Integrated Security App at Interop.
May 3, 2005... Las Vegas--Cisco CEO John Chambers used his opening keynote at Interop to highlight a new security appliance Cisco announced on Tuesday. With the theme of security as an integrated, architectural component of the extended network, Chambers...

Dangers Lurk Along Windows' 64-Bit Upgrade Path.
May 3, 2005... Microsoft Corp. is encouraging PC owners to make the move to 64-bit software with a cut-price upgrade offer for its Windows XP Professional Edition x64 operating system, which came out last week. But there's a catch. Those who take...

Roving Planet Suite Manages Wi-Fi Networks.
May 3, 2005... Roving Planet has unveiled the latest in its series of software suites that bring management features to legacy wireless LANs. At the Interop trade show in Las Vegas this week, the company introduced Commander Suite 3.0 Enterprise Edition,...

eBay Security Officer Leaves for Hardware Startup.
May 3, 2005... Howard Schmidt, perhaps the United States' most visible chief security officer, has left online auction house eBay Inc. and is donning the jersey of a startup security hardware vendor. Schmidt said goodbye to eBay on May 1, and hello to...

Princeton Softech Customizes Human Capital Management.
May 3, 2005... The newest release of Princeton Softech's data-retention software for PeopleSoft allows organizations to manage applicant data in addition to managing data retention for current employees. The latest release of Active Archive Solutions for...

Apple Mega Patch Plugs 20 Mac OS X Holes.
May 3, 2005... Apple Computer late Tuesday released an update to fix a whopping 20 security flaws in its flagship Mac OS X and warned that the most serious bugs could lead to remote code execution attacks. Apple Computer Inc.'s Security Update 2005-005...

EDS Profit Beats View.(Electronic Data Systems Corp.)
May 3, 2005... NEW YORK (Reuters)--Electronic Data Systems Corp. said on Monday it swung to a quarterly profit after cutting costs and renegotiating some contracts, but it slashed its 2005 earnings forecast due to investments planned for new business with the...

Sony Ships Dual-Format, Dual-Layer Burners.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Sony Electronics has announced the next generation of its DRU-series DVD burners, adding two-layer recording support for both popular drive formats. The internal DRU-800A is currently shipping for about $130, while the external DRX-800UL...

Apple Upgrades iMac G5.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Apple Computer introduced an updated version of its iMac G5 computer Tuesday to include faster 64-bit processors and graphics capabilities. The machine is set to take advantage of the new "Tiger" operating system, which will be bundled with the...

Brocade Invests in Tacit's WAFS Solution.(Wide Area File Services)
May 3, 2005... In a move intended to provide a combined SAN and file networking infrastructure to enterprises using Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 platform, Brocade Communications has purchased a minority ownership share in privately held Tacit Networks. ...

U.S. Military's PDF Fiasco Was Avoidable.(Portable Document Format)(Column)
May 3, 2005... When I first heard on the radio that secret information had been found hidden in a document given to media by the U.S. military in Iraq, my first thought was Microsoft Word. Most people don't realize how much information Word (along with...

India Aims to Convince Intel to Build Plant There.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... NEW DELHI (Reuters)--India's information technology minister will travel to the United States this month to meet the top brass of Intel to encourage the computer chip giant to choose India over China for its new factory. "I'll be going to...

Sun Micro Announces New Network Services Offerings.
May 3, 2005... There is an updated version of this story available. For the most recent version, click here [link omitted]. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)-- Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday announced new services that run on its grid of Sun networks computers,...

Tiger Bugs Break Networking Software.
May 3, 2005... Some enterprise networking software developers have discovered that their products are not compatible with Apple Computer Inc.'s new "Tiger" operating system and are recommending that their customers hold off on upgrading to Tiger, Ziff Davis...

VeriSign Opens India Tech Center, to Ramp Up Staff.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... BANGALORE (Reuters)--VeriSign Inc., which provides infrastructure services to enable e-commerce and content delivery over the Internet, said on Tuesday it opened an India technology center which would have 200 staff by the end of 2007. The...

Privacy Experts Scoff at Government's Plans to Secure E-Passports.
May 3, 2005... Security experts and civil libertarians reacted with skepticism to the government's recent decision to reconsider data protection measures for new RFID passports. The "e-passports," as they've been nicknamed, were originally slated for spring...

Gates Looks Toward Challenges, Opportunities for Windows.(Interview)
May 3, 2005... As Microsoft Corp. enters its third decade of Windows computing, the company's effort is focused on the move to 64-bit computing and the release of Windows Longhorn. At last week's WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) in Seattle,...

Metro's Real Target: Control of Document Standards.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... When Microsoft announced its plans for the "PDF killer" Metro, a lot of thought was given to the likelihood (or not) of this format becoming a credible alternative to Adobe's solidly installed PDF format. It is true that the announcement,...

Recognizing Toxic Management and Crushing It.
May 3, 2005... With the job market a little healthier in most regions than it has been in four years, it's time to gird your loins and participate in a dangerous but useful workplace sport: purging the toxic waste among you. While only a small minority...

New Sony Dual-Format, Dual-Layer Burners Ship.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Sony Electronics has announced the next generation of its DRU series DVD burners, adding both two-layer recording support for both popular drive formats. The internal DRU-800A is currently shipping for about $130, while the external...

Longhorn to Get a Social-Networking Infusion.
May 3, 2005... Social-networking technologies, including blogs, Wikis, and RSS, are likely to play a key part in the Longhorn "Aero" interface, based on a recent reorganization at Microsoft Corp. In late April, the Redmond, Wash., software developer...

Novell Acquires Valuable B2B, Web Services Patents.
May 3, 2005... It has been revealed that Novell picked up 39 important business-to-business electronic commerce and Web services patents from bankrupt Commerce One recently, and the company has declared its intention to use them to protect its open-source...

New Tape Products Are Tip of the Iceberg.
May 3, 2005... Several tape vendors have announced new products designed to capture the growing market for storage of e-mail and compliance data. Automated tape storage vendor Qualstar Corp. of Simi Valley, Calif., announced the RLS-8204...

Cyclades Extends Out-of-Band Management to Remote Offices.(AlterPath OnSite)
May 3, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Out-of-band infrastructure provider Cyclades will extend its AlterPath System to remote branch offices and will allow HP OpenView users to access its out-of-band management system from within OpenView. The new AlterPath OnSite...

Akamai Unveils Web Application Accelerator.
May 3, 2005... Akamai has created a managed service aimed at speeding up Web-based enterprise applications. The company's Web Application Accelerator can be used for a variety of applications, Akamai Technologies Inc. noted, including customer-facing...

Symantec Patches ICMP Denial-of-Service Flaw.(Internet Control Message Protocol)
May 3, 2005... Symantec late Monday became the latest vendor to ship a batch of enterprise-facing product upgrades to protect against a known vulnerability in a widely used messaging protocol. The Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp. said in an advisory...

FreeHand Hangs in the Balance Again.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... In the wake of Adobe Systems' proposed acquisition of Macromedia, it may be too soon to tell the fate of Macromedia's vector-drawing program FreeHand MX. For many years, FreeHand and Adobe's Illustrator battled each other for graphics...

When it Comes to Data, Less is Better.
May 3, 2005... Polo Ralph Lauren loses the personal information of 180,000 HSBC North America customers. DSW Shoe Warehouse discovers credit card and check data on 1.4 million transactions has been stolen. Bank of America loses backup tapes with the personal...

MPAA Leader Weighs In on Grokster Case.(Dan Glickman about MGM Studios v. Grokster Ltd. 380 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2004))(Interview)
May 4, 2005... Dan Glickman, a former congressman and a Cabinet member in the Clinton administration, took over as CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America last fall. Although Glickman didn't initiate the association's lawsuits, which have led to...

Juniper CEO Offers a Reality Check at Interop.(speeches of Scott Kriens of Juniper Networks Inc.)
May 4, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Juniper Networks Inc. Chairman and CEO Scott Kriens in his Wednesday keynote address at the annual Interop networking and infrastructure show here tried to help attendees sift through the vendor hype to help them solve real business...

Rio Rancho Boasts First Metro 'VOWi-Fi' Service.(voice-over-wireless fidelity)(Azulstar Networks and Ecuity Advanced Communications Inc.'s new service)
May 4, 2005... Carrier-class voice-over-Wi-Fi telephone service, the first of its kind in a U.S. metro deployment, is now available in Rio Rancho, N.M. The service, developed by Azulstar Networks and its partner, Ecuity Advanced Communications Inc.,...

Connecticut Sues Vonage Over 911 Policy.(Richard Blumenthal's suit against Vonage Holdings Corp.)
May 4, 2005... WASHINGTON (Reuters)--Connecticut's attorney general on Tuesday sued Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp., accusing the company of "misleading customers" about the limits of 911 emergency calling over its service. The lawsuit,...

IBM Unveils Wireless Education Services.
May 4, 2005... PHILADELPHIA--Trading on its experience in technology build-outs at campuses around the country, IBM is rolling out a campus service package for wireless broadband communications and voice-over-IP networks. The company announced the package...

U.S. Needs Muni Wi-Fi to Plug Broadband Wireless Gap.(W2i Digital Cities Convention)
May 4, 2005... PHILADELPHIA--Broadband Internet access in the United States is languishing behind other countries and without municipal Wi-Fi projects the situation is only likely to get worse. That was the consensus of industry leaders who gathered here...

U.S. Cities Set Up Their Own Wireless Networks.
May 4, 2005... PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)--A number of U.S. cities are becoming giant wireless "hot spots" where Internet users will be able to log on from the beach or a bus stop, a trend that is triggering a fierce backlash from telecom and cable giants. ...

IBM Says to Cut Up to 13,000 Jobs in Restructuring.
May 4, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--International Business Machines Corp. said on Wednesday it would cut up to 13,000 jobs, primarily in Europe, as part a global cost-cutting plan that will result in a pre-tax charge of $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion. ...

Speakeasy Launches Wireless Broadband in Seattle.(Brief Article)
May 4, 2005... SEATTLE (Reuters)--Speakeasy Inc., a privately owned Internet broadband provider, on Wednesday launched an Internet access service for businesses using new wireless technology that it said was faster and easier to deploy than its current...

AMD: No Single Cores Left Behind.(launch of AMD Athlon 64)
May 4, 2005... Sometimes two processor cores aren't any better than one. Despite introducing Athlon 64 X2 desktop PC and Opteron server processors, with dual cores or two separate processors in the same package, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. says it will...

Microsoft to License Tech to Startups.(Microsoft Corp. launched IP Ventures group)(Brief Article)
May 4, 2005... As part of its burgeoning IP-licensing strategy, Microsoft Corp. has established a new division that will be charged with licensing technologies developed by Microsoft Research to startups and venture capitalists. Microsoft announced on...

Google Starts Tying Urchin to its Ad Services.(service enhancement)
May 4, 2005... Google has taken its first step to tie its recently acquired Web analytics service more closely to its pay-per-click advertising program. As part of a price cut for the Urchin On Demand software announced Tuesday, Google Inc. also added a...

IBM Unveils Data Integration Products.(IBM WebSphere Data Integration Suite)
May 4, 2005... WESTBORO, Mass.--IBM on Wednesday unveiled the first fruits of its Ascential Software Corp. integration: to wit, the next generation of WebSphere Data Integration Suite--an iteration that ties together into one common look and feel what was...

Showdown at Network Security Corral.(Cisco Systems Inc.'s Cisco ASA 5500)
May 4, 2005... After dominating the market for routers and switches, Cisco has barged into the security market, using a series of multimillion-dollar acquisitions to build out its product portfolio. Now, as part of a new ATD (Adaptive Threat Defense)...

Has IBM Bitten Off More Than It Can Integrate?(International Business Machines Corp. Information Management Division's acquisition of Ascential Software Corp.)
May 4, 2005... WESTBORO, Mass.--Like a cherry on top of a sundae, IBM's Information Management division on Wednesday put its newly acquired Ascential data integration technology on top of a stack of acquisitions that, it says, is deeper and broader than any...

Microsoft Adds a New Wrinkle to 'Genuine Advantage' Initiative.(service enhancement)
May 4, 2005... Microsoft Corp. is offering a new incentive to get Windows users to turn in vendors selling allegedly counterfeit products: It is offering to replace their pirated Windows copies for free. Microsoft announced the newest wrinkle to its...

Dishnet Aims for India-Wide WiFi Coverage in 2 Yrs.(Dishnet Wireless Ltd.'s service launch)
May 4, 2005... NEW DELHI (Reuters)--India's Dishnet Wireless Ltd. said on Wednesday it aims to dominate the nascent WiFi mobile Internet market by rolling out nationwide service in two years. Dishnet will use WiMax base stations to link WiFi "hot spots,"...

DataCore Serves Up Virtualization for Midmarket.(DataCore Software Corp. launches SANMelody 2.0)
May 4, 2005... DataCore has released a new version of its SANMelody disk server software with iSCSI capability and more virtualization features. SANMelody 2.0 now provides the ability to perform high-end failover and mirroring between two SANMelody disk...

Encryption, Backup Must Go Hand in Hand.
May 4, 2005... And the moral of this story is: Encrypt your backup data. That way, when your data storage vendor loses your tapes, you still have a reasonable defense mechanism in place. All those whose personal data has been lost will sleep better and...

Bluetooth Tech to Interoperate with UWB, Future Radios.(ultrawideband)(standards of Bluetooth Special Interest Group)
May 4, 2005... Members of two major ultrawideband camps applauded a proposal Wednesday to make the Bluetooth standard interoperable with future UWB products, the first step toward making Bluetooth a more open command protocol. Members of the Bluetooth...

Vonage Partners with Verizon to Boost 911 Services.(Brief Article)
May 4, 2005... Some voice over IP customers in select parts of the country could, within 6 months, have improved access to 911 emergency services, thanks to a new alliance forged between broadband phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. and Verizon. ...

Mail-Order Pharmacy May Dominate Drugstores.
May 4, 2005... The sign on the door of Medco's Willingboro, N.J., pharmacy looks just like a thousand similar signs posted at neighborhood pharmacies across the country. "Pharmacist in charge, Barry M. Cesanek," it reads. But that's where the familiarity...

A Motherboard with Built-In Wi-Fi: ASUS A8V-E Deluxe.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Plenty of nForce 4--based motherboards have come across our doorstep in the past couple of months, but we only recently got our hands on one of the newer PCIe, Socket 939 motherboards that uses VIA's K8T890 chipset. The Soltek SL-K890PRO...

Intel Targets Desktops, Servers with Processor Platform Strategy.
May 5, 2005... These days, notebooks are hotter than desktops. But Intel has a plan to keep businesses interested in the bigger boxes. The chip maker, whose executives briefed financial analysts on Thursday afternoon, aims to improve its desktop and...

Tiger Caged by SMB, Active Directory Problems.
May 5, 2005... A number of sites running Apple's new "Tiger" operating system are experiencing problems with SMB file sharing and authentication with Microsoft's Active Directory, Ziff Davis Internet News has learned. Although Apple Computer Inc.'s Tiger...

Sexy, Violent Games Take a Beating in Illinois.(Safe Games Illinois Act)
May 5, 2005... The Safe Games Illinois Act is forging a path through the Illinois Senate, as the state's Senate Housing and Community Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved the new piece of legislation. It will allow the state to rate games independent of...

ICANN Sticks Up for Trademark Holders.
May 5, 2005... Did you ever wonder what happens to those domains, like [BigCompanyname]sucks.com, that some guy registers to criticize BigCompany? Turns out there's a procedure for these things. I've given ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned...

IBM: Restructuring Will Save Up to $2 Billion.(International Business Machines Corp.)
May 5, 2005... IBM's restructuring plans, which will include 10,000 to 13,000 job cuts, will save the company $300 million to $500 million in the second half of the year, and two to three times that in 2006. Speaking to analysts and reporters Thursday...

AOL Builds Browser into AIM.(America Online Inc)
May 5, 2005... America Online Inc. is bundling its own Web browser into the newest versions of AOL Instant Messenger in an effort that is likely to expose a wider swath of users to the browsing features it has built atop Internet Explorer. The recently...

Google App Speeds Up Web Surfing.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Now that it's mastered loading search results in fractions of a second, Google has opened up its massive computing power to the masses with one goal in mind: to speed up Web surfing. The company has released the Google Web Accelerator, which...

AOL Opens Blog Service to IM Users.(America Online Inc.)(Instant Messaging )
May 5, 2005... Users of AOL's popular instant messaging services can now turn their chats into Weblogs. America Online Inc. on Thursday opened its AOL Journals blog-publishing service to members of AOL Instant Messenger members, letting them create and...

Lenovo Hangs Up Virtual Shingle.
May 5, 2005... Lenovo Group Ltd. has established a new online outpost, with a look at things to come. The Chinese PC giant, which completed its acquisition of IBM's PC group earlier this week, has set up shop at Lenovo.com. The site, which replaces...

Microsoft Patch Day: 1 Bulletin Expected.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... It's expected to be a relatively quiet patch day for IT security administrators managing Windows systems. Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced plans to release just one security bulletin on May 10 to provide a fix for flaws in the Windows...

Phishers Dodge Shutdowns by Striking via 'Botnets'.(Intelguardians Network Intelligence LLC)
May 5, 2005... Phishing attacks may be Security researchers have uncovered evidence of a highly organized phishing network implementing a new tactic to keep malicious Web sites online: using botnets as DNS (Domain Name System) servers. "This is a...

Sources: FCC Boss Proposes 911 for Internet Phones.(Federal Communications Commission )
May 5, 2005... WASHINGTON (Reuters)--U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed requiring Internet-based telephone services to offer 911 emergency services to customers by as early as the end of September, people familiar with...