Network World articles from April 2005

Network World archives from April 2005

X Games; How difficult is it to set up 802.11x authentication?
April 4, 2005... Byline: Joel Snyder X Games How difficult is it to set up 802.11x authentication? Extreme tester Joel Snyder provides a minute-by-minute account of his 802.1X adventure. By JOEL SNYDER, NETWORK WORLD LAB ALLIANCE Using...

Switching into overtime.(testing 802.1X on a network)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Byline: JOEL SYNDER If you've got 5 more minutes, you can also turn on wired 802.1X on LAN switches from all major vendors. In a wired environment, 802.1X doesn't give you encryption, but it does give strong authentication. With 802.1X in...

RFID is really getting under people's skin; And that's a good thing, say early wireless chip implantees.
April 4, 2005... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER RFID is really getting under people's skin And that's a good thing, say early wireless chip implantees. Joseph Krull doesn't have a chip on his shoulder. But he has one in it. The San Antonio security...

SonicWall's PRO 1260 Enhanced offers flexibility at the low end.(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Joel Synder, Network World Lab Alliance SonicWall's PRO 1260 Enhanced offers flexibility at the low end SonicWall's new PRO 1260 Enhanced gear combines the brains of its popular TZ-series firewalls with the body of a 25-port...

How we did it.
April 4, 2005... How we did it We installed the PRO 1260 Enhanced running v3.0 Enhanced SonicOS in our lab network in front of 16 production Web servers to check security functionality and configurability. After running without incident for several days,...

We interrupt this broadcast . . .(alert systems)
April 4, 2005... Believe it or not, the "War of the Worlds" hit Connecticut on Feb. 1. The state was being invaded, and all residents were told to evacuate. Think I'm kidding? OK, the alien invasion part is not true, but on Feb. 1, Connecticut residents were...

Tip of the iceberg.(Letter to the Editor)
April 4, 2005... Tip of the iceberg I wonder if other readers are as surprised as I am by the huge media buzz surrounding the ChoicePoint security breach (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 6525). The number of consumers reportedly compromised by ChoicePoint...

Is two-factor authentication too little, too late? Two security experts debate whether two-factor authentication can handle today's network attacks.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Joe Uniejewski Every day, two-factor authentication - ATM-style identification combining the use of something you know (a password) with something you have (a token) - proves itself to be an essential part of broad-based...

Chief security officers lose clout.
April 4, 2005... Chief security officers are starting to lose their executive management influence. The chief security officer position became popular after Sept. 11, 2001, when many CEOs and boards made security and business continuity, rightfully, their top...

Is two-factor authentication too little, too late? Two security experts debate whether two-factor authentication can handle today's network attacks.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Yes, by Bruce Schneier, Counterpane Recently I published an essay arguing that two-factor authentication is an ineffective defense against identity theft (see www.schneier.com/essay-083.html). For example, issuing tokens to online...

Keep your hands on the wheel; Seeking to minimize dangerous driving, some firms ban employees from talking on a wireless handset.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Keep your hands on the wheel Seeking to minimize dangerous driving, some firms ban employees from talking on a wireless handset. By Denise Pappalardo Wireless cell phone usage policies are...

BPEL standardizes process management.(Business Process Execution Language)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Stephen Hood Business process management provides a graphical approach to automating and monitoring business activities, integrating enterprise applications and managing manual tasks. Historically, BPM products have utilized their...

Federal contract a sign of telco changes.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan The federal government next month will launch a 10-year, $20 billion telecom services buy that has attracted the attention of every major U.S. service provider. The so-called Networx deal is important not only...

A Swiss Army-type CD/DVD kit.(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Mark Gibbs This week we have the CD/DVD equivalent of a Swiss Army knife: The VirtualDrive Utility & Burning Suite from Farstone (details at www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 6530), which, for the sake of brevity, we shall refer to as...

Bringing security to instant messaging.
April 4, 2005... Byline: CARA GARRETSON In February, the first arrest was made of a man who violated the CAN-SPAM law by sending unsolicited commercial messages not over traditional e-mail but over instant messaging. Given the rate at which e-mail threats,...

Implications of an improving Internet.
April 4, 2005... Most of the Internet has been getting better over the past few years. In much of the world, the Internet is now good enough for all but the most demanding applications. This improvement has been in the default "best effort" service and...

A Novell BrainShare debriefing.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Dave Kearns Low-key. That's how I'd sum up Novell's annual BrainShare conference, which I attended two weeks ago. I've been to 15 of these events (since before it was called BrainShare), but the most recent was only my first in...

News Bits.(Microsoft last week filed suit against 117 operators of phishing Web sites)(VeriSign is the leading contender to operate the .net registry)(Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has rebuked several countries, most notably China, Japan and India, for hampering the access of U.S. companies to their domestic markets for telecom services)
April 4, 2005... n Microsoft last week filed suit against 117 operators of phishing Web sites in an attempt to clamp down on what has become a top consumer problem. The Federal Trade Commission listed identity theft, which often is facilitated by phishing Web...

ISS unveils new IPS appliances.(Internet Security Systems introduces intrusion-prevention systems)
April 4, 2005... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Internet Security Systems this week is expected to take the wraps off two intrusion-prevention systems - the Proventia G400 and G2000 - designed to block spyware and hundreds of types of attacks. With the G2000,...

Net.Worker Short Takes.(EarthLink has announced a VPN service for its small-business customers)(Buffalo Technology has teamed with Tanagra to bundle a trial version of Tanagra's back-up software Memeo)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... n EarthLink has announced a VPN service for its small-business customers. Based on the managed VPN services platform from Positive Networks, EarthLink VPN offers client- and Web-based access to data and applications on the corporate network....

Net Infrastructure Short Takes.(NCipher this week is expected to announce that its SecureDB database encryption software has been expanded beyond Oracle to support Microsoft and IBM databases.)(McAfee this week is expected to announce that its Priority and Enterprise security maintenance and support agreements, the two contracts that cover the entire McAfee product line for corporations, are being replaced with new contract agreements)(Alcatel this week is expected to launch its OmniSwitch 6800L series of switches)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... n NCipher this week is expected to announce that its SecureDB database encryption software has been expanded beyond Oracle to support Microsoft and IBM databases. The nCipher encryption engine runs directly on the database server. The product...

Linux making its mark in messaging.
April 4, 2005... Byline: John Fontana In the past decade, the biggest winner on the e-mail server landscape has not been IBM/Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange, but Windows, the operating system that supports the majority of messaging and collaboration...

SSL VPN vendor charts new course.(Secure Sockets Layer, Virtual Private Networks)(Interview)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Tim Greene Corporations are looking to let more mobile employees - and non-employees - access their networks, and SSL VPNs are a way to support this shift, says Evan Kaplan, CEO of SSL VPN vendor Aventail. Kaplan says businesses...

Briefs.(Iomega announced a network-attached storage server)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... n Iomega last week announced a network-attached storage server for use in workgroups and departments. The rack-mountable NAS 300r is available in three models, with capacities ranging from 320G to 500G bytes. It has hot-swappable drives for...

Briefs.(Brix Networks has added $5 million in venture capital)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... n Brix Networks, which makes hardware and software for monitoring VoIP performance, last week said it has added $5 million in venture capital funding. The Chelmsford, Mass., company now has raised about $60 million over five rounds since its...

Study: Licensing stalls grid computing.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Jennifer Mears A new report by The 451 Group suggests that the traditional per-CPU software licensing model is throwing a wrench in widespread adoption of grid computing. Because grids consume computing resources dynamically,...

RSS spreading its wings.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Paul McNamara RSS spreading its wings RSS isn't only for blogs and online news sites anymore: Corporations are beginning to see potential in this increasingly popular communication channel for keeping in touch not only with...

Peribit touts software that speeds traffic.
April 4, 2005... Byline: TIM GREENE Peribit is set to add acceleration of certain Microsoft applications to its WAN appliances to reduce response times between users at one site and servers at another. Called AppsFlow, the new software for Peribit...

McKesson teleworks nursing care.
April 4, 2005... Byline: TONI KISTNER Whether nurses work in hospitals, private practice or dispense medical advice over the phone, they are social animals, caregivers. At the call centers of McKesson Health Solutions, nurse-agents are quick to celebrate...

Ask Dr. Internet.(free Web photo-album generator that indexes document files)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass Is there a free Web photo-album generator that indexes document files in addition to pictures? There are many Web album-generator packages, but the one I like is JAlbum, a free Java application with...

MCI-Verizon: A happy ending, but for whom?
April 4, 2005... Byline: Johna Till Johnson In telecom's version of "The Bachelorette," at the 11th hour MCI spurned Qwest's $8.45 billion proposal last week to go with a sweetened Verizon offer of $7.6 billion. The markets applauded: Verizon's shares rose...

Cool Tools.(Targus docking station, Epson LCD projector, HP Media Center PCs)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Keith Shaw Targus ships docking station for notebooks, tablets Targus recently launched a USB-based docking station for notebooks or tablet PCs that includes video output and stereo audio output. The $150 Universal Notebook...

IBM/Lotus embraces telephony.
April 4, 2005... Byline: JOHN FONTANA IBM/Lotus this fall plans to offer technology that will enable users to integrate VoIP or any other telephony service with their collaboration applications. The service provider interface (SPI) is largely designed...

Reshaping the telecom landscape.
April 4, 2005... Byline: John Dix Although hurdles remain, it seems likely that Verizon will finally succeed in its bid to acquire MCI, culminating a frenzied period of industry consolidation that, while painful in the short term, will lead to stability...

Grokster: If the suit doesn't fit.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Mark Gibbs Complex problems rarely have simple causes. Moreover, trying to solve a complex problem as if it were simple usually creates even more problems. But such is the case with the entertainment industry and the highly...

Oracle buys Oblix for ID mgmt.
April 4, 2005... Byline: JOHN FONTANA As a result of continued consolidation, the identity management market is taking on a whole new identity. Oracle's $93 million acquisition of Oblix last week is the latest example of an independent...

Spyware flap looks headed for court.
April 4, 2005... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER A legal showdown is brewing between anti-spyware vendors and adware marketing companies that contend their software has been unfairly targeted for detection and deletion. In between the combatants stand IT...

Cisco reportedly readying XML switch.
April 4, 2005... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Cisco is expected to enter the emerging market of XML network gear, as the company reportedly is preparing a device that can accelerate XML and other message-based traffic. The XML product is being developed by a...

Broadband case goes to Supreme Court.
April 4, 2005... Byline: JIM DUFFY Though chiefly a consumer issue, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court could determine the pace of next-generation enterprise service rollouts from carriers and cable companies. The court is hearing National Cable and...

HIPAA compliance: Now and forever; As a deadline approaches, survey finds most are ready, although issues remain.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
April 4, 2005... Byline: DENI CONNOR AND DENISE DUBIE Healthcare and related organizations have just over two weeks to meet new rules for protecting patient data or face possible fines, criminal penalties and negative publicity. While many IT professionals...

HIPAA compliance: Now and forever; Security mgmt. vendors promise to keep customers in compliance.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
April 4, 2005... Byline: DENISE DUBIE A slew of start-ups are rolling out tools to help newly compliant IT shops monitor, maintain and enforce compliance policies. Meeting the demands of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),...

Microsoft beefs up SQL Server database.
April 4, 2005... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ Microsoft last week shared details about the business intelligence features it is adding to the forthcoming SQL Server 2005 database, code-named Yukon. New data integration, analysis and reporting tools are intended to...

MCI to offer service that blocks DoS and worm attacks.
April 4, 2005... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO MCI is expected to launch a new security service this month that the company says will proactively thwart denial-of-service and worm attacks. The service, called WAN Defense, detects and stops threatening...

New HP head not in a rush.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Byline: STACY COWLEY In his first encounter with Wall Street analysts as HP's new leader, incoming CEO Mark Hurd, refused to map out his plans for the company's direction. Hurd said he would spend the next few months learning about HP...

Fighting back against phishing; In the past year, attacks have grown in volume and sophistication, but online merchants are on the offensive with consumer education and new authentication tools.
April 11, 2005... Byline: DEBORAH RADCLIFF First, the good news: Since we first reported on the rising threat of phishing attacks last spring, e-businesses have moved quickly to combat phishers, consumers are learning to be more discerning, and vendors are...

Hooking a phisher.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Deborah Radcliff Hooking a phisher A week after the Dec. 26 tsunami decimated the coast of Indonesia, phishers were using the crisis to try to steal money and account information from people wanting to donate to the cause. ...

Phisher's tacklebox.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Deborah Radcliff Phisher's tacklebox Phishers are becoming sneakier, more organized and more adept at bypassing filters. They use a range of malware including worms, viruses and spyware to get at confidential data even when...

Letters to the editor.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Readers An excuse for bad parenting To me RFID tags sound like another excuse for bad parenting, like giving kids prescription drugs rather than trying to figure out why they're acting out. Good kids will always be where they...

Users find dual roles for mgmt. tools.
April 11, 2005... Byline: DENISE DUBIE When it comes to management software, there's something to be said for double dipping. Take Aram Eblighantian's experience consulting for mailing giant Pitney Bowes. He bought the BigFix Enterprise Suite last...

Employers seek RFID expertise.(Radio Frequency Identification)
April 11, 2005... Employers seek RFID expertise As retailers and manufacturers ramp up RFID deployments, professionals with the expertise to introduce the technology to supply chain processes are a hot commodity. By Ann Bednarz With two years...

New FCC head has bigger bugs to fry.(Federal Communications Commission)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Kevin Martin is reportedly a hard-liner on indecency: He's said that broadcasters' First Amendment rights should be limited by both law and "good taste," which presumably he plans to define during his tenure as...

Seeds of the past bear fruit today.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Chris Shipley In a previous column, I described the Demo Conference as a lens focused on the trends that would define the year ahead. But as much as Demo is a lens for looking forward, this year's event also proved to be a mirror...

Get ready for corporate P2P apps.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Frank Dzubeck Peer-to-peer networking has caused a dramatic increase in Internet traffic. Today, the major P2P user is the consumer, and the major application is media file sharing. Music, movies and the like now are available to...

Spam management; Symantec slows spam at the edge.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Joel Snyder Spam management Symantec slows spam at the edge By Joel Snyder, Network World Lab Alliance ymantec's new Mail Security 8100 Series appliance offers a twist on spam management. It limits the amount of...

0411symantechow we did it.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Joel Snyder How We Did It We used a combination of Spirent's WebAvalanche and WebReflector tools with Shunra's Virtual Enterprise WAN emulation tool to performance test the Symantec Mail Security 8160 appliance. We used...

IAX protocol simplifies VoIP.(Voice over Internet Protocol)
April 11, 2005... Byline: RICK SEGREST One reason analog telephones are still around is that you can buy an inexpensive model, plug it in and begin making calls right away. When was the last time you were able to do that with a new IP phone? Most VoIP...

McData last week introduced two 4G-bit Fibre Channel switches for use in storage-area networks.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... McData last week introduced two 4G-bit Fibre Channel switches for use in storage-area networks. The Sphereon 440 has eight to 16 ports; the Sphereon 4700 has 16 to 32 ports. They use McData's FlexPort technology, which lets customers upgrade in...

Check Point set to defend security turf.
April 11, 2005... Byline: TIM GREENE Check Point next month intends to announce its major software upgrade of the year - a package that will include VoIP improvements and enhanced auditing - in a move industry experts call critical to the company's...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Readers Regarding Johna Till Johnson's column, "Hate Sarbox? Blame Bernie Ebbers" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 6627): The Bernie Ebbers case has been interesting not just from a legal and business standpoint but also because it...

Forgetting the public future.(Column)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Scott Bradner One of the historically most important forces in technological innovation apparently has decided to focus on the short term at the expense of the future. The New York Times felt that this change was important enough...

Telecom tax structure in for an overhaul?
April 11, 2005... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN For the first time in 40 years, the nation's telecom tax system might be getting an overhaul. The federal excise tax on communications services - which adds 3% to the cost of voice services - had its last...

Vetting back-up services: Meet SAS 70.(Column)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Kevin Tolly As I write, my last column on back-up services has been posted only three days, but responses already are coming from services vendors. While I've not yet heard from my "placeholder" company, LiveVault, a competitor...

Microsoft readies security alerts.
April 11, 2005... n Microsoft on Tuesday plans to issue eight security alerts with patches for Windows, Office, MSN Messenger and Exchange. Five of the bulletins apply to Windows and at least one of those is deemed critical, Microsoft said in a notice posted on...

short takes.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... AT&T last week announced a three-year, $8.5 million deal to provide manufacturing company Saint Gobain with Multi-protocol Label Switching IP VPN services in the U.S. and Asia. Saint Gobain makes a variety of products including home insulation...

Check Point adds wireless to VPN box.(Virtual private networks)
April 11, 2005... Byline: TIM GREENE Check Point this week is expected to announce a small-office firewall/VPN appliance that supports wireless access, making it possible to streamline setting up LANs and WANs in remote corporate offices. Called VPN-1...

Software aimed at corralling USB storage devices.
April 11, 2005... Byline: JOHN COX Centennial Software last week aired a product designed to help secure networks by letting companies better control portable USB-based storage devices such as flash drives and even iPods. DeviceWall employs a server...

Goodbye, NetWare; hello, Unicenter.(Interview)
April 11, 2005... Ex-Novell CTO Alan Nugent last week officially joined Computer Associates as senior vice president and general manager of the company's newly designated Enterprise Systems Management unit, home to CA's Unicenter network and systems management...

Hackers, Windows passwords, Linux and Knoppix.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Mark Gibbs Being the kind of technical person you are, you most likely identify with the old-time hacker ethic and disdain the popular use of the word "hacker" when "cracker" would be more apropos. Well, Eric Steven Raymond,...

Alacritech NICs open larger server pipe.(network interface cards )
April 11, 2005... Byline: n BY PHIL HOCHMUTH Alacritech last week released eight new server network interface cards that combine multi-port Gigabit Ethernet connectivity with a TCP/IP offload chip for speeding application processing. The multi-port...

Cool Tools.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Keith Shaw After weeks of traveling we're a little exhausted, so we broke out some fun things that aimed to make us feel younger and hipper: The scoop: F9100 Instant Messaging Phone, about $150 (with two-year contract and...

Carrier life after Chapter 11; Global Crossing continues to refocus on enterprise customers.
April 11, 2005... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Nearly six months after announcing its shift to more squarely focus on enterprise business customers, international service provider Global Crossing is still waiting for all the clouds to clear. Global...

D.C. spyware discussion.
April 11, 2005... Byline: John Dix The need for legislation that would define spyware and criminalize its distribution heated up last month when Claria asked Computer Associates to disable the ability of Pest Control to detect Gator, which Claria claims is...

EMC revamps SAN tool.(Storage area networks)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Byline: DENI CONNOR Kevin Violette had enough things to worry about when the University of North Carolina Wilmington recently moved a data center. The last thing he wanted to mess around on was the school's storage-area network upgrade....

Users laud open source VPN code.(Virtual private networks)
April 11, 2005... Byline: TIM GREENE Businesses interested in VPNs need not spend any money to find out more, because there is a wealth of open source VPN code available with which to experiment. In fact, they might find the free software meets their...

IBM bundles key WebSphere products for retailers.
April 11, 2005... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ IBM last week announced more integrated versions of its e-commerce, portal and product information management software designed to make it easier for retailers and manufacturers to tie together product, pricing and...

Demantra this week plans to add an application to its supply-chain planning and promotion management lineup.(Demantra Ltd)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Demantra this week plans to add an application to its supply-chain planning and promotion management lineup. The new software, called Demantra Real-Time Sales & Operations Planning, is aimed at improving sales forecasting and revenue planning...

Ask Dr. Internet.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass We have several old technical documentation in text files that have lots of line-drawing characters. We want to convert the documents to PDF files. We know we can load them in a word processor and print...

HP to dump eight-way servers.
April 11, 2005... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS HP, which leads the x86 server market, has followed rival Dell in scrapping its line of eight-processor, Xeon-based systems, saying that new, more powerful chips coupled with a growing interest in tying together...

MCI cites headway with IPv6.
April 11, 2005... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN IPv6, the long-awaited upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol, might be showing signs of life with last week's announcement of MCI's first commercial customer for IPv6 services. Seattle...

Higher ed learns notebook PC lessons.
April 11, 2005... Byline: JOHN COX WORCESTER, MASS. - More colleges and universities are requiring students to have notebook computers. And the notebook growth is sparking far-ranging changes in the way these institutions do computing. One issue is...

What would Gekko do?
April 11, 2005... Byline: Paul McNamara What would Gekko do? Unlike the readers of Network World, Gordon Gekko never held responsibility for providing telecom services to thousands of employees scattered across the globe. So the proudly amoral movie...

Microsoft said last week it was delaying its server designed for high-performance supercomputing and would deliver the software in the first half of 2006 instead of later this year.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Microsoft said last week it was delaying its server designed for high-performance supercomputing and would deliver the software in the first half of 2006 instead of later this year. As part of the delay, the first beta for Windows Server 2003...

Talkin' trash: One outfit's story of e-commerce; How 1-800-GOT-JUNK is using its intranet.
April 11, 2005... Byline: BETH SCHULTZ Talkin' trash: One outfit'sstory of e-commerce How 1-800-GOT-JUNK is using its intranetto clean up in the rubbish-removal business. Imagine a corporate warehouse full of dilapidated office furniture,...

FullArmor boosting range of Microsoft mgmt. policy.
April 11, 2005... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Policy management vendor FullArmor this week is expected to introduce software that will extend the ability to centrally manage settings on Microsoft desktops and servers to computers routinely disconnected from...