Network World articles from August 2003

Network World archives from August 2003

Are SSL-based VPNs a better bet than IPSec VPNs? Two industry experts debate the strengths and weaknesses of SSL and IPSec VPNs.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Yes, by Chris Hopen Secure Sockets Layer VPNs are the superior option for secure "anywhere" remote access. Why? SSL VPNs let companies extend secure remote access to more people, places, devices and network resources than...

Face-off: Are SSL-based VPNS a better bet than IPSec VPNs?
August 4, 2003... Byline: No, by Brian Feng IP Security VPNs remain the best choice for connecting multiple private networks over the Internet. IPSec operates at the network layer, securing all data between endpoints, regardless of application. It...

Prioritized policy routing needed.
August 4, 2003... Byline: James Kobielus Policy infrastructure is the "control bus" that harnesses distributed systems to enterprise requirements. Policies, administered centrally, must propagate promptly, consistently and reliably to the target nodes and...

Spenders and savers.(Column)
August 4, 2003... Spenders and savers Analyzing your peers' IT investment styles can help bring greater returns. By Tom Pisello IT spending is still under intense scrutiny as companies continue to shrink expenses and tighten their belts. Factor in...

Supersizing existing WAN connections.(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Curtis Franklin and Greg Goddard, Network World Global Test Alliance Network compression devices Supersizing existing WAN connections n by CURTIS FRANKLIN and GREG GODDARD, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE Squeezing...

Other spam fallout.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Bill Clark Regarding Mark Gibbs' Backspin column "What spam really costs" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7025): Don't forget the applications made impractical or impossible by spam. For example, is your "mail received" gong still...

WLAN security: Users face complex challenges; INFRASTRUCTURE: Keeping wireless networks secure.
August 4, 2003... Byline: JOHN COX Not long ago, the complaint heard about wireless LAN security was that there wasn't enough of it. Now there's almost too much. Network executives today face a bewildering number of approaches to solve what's been a...

What is an IPS, anyway?(intrusion-prevention systems)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Joel Snyder During Network World's recent Security Technology Tour, we received a lot of questions about intrusion-prevention systems. The problem is that there is little agreement on what an IPS really is. The security experts...

802.1S solves architecture issues.(IEEE Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol )
August 4, 2003... Byline: MICHAEL WARD Network managers designing Layer 2 networks have long relied on IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol to provide redundancy while ensuring loop-free connectivity among multiple network bridges and switches. However, the...

Microsoft's contribution to the 'jobless recovery'.(Column)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Kevin Tolly Historically, economists tell us, a key element and indicator of an economic recovery is a rebound in the job market - except this time around. Our current "jobless recovery," they say, is due in part to the fact that...

ISPs slow to upgrade nets for dial-up.
August 4, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Although millions of users still depend on dial-up Internet access service when traveling or working from a home office, the benefits provided by the newest modem specification remain unavailable to many of them....

'Go away,' he explained.
August 4, 2003... Byline: scott bradner The state of Maryland might have decided that efficiency is more important than democracy. I am quite sure many in the state don't see it that way, but one must judge the results of actions not just what might have...

News briefs.
August 4, 2003... Byline: staff writers StorageNetworks, the once high-flying storage service provider, is liquidating operations. The company last week fired most of its employees and announced that CEO Paul Flanagan was leaving immediately. The troubled...

DARPA deserves better.(Column)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Paul McNamara DARPA deserves better Rarely does even the wackiest idea crash and burn so soon after liftoff - especially in Washington, where wacky ideas are what you want to be hiding under should there ever be a nuclear...

Infrastructure Short Takes.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... SMC Networks last week announced a 12-port 10/100/1000M bit/sec switch that includes features such as security, management and quality-of-service support. The TigerSwitch SMC8612T could be deployed as a backbone switch for small networks or as...

Here comes home control; New IP services help mobile and remote workers monitor the home while away.
August 4, 2003... Byline: TONI KISTNER Forget The Clapper and Bill Gates' house. The first wave of Internet-enabled home-control and monitoring services are in sight, and they're reasonably priced, stable and truly useful. Such services can ease a...

SAN switching: Bigger is better.
August 4, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR Looking to ensure resource availability and reduce the number of hops in storage-area networks, many users are opting for ever-bigger storage switches. These director-level switches are high-port count,...

Service Providers briefs.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: staff writers Businesses looking to deploy enterprise content delivery networks, but hoping to avoid the headaches of managing them, have a couple of new options. MCI and Equant last week each announced enterprise CDN services....

Funk eases remote-control installations.(Proxy 4.1)
August 4, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE Funk Software is cutting down on the amount of firewall reconfiguration that customers have to perform in order to use its venerable remote-control software. The company's Proxy 4.1 version now supports TCP/IP and...

IBM boosts portal collaboration features.(WebSphere Portal 5.0 )
August 4, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS IBM says the latest version of its WebSphere portal will be easier for businesses to install and gives them broader capabilities to collaborate across heterogeneous applications. Among the updates in WebSphere...

Equipe makes pitch for MPLS core; Switch maker looking to entice incumbent Layer 2 service providers away from routers.
August 4, 2003... Byline: JIM DUFFY Equipe Communications last week became the latest Layer 2 core multiservice switch maker to unveil software that enables its switch to function as a label switching router in a Multi-protocol Label Switching backbone. ...

apps briefs.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... n NetLedger last week added the back office to its front-office line of hosted enterprise software with the introduction of NetERP, which supports supply-chain management and the deployment of e-commerce Web sites. NetERP ties procurement,...

Managed services: What's next?(Column)
August 4, 2003... Byline: Johna Till Johnson When you ask telecom executives how they plan to shore up their companies' sagging bottom lines, the answer is consistent: managed services. In theory, that sounds great. Outsourcing is perennially popular...

Net.worker briefs.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Byline: staff Eighty percent of senior executives expect to have teleworkers within two years, up from 54% today, according to a recent AT&T study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Drivers for the sharp increase include better...

Our network has several wireless access points, and system logs show unauthorized users have "borrowed" our Internet connection. What can we do to make the access points more secure?
August 4, 2003... Steve Blass Our network has several wireless access points, and system logs show unauthorized users have "borrowed" our Internet connection. What can we do to make the access points more secure? Finding wireless access points is a...

More Samba steps.(Server Message Block protocol)
August 4, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs We've been discussing Samba, the open source freeware implementation of the Server Message Block protocol, and last week we established a NetBIOS session between a client and a Samba server. Now we have to get the two...

The latest from the lab.(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 4, 2003... Byline: keith shaw Summertime is pretty busy around the Cool Tools Testing Zone - there doesn't seem to be a letup in the number of different products we're playing with. Here's the latest: SecureClean 4.0 I've always thought that...

Training: What do you want ?
August 4, 2003... Byline: Sandra Gittlen Many companies are well into the third year of budget restrictions, which makes it tough to stay ahead of the learning curve. One way to keep up is to attend free Network World seminars that examine emerging...

Nortel debuts advanced net services wares; SSL VPNs and acceleration for Web services traffic are among features aimed at smaller firms.
August 4, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Nortel last week announced hardware and software for smaller companies interested in deploying advanced network services such as intelligent firewalls, Secure-Sockets-Layer-based VPNs and traffic acceleration. ...

Opsware adds intelligent mgmt. with software.(Data Center Intelligence module for Opsware System 4)
August 4, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Opsware this week is scheduled to introduce software the company says can help network managers pull more usage, application and server performance data out of its flagship server-provisioning and change-management...

IPSec VPN alternatives gain ground.(Industry Overview)
August 4, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE Vendors say Secure Sockets Layer gear now can connect remote users to corporate networks as if they were on the LAN, just like IP Security gear does, but without having to install permanent VPN clients on remote...

Solving the spam equation.(Column)
August 4, 2003... Since my columns about a month ago on what spam really costs, I have received quite a few responses. Many were from IT folks who seem to be planning to use the spreadsheet I provided as a cudgel to get authorization for action. One company...

Hackers set up shop in state agency's server.
August 4, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Hackers had made a state agency's network their old Kentucky home before being discovered by auditors, who revealed the incident publicly ""last week. Kentucky State Auditor Ed Hatchett told reporters that the...

Some VoIP users still cling to TDM.
August 4, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Enterprise telephony vendors are clear that IP is the future, but customers haven't universally agreed how to get there. Some companies that made grand commitments to IP telephony are scaling back to hybrid...

Linux marches on Vendors ready to showcase latest wares at this week's LinuxWorld.(Industry Overview)
August 4, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS AND PHIL HOCHMUTH Despite the specter of The SCO Group's legal scuffle with IBM and Linux users, big players such as BEA Systems, HP, IBM, Sun and Veritas will roll out products and services at this week's LinuxWorld...

CC product evaluation picks up steam; But concerns grow that accredited labs are getting 'congested' with submitted products.(Common Criteria product-testing program)
August 4, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER The government-backed Common Criteria product-testing program is getting more attention from vendors as the Department of Defense widens its marching orders to buy tested products. However, new concerns are...

Linux marches on; Microsoft marshals forces to try to stem open source momentum.
August 4, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Linux's bark is turning into a bite for Microsoft. As a result, the software giant is stepping up to protect itself and keep corporate customers from turning to the open-source operating system to satisfy server and...

New scandal only adds to MCI's woes.(accused of rerouting calls through Canada to avoid access charges)
August 4, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO MCI is entangled in yet another scandal that might seriously affect the carrier's ability to win new business even after it emerges from bankruptcy. The Department of Justice, FCC, House Energy and Commerce...

UCSF's up-tempo upgrade; Network director wins funding for major upgrade of San Francisco campus network. Now his team faces tough design issues and tight deadlines.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Jeffrey Fritz, Director of Enterprise Network Services, UCSF UCSF's up-tempo upgrade Network director wins funding for major upgrade of San Francisco campus network. Now his team faces tough design issues and tight deadlines....

Cisco beefs up its stackable switch line with StackWise interconnect technology.(Catalyst 3750 )(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 11, 2003... Byline: John Bass, Network World Global Test Alliance CISCO CATALYST 3750 stackable switches Cisco beefs up its stackable switch line with StackWise interconnect technology By JOHN BASS, NETWORK GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE With the...

How we did it.
August 11, 2003... Byline: John Bass How we did it We loaded three switches in a rack as follows: * Top switch - 3750G-24T (24 port 10/100/1000Base-T). * Middle switch - 3750-24TS (24 port 10/100Base-T with 2 Gigabit SFP GBIC ports). *...

Out of the desert, into OASIS.
August 11, 2003... July 2003 ushered in a strong Microsoft offensive on the identity management and Web services standards front. In partnership with IBM and other vendors, Microsoft released WS-Federation specifications for federated sign-on, attribute services...

Spam bills have unlikely supporter.
August 11, 2003... There's something wrong with proposed anti-spam legislation when one of the country's foremost spammers supports its passage. In May, self-proclaimed "e-mail mass marketer" Ronnie Scelson testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,...

WLAN rules needed.(Letter to the Editor)
August 11, 2003... Byline: J. Larry Dishman Regarding Mark Gibbs' Gearhead column "Wrapping up the WLAN" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7123): One thing missing from almost every wireless LAN article I see is some general rules for setting up a WLAN. Some of...

SAN smarts; IT managers say hands-on experience is the most effective way to learn about storage-area networks.
August 11, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR Learning to install, configure and manage a storage-area network is a hodgepodge affair that is littered with hard-won experience and lessons learned, IT managers say. "I have not been to a formal training class,...

EMC offers high-end NAS features at a mid-range price.(Celerra NS600 NAS device )(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Betsy Yocom and Diane Poletti-Metzel, Network World Global Test Alliance EMC Celerra NS600 NAS device EMC offers high-end NAS features at a mid-range price By Betsy Yocom and Diane Poletti-Metzel, Network World Global Test...

Voice-activated services gaining attention; SPEECH RECOGNITION: VXML, SALT aid development.
August 11, 2003... Byline: STEPHEN LAWSON AAA Auto Club South is on the Web... but not all its members are there. "More and more people continue to use our Web site, but there are a heck of a lot of people in our demographic who still want to do...

WholeSecurity Confidence Online Enterprise Edition.(Product/Service Evaluation)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Mandy Andress Product Peek: WholeSecurity Confidence Online Enterprise Edition By Mandy Andress, Network World Global Test Alliance WholeSecurity's Confidence Online provides a layer of protection for known and unknown...

How we did it.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Betsy Yocom and Diane Poletti-Metzel How we did it We installed IOMeter (an open source workload generator) on eight HP ProLiant ML350 servers - each with at least two Pentium III/866-MHz processors and 1G byte of memory. Each...

Visual CEO looks to brighter future.(Interview)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Tim Greene Visual Networks, maker of packet-network performance-monitoring hardware and software, is slogging through tough times. The company sold only $9.7 million worth of equipment in the second quarter, down from $15.2 million...

Infrastructure Short Takes.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Sun is updating the processors on its Sun Fire V480 server. Now the company's rack-optimized server will be available with 1.05-GHz UltraSparc III processors, an upgrade from the 900-MHz models that Sun had been shipping. This upgrade will give...

IPFIX fine-tunes traffic analysis.(Internet Engineering Task Force's IP Flow Information Export)
August 11, 2003... Byline: PAUL KOHLER AND BENOIT CLAISE Soon it will be easier for IT managers to extract and view important traffic statistics stored in their routers so they can better manage their networks. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)...

More of life under observation.(wiretapping voice over IP )(Column)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Scott Bradner S ome people think the Internet could be a wiretap-free zone. While that might be nice, don't hold your breath. "Legal intercept," the more accurate but more complex term for wiretapping by law enforcement...

News briefs.
August 11, 2003... Byline: staff writers MCI last week won approval from the court overseeing its bankruptcy case for its settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of...

Start-up aims to safeguard Web servers.(MagniFire WebSystems' TrafficShield 2.0)
August 11, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Start-up MagniFire WebSystems this week plans to announce TrafficShield 2.0, an updated version of its application firewall that the company says will help customers prevent break-ins into Web servers. ...

The competitive spirit lives.(Liberty Alliance identity-federation specification and the WS-Federation specification )
August 11, 2003... Byline: Dave Kearns Everything these days appears to be a competition. Not only in sports (Red Sox vs. Yankees, Manchester United vs. Barcelona and so on) but in politics (California Gov. Gray Davis vs. 200-plus people who want to replace...

Research exec helps IBM bring projects to reality.(Robert Morris)(Interview)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Denise Dubie Since the inception of its first lab in 1945, IBM Research has grown to fill eight worldwide labs, employ about 3,500 researchers - including five Nobel prize winners - and help Big Blue become an IT innovator and...

XIOtech ups magnitude of storage.(XIOtech Magnitude 3D)
August 11, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR XIOtech last week announced a new version of its Magnitude storage array that the company says lets users cluster disk drives and storage controllers across geographic distances for increased availability and...

Latest MCI 'scandal' isn't what it appears to be.(Column)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Every time MCI appears to be sorting itself out, a new calamity hits. AT&T has filed an objection to MCI's pending emergence from bankruptcy that is based on charges that MCI has illegally routed calls to avoid...

Service Providers briefs.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: staff writers Verizon Wireless last week launched its first wireless LAN service, which lets customers connect to the Internet at up to 1.5M bit/sec. The service provider announced its plans to introduce a Wi-Fi service earlier...

Enterprise Applications briefs.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: staff When Microsoft releases Office 2003 it will give certain Office Standard Edition users the right to order Office Professional Edition applications at no extra cost and offer a Step-up License to upgrade to the full Office...

GigE switches drive more-for-less trend; User demand up while smaller, more-efficient Gigabit components help bring switch prices down.(Industry Overview)
August 11, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH As Gigabit Ethernet pricing continues to free-fall, the technology is finding its way into corporate networks where 10M bit/sec hubs once might have served small workgroups. Recent products from vendors such as...

IBM, SuSE secure Linux with Fed certification.(Common Criteria security certification)
August 11, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS Linux took another step in its evolution last week when IBM and SuSE Linux announced that the open source operating system had achieved an international security certification used by the federal government. At...

Ask Dr. Internet.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Steve Blass I have a VPN problem: My network connection fails to renew the dynamic IP address once the VPN is connected. The VPN uses a PPP adapter over a broadband cable connection. The cable provider uses Dynamic Host...

net buzz.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Paul McNamara You wondered about this, too After seven years of writing about spam, one unanswered question has continued to nag at me above all others: Do spam recipients actually cough up their credit card numbers to purchase...

Cool Tools.( Zone Labs IMsecure Pro and Samsung SPH-i500 smart phone)
August 11, 2003... Byline: Keith Shaw Secure that IM client! Security company Zone Labs this week is expected to announce a new instant-messaging security product that lets end users secure their instant-messaging client, regardless of the client or...

Qwest and Sprint PCS strike wireless deal.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Qwest's wireless customers can look forward to national service plans that eliminate roaming fees and include new data services now that the carrier is teaming with Sprint PCS. The companies announced a...

NetWare at a crossroads; Novell's Linux push amplifies doubts about the future of classic NOS.
August 11, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR Every time Novell walks a few steps deeper into the Linux arena, someone suggests the company is running away from its NetWare base. The dynamic was on display last week at LinuxWorld after Novell announced a series...

Final Samba steps.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Mark Gibbs Last week we dug into the Samba system and suggested that you download a copy so we could set it up. Given the number of possible server operating systems that Samba is available on, we're going to overview this...

MCI: The second 100 days.(of Michael Capellas)
August 11, 2003... Byline: John Dix The completion of Michael Capellas' second 100 days as head of MCI was marked by the arrival of a fraud accusation from AT&T and news that the feds might bar MCI from seeking government agency business. That's a far...

Rotten to the core.(MCI)(Column)
August 11, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs "We are in the process of rebuilding our ethics program and understand that there is still more work to do." - Michael Capellas, Chairman and CEO, MCI (Associated Press) I was going to follow up last week's...

SBC turns up the heat in hot-spot competition; The carrier becomes the latest RBOC to plan a Wi-Fi service rollout.(FreedomLink)
August 11, 2003... Byline: JIM DUFFY SBC last week outlined plans for an extensive Wi-Fi hot-spot rollout, the latest in a series of moves by the regional Bell operating companies to exploit the wireless technology to give remote users or frequent business...

HP upgrades blade lineup.
August 11, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS HP has upgraded its line of blade servers with faster Intel processors and rolled out a new 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that the company says is designed to let users more easily incorporate blades in networked...

'Big bang' to jolt Microsoft users.(Longhorn software )
August 11, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Microsoft might be hyping its next-generation Longhorn software as a "big bang" event, but the company is being quiet about the fact that the products will require corporate customers to perform multiple, carefully...

Navy unifies its monitoring networks.(Naval Network Warfare Command using Securify's monitoring equpment)
August 11, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER The U.S. Navy has put its Naval Network Warfare Command in charge of monitoring the Navy's hundreds of different networks used by more than 400,000 personnel around the world in order to detect security violations....

Start-up aims to clean up data centers.(Acopia Networks)
August 11, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR Entrepreneur Cheng Wu is taking lessons learned about Web content delivery at his last start-up and applying them at his new venture to improve data-center information management. Wu, who founded content...

3Com CEO bullish on being Cisco alternative.
August 11, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH 3Com CEO Bruce Claflin says there is a void in the market for enterprise network infrastructure - an absence of an alternative to Cisco. And he intends to fill the gap. To do this, 3Com is plotting a road map of...

LinuxWorld bustles despite SCO flap; IBM files counterclaim accusing SCO of patent infringement.
August 11, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS Any suspicions that The SCO Group's legal battle over Linux would put a damper on corporate adoption of the open source operating system were pretty well laid to rest last week at a bustling LinuxWorld show featuring...

Aruba boosts wireless LAN management.
August 11, 2003... Byline: n BY JOHN COX Aruba Wireless Networks this week plans to unveil software designed to give its switch customers more control over wireless LANs. The software lets companies manage hundreds of access points linked to an Aruba...

HP, IBM and Sun back Tripwire.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Security vendor Tripwire is spearheading an effort to develop an Internet-based database where companies could store information that would help them check for unauthorized file changes. HP, IBM and Sun last week...

Proficient device aims to pick best VPN route.(Proficient Networks NPE210A)
August 11, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE Proficient Networks is introducing a low-cost appliance that is designed to let customers direct VPN traffic to the best Internet connection at sites with more than one Internet link. The box, called NPE210A, is a...

10G matures; A network engineer assesses the latest round of 10G switches from Avaya, Cisco, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks and Force10 Networks.(Industry Overview)
August 18, 2003... Byline: ZACH FIERSTADT From the inception of its conceptual framework in late 1999 to the standardization of IEEE 802.3ae in mid 2001, 10G Ethernet has been one of the most anticipated and exciting technologies on the internetworking...

One big subnet; 10G Ethernet holds endless possibilities for seamlessly extending enterprise networks into the MAN and across the WAN.
August 18, 2003... Byline: TERRY SWEENEY What can an enterprise do with the equivalent of more than 6,000 T-1s worth of bandwidth? Just about anything. Once 10G Ethernet becomes the backbone of choice for service providers, it opens the door to powerful...

10G muscle; After a limited 10G Ethernet deployment, Industrial Light & Magic plans a new, super-powered corporate network that will use a mind-boggling 200 10G interconnects.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Beth Schultz 10G muscle After a limited 10G Ethernet deployment, Industrial Light & Magic plans a new, super-powered corporate network that will use a mind-boggling 200 10G interconnects. By Beth Schultz In this...