Network World articles from December 2006

Network World archives from December 2006

Managing the virtual world.
December 1, 2006... Byline: John Dix CA earlier thisaweek became the latest management vendor to roll out tools to manage virtual server environments, joining BMC Software, IBM/Tivoli, Opsware and others rushing to fill this important need. While...

Structuring your telecom sales strategy.
December 1, 2006... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Techies usually hate dealing with sales folk, because we seem to come from different worlds. Engineering is about honesty: Either that bridge will hold or it won't. Sales is about deceit (or so we geeks...

'Gates for president' bandwagon picks up.(Bill Gates)(www.billgatesforpresident.net)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Paul McNamara Cartoonist Scott Adams started this flapdoodle with a Nov. 19 post on The Dilbert Blog that suggested there isn't anything wrong with this country that President Bill Gates couldn't cure in less time than it takes...

McAfee offers ISS customers a special switch program.(IBM's Internet Security Systems division)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Ellen Messmer McAfee Thursday made a special pitch to customers of IBM's Internet Security Systems division, offering them what McAfee says is up to $40,000 in incentives to switch to McAfee security products. The ISS...

Making wide-area file services secure.(Microsoft Corp.'s Common Internet File System)
December 1, 2006... One of the most important security provisions in Microsoft's ubiquitous Common Internet File System is Server Message Block signing. SMB signing is a form of packet authentication. After users of a CIFS-based application are...

Copyright law: tiny changes; DMCA still blocking good technologies.(Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Scott Bradner Every three years the U.S. Copyright Office gets a chance to fix some of the universe of bad things about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Just like the last two times, the Copyright Office has labored...

New research reveals more details of 2,100-year-old calculator; Researchers re-imagine the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism.
December 1, 2006... Byline: John Cox Advanced imaging software and 3-D X-ray tomography have finally let scientists create the most detailed reconstruction yet of a 2,100-year-old astronomical calculator. The latest research of the Antikythera...

IBM wins Texas-sized data center consolidation contract; State union calls deal a 'hasty boondoggle.'.(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Michael Cooney IBM announced Wednesday that it won a seven-year, $863 million contract to consolidate the Texas state government's 31 data centers into two facilities in San Angelo and Austin. IBM says the consolidation...

Living in the post e-mail world.
December 1, 2006... Byline: Kevin Tolly I give up. After almost two decades of e-mail being my quintessential business tool for managing people, projects and processes, I have to admit that it no longer is up to the job. It is time for me to deal with the...

Free open source transfer clients?(Eclipse Device Software Development Platform introduced Remote System Explorer )(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Steve Blass The Target Management subproject of the Eclipse Device Software Development Platform project recently released a product called the Remote System Explorer that supports SSH and SFTP file transfer. Remote System...

Q&A: Cisco's Volpi muses on aging router's increasing edginess.(Mike Volpi interviewed)(Interview)
December 1, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy Cisco has a number of significant extensions to its venerable 7600 Ethernet edge router on tap next week at ITU. Among the more important is Broadband Remote Access Server (B-RAS), making the six-year-old workhorse...

Cisco boosts connectivity.(Cisco Systems Inc. to enhance Integrated Services Router )
December 4, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Cisco is expected to announce new hardware modules for its Integrated Services Router line that add network management and monitoring, as well as connectivity options, such as cable broadband, DSL and metro...

Onaro upgrades storage change management software, adds application monitoring.(SANscreen Foundation 3.5)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor Onaro, a storage service management provider, on Monday is expected to launch a new version of its storage-area networking management suite that allows administrators to allocate storage by application rather than...

Cisco beefs up routers, VPNs, IOS.(Cisco Systems Inc., virutal private networks)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Network World Staff Cisco this week is rolling out a number of significant enhancements to its core router family. Meanwhile, Network World chatted up Cisco Senior Vice President Mike Volpi on the future of the router. ...

ConSentry edges out Nevis in in-line NAC appliance test; Pair offers increased access control with minimal impact on existing networks.(ConSentry LANShield CS2400 Controller)(Nevis LANenforcer 2024)(Product/service evaluation)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Joel SnyderaandaNetwork World Lab Alliance Start-ups ConSentry Networks and Nevis Networks have stepped into the network access control ring with in-line enforcement products that promise high levels of security with minimal...

Research group finds high level of IT deficiencies; IT vulnerabilities create audit difficulties and security risks for enterprises.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Ellen Messmer IT vulnerabilities such as inadequate documentation and poor PC access controls put enterprises at risk of being noncompliant with regulatory mandates and prone to security events -- and most companies have at...

WatchGuard puts high-end security in low-end boxes.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene WatchGuard is adding high-end security features to its low-end protection devices to make it more affordable for customers to put advanced network defenses at their sites. The company is adding proxy firewall...

Hell yes to virtualization!(Microsoft Corp.)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs I don't want to keep beating up on Microsoft; I really don't, but it is particularly hard to avoid doing so at the moment. The company's ubiquity means that one can't help but notice the sometimes unpleasant,...

Capsa captures and cooks net comms.(Colasoft's Capsa Enterprise software)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs We have tested products from many countries, but today we have a first: a Windows network packet capture and protocol analyzer from China. Capsa Enterprise is made by Colasoft, and we are very impressed. The...

Cisco strengthens IOS code with VoIP, security enhancements; Router software upgrade adds expanded SIP support, IDS 5.0 signatures, and a small but potentially useful NAC feature.(Internetwork Operating System 12.4(11)T)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth As customary with Cisco IOS releases, the newest one has an extensive range of features tucked into the code, with enhancements that could help users bolster their VoIP and security implementations. IOS...

Appliance boasts 48 processing cores.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Mears As Intel and Advanced Micro Devices roll out quad-core processors, newcomer Azul Systems this week plans to introduce the second generation of its Java appliances that are built on custom-designed chips...

How we tested SRMs.(software Reliability Models)(Brief article)
December 4, 2006... Our testing required that both products autodiscover a storage-area network comprising nine host bus adapters from QLogic and Emulex, two QLogic Fibre Channel switches, Nexsan SATABlade and SATABeast storage arrays, Windows 2000 and 2003...

Getting installation right for storage management; Symantec product slightly easier to get up and running than HP SRM wares.
December 4, 2006... To measure the products' overall ease of installation, we installed both in Windows and Linux/Unix environments. Ironically, both products we tested are simpler to install on Linux/Unix than on Windows servers. With Windows install, both...

McAfee to provide total protection for corporations.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Ellen Messmer McAfee this week plans to announce the second version of its corporate client security software, Total Protection, a combination of antivirus, antispyware, host-based intrusion-prevention and network...

HP, Symantec SRM wares hit on discovery, inventory tasks; Both could use some work to deliver more advanced storage management features.
December 4, 2006... Storage resource management means many things to many people, vendors and IT folks alike. In theory it covers everything from autodiscovering storage-area network devices to alerting and reporting on enterprisewide storage trends; from...

Cisco to bolster video portfolio.(Cisco Systems Inc.)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy Cisco this week is expected to unveil a series of new and enhanced products designed to let carriers deliver application- and subscriber-aware video services. The announcements are slated for this week's ITU...

How we tested NAC products.(network access control )
December 4, 2006... Byline: Joel Snyder We tested Nevis and ConSentry products by focusing on authentication, endpoint security, enforcement and management. To test authentication, we used two RADIUS servers, our custom-written one and Juniper's RADIUS...

Cisco looks to ease VPN deployments; Simpler site-to-site VPNs, higher WAN performance and other features are on tap.(Cisco Systems Inc.'s virutal private networks technology)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Cisco this week is expected to introduce VPN technology that could help businesses with fast-growing branch-office deployments more quickly set up and maintain secure WAN links. The company plans to introduce,...

AT&T to use Cisco's VPN technology in MPLS service; Carrier is using Cisco's encryption technology to augment its MPLS-based offering.(Cisco Systems Inc.'s virtual privtate networks)(Multiprotocol Label Switching )
December 4, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth AT&T Mondayais expected to launch a data encryption enhancement for its MPLS-based IP VPN service, using Cisco's new Group Encryption Transport technology for VPN and data security. In the first quarter of...

Letters to the editor: "Spam that delivers a pink slip".(Letter to the editor)
December 4, 2006... Thwarting the attack Regarding "Spam that delivers a pink slip": Of course, implementing SPF rules in the DNS zone and SPF filter at the gateway will completely eliminate this attack from ever working, because the sender will never be...

Reducing the employee risk.(data security )
December 4, 2006... Protecting information is 90 percent about education and user awareness. We have handbooks for policies and such, but we worry about the risks that are created by our employees sending data out of the network. As an HR professional, how do...

Getting out of a career rut with training.(information technology workers's degrees)(Column)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Ron Nutter I find myself in what appears to be a dead end position with not a lot of opportunity for advancement. I have been applying for positions without a lot of success for getting interviews. Should I finish getting my...

One-two punch for SMB storage: SATA and SAS; * Serial attached ATA and serial attached SCSI technologies likely to have most profound impact on SMB storage.(Small and medium businesses using Serial Advanced Technology Attachment and serial attached SCSI disks)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Mike Karp Increasingly, SMB storage is being pushed out onto the network, affording SMB managers many of the same performance and manageability benefits that larger sites get. As mentioned last week, along with this gradual...

Evaluate your cyber-intelligence; * Bad intel is worse than no intel at all.(Column)
December 5, 2006... Byline: M. E. Kabay Longtime readers of this column may recall that I wrote about Rob Rosenberger in 2003 as he was heading for duty in the Iraq war. Rob runs SecurityCritics.org and I'm always happy to receive articles from him....

Researchers: Online auction fraudsters not as clever as they think they are; CMU computer scientists say crooks have "distinctive online behaviors" on eBay, other sites.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Network World Staff Criminals must think online auction sites are easy pickins based on the fact that fraud related to such sites accounted for about two-thirds of the 97,000 complaints referred to law enforcement agencies last...

NAC is not to be ignored; * Welcome to the Network Access Control Newsletter.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene Editor's Note : Welcome to the Network Access Control Newsletter.aNAC is an emerging network security architecture that starts with securing endpoints before they connect to networks and extends to monitoring and...

SCO Group's last gasp? Latest IBM, Novell moves don't bode well for SCO.(The SCO Group Inc. accused International Business Machines Corp. for copyright infringement)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Scott Bradner At the beginning of the year I predicted that SCO Group would: 1) get its case against IBM thrown out by the judge; 2) fail to show any examples of protected code; and 3) declare (financial) bankruptcy, but not...

Build an open source and Web 2.0 sandbox; * Safe places for trying out new stuff.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Andreas M. Antonopoulos Open source and Web 2.0 technologies are often appearing in enterprise environments as "skunk-works," unauthorized projects that rapidly gain popularity. Tools such as wikis, blogs,...

Redback rails against Cisco edge router; New B-RAS capabilities can't hide Cisco's triple-play shortcomings, competitor says.(Redback Networks)(Cisco Systems Inc. enhancing 7600 router with broadband remote access server capabilities)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy Redback Networks is taking shots at Cisco's 7600 edge router, just when the 6-year-old product is ready to become a more direct competitor to Redback's offerings. Cisco this week is announcing broadband remote...

The simpler side of disaster planning; * A cold snap can be a disaster for an information-oriented business.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Michael Osterman Editor's Note: This newsletter is nowarenamed Unified Communications. The name change reflects the newsletter's broader focus as we report on the industry's move toward a unified messaging model. We hope you...

Simplifying the branch office infrastructure; * Growing range of options and services for simplifying the branch office.
December 5, 2006... IT executives interviewed for Nemertes' upcoming benchmark, Building a Successful Virtual Workplace, have told us that on average, branch offices have five separate network and telecom classes of devices, typically consisting of a router,...

Averting tsunami disasters: NOAA deploys first warning buoy in Indian Ocean.(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Thailand government installed Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami in Indian Ocean)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Michael Cooney Nearly two-years after the worst tsunami disaster The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and government of Thailand launched the first Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami buoy station in...

Cisco puts WAAS and more in router; * Cisco looks to add acceleration and optimization with WAAS and track its success via traffic analysis capabilities in NAM.(Wide Area Augmentation System, Cisco Systems Inc.)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie The market explosion around application acceleration and WAN optimization technologies in 2006 stirred up many discussions around how exactly these performance and speed enhancing technologies should be delivered....

IBM snaps up compliance vendor Consul; IBM is set to acquire risk management software maker Consul to pump up its Tivoli security and service management software suites.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie IBM today announced plans to acquire risk management software maker Consul, which Big Blue says will add compliance-specific monitoring, auditing and reporting to its Tivoli security management portfolio. IBM,...

Employee absenteeism; * CareerBuilder's "Out of the Office" report.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Amy Schurr How much does absenteeism affects your department? According to a recent survey from job site CareerBuilder, 32% of workers admitted to calling in sick when they felt well at least once in the last year. And 10% did...

Vendors roll out telco wares at ITU.(International Telecommunications Union )
December 5, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy At ITU in Hong Kong this week, IBM unveiled security hardware, software and services for the core of service provider networks that underpin new IP-based voice, video, push-to-talk and presence services. The...

Reflex Security adds redundant clustering to IPS line; Traffic inspection and blocking can continue if a primary intrusion-prevention appliance fails, Reflex says.(introduced Reflex Security MG-5 )(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Ellen Messmer Reflex Security today announced it added redundant clustering capabilities to its multi-gigabit intrusion-prevention systems to provide enterprises with secure failover protection. The Reflex Security MG-5...

Whaleback adds faxing to VoIP service; VoIP PBX within Crystal Blue Voice supports key systems.(Whaleback Systems's voice over ip service)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene Whaleback Systems is upgrading its small business VoIP service by adding support for phones that look and perform just like multi-line key systems those companies are used to. The Cuttyhunk release of Whaleback's...

Final insight from the road; * Common questions asked by seminar attendees.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Steve Taylor,aJim Metzler In the last few newsletters we discussed some of the key topics that were highlighted on the recently completed six-city network and application optimization seminar tour that was produced by Network...

Internet2 lights up the first segment of next-gen net; New net designed to handle 10 10Gpbs Lambdas.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Internet2 announced Tuesday at its Fall Member Meeting in Chicago that the first segment of its next generation network is live. Earlier this year, Internet2, a consortium of research and higher education...

IEEE sets sights on 100G Ethernet; Standards body votes to pursue 100G Ethernet over single and multi-mode fiber links.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth The next Ethernet speed will be 100Gbps, the IEEE voted recently. Now the standards body just has to go build something never done before. The IEEE's High Speed Study Group (HSSG), tasked with exploring what...

One man's plan to save $1 billion through shared networks; Moving beyond his groundbreaking fiber project, James Hettrick seeks big rewards for healthcare, others with latest community-based network plans.
December 5, 2006... Some pride themselves on thinking outside of the box. James Hettrick doesn't even know where the box is. Hettrick, the IT director for the city of Loma Linda, Calif., has already spearheaded an initiative that brought a law mandating ...

Novell's systems management initiative appears to have overlooked NetWare; * Where is NetWare?
December 5, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns Editor's Note: We regret to let you know that starting in 2007, we will no longer be publishing the Novell NetWare Tips Newsletter. To reflect Novell's market direction, starting Jan. 3, you will begin receiving our...

IEEE goes for 100G; * IEEE Higher Speed Study Group votes to pursue 100Gbps Ethernet.(gigabit ethernet)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Jeff Caruso As you might have expected, the IEEE Higher Speed Study Group has decided to pursue 100Gbps as its objective for the next speed for Ethernet. The study group had been looking at 40Gbps as a possibility, as that...

HP's latest cooling system aims to cut energy costs by almost half; * HP rolls out data center cooling platform.
December 5, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor HP launched a data center cooling system last week that will, according to the company, reduce an organization's energy costs by 20% to 45%. The HP Dynamic Smart Cooling system is a software/hardware...

Survey: NAC backlash growing; Survey respondents say the technology needs time to mature.(network access control)
December 5, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene Network Access Control technologies may be waning as a priority for U.S. businesses because decision makers worry that the technology isn't quite baked yet, according to an upcoming study by TheInfoPro."People are...

Are certified networking skills less valuable? * Premium pay for certified networking skills not as valuable as before.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Linda Leung Does it pay to become IT certified? That question is under examination again as figures from Foote Partners' latest quarterly skills pay report show a 1.4% average increase for the quarter ended Oct. 1, in the value...

AT&T makes customer portal available to PDA users; Network managers can now access AT&T's BusinessDirect portal via wireless devices.(BusinessDirect)(Brief article)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Pappalardo AT&T announced Wednesday that its customer portal, BusinessDirect, is available to wireless PDA users, which will enable IT managers on the go to request maintenance and monitor network performance while...

Internet2 lights up the first segment of next-gen network; * New net designed to handle 10 lambdas at 10Gbps each.(Internet2 contracts with Level 3 Communications Inc.)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Internet2 announced Tuesday at its Fall Member Meeting in Chicago that the first segment of its next-generation network is live. Earlier this year, Internet2, a consortium of research and higher-education...

Fiber now less expensive broadband than cable: report.(Report)(Brief article)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy A significant price reduction for Fiber to exchange services worldwide has taken the average cost of broadband over fiber below that of cable in the last quarter, according to Point Topic Research. FTTx tariffs...

VoIP is here to stay.(voice over ip)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Is VoIP reliable? Scalable? Ready for prime time? For the answer, you only need to look at the raft of ambitious enterprise VoIP projects -- with multiple-thousands of phones -- announced in recent months, or...

Microsoft Research fights critics, targets innovation.
December 6, 2006... Byline: John Fontana When the word "innovation" is tossed about many may look down their nose at the company sitting on top of the high-tech industry - Microsoft. The look is not without prompting given critics' charges that the...

Application management appliances are worth a look; * Appliances move up the stack.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Julie Craig When a network manager needs a new router, he goes to Cisco, buys a box and plugs it in. It may not actually be quite that easy, but most of the work involved in installing new network equipment is in design and...

Disposable addresses and why online advertising must change; * How disposable e-mail addresses affect business models.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs In the last newsletter I discussed a number of services that provide disposable e-mail addresses that allow users to provide a working e-mail address for Web sites and services that require them for registration. ...

Wi-Fi management frames pose risk; * Cisco, 802.11w group work toward protection.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Joanie Wexler In Wi-Fi networks, as you likely know, the 802.11i suite of security standards has been fleshed out to provide strong authentication, confidentiality, and integrity assurance of production wireless LAN traffic....

Muni Wi-Fi not just another utility; Study finds pitfalls to city broadband projects.(municipal broadband)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy A new report warns that cities considering municipal Wi-Fi shouldn't fool themselves into believing that the experience will be as routine as running water, gas and electricity systems. The study, conducted by the...

Disney protected with home-grown security, compliance software; Company's Keystone Web services provide centralized identity management, access control.(Walt Disney Co.)
December 6, 2006... Byline: John Fontana The Walt Disney Co. is locking down its applications with cutting edge identity management innovations developed in-house that are helping the entertainment giant meet its security, compliance and auditing goals....

Frontier Airlines continues to get it right on outsourcing; * Keeping customer related functions in-house is key.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Dan Twing Editor's Note: We regret to let you know that in 2007, we will no longer be publishing the Outsourcing newsletter. Starting Jan. 3, you will begin to receive our Network/Systems Management newsletter, which publishes...

Lotus ships gateway to integrate IM with AOL, Yahoo, Google; IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway enables interconnectivity with AOL, Yahoo and Google, but not Microsoft's IM platform.(IBM Software Group. Lotus Software )
December 6, 2006... IBM/Lotus Wednesday released a gateway that will allow users of its Sametime instant messaging platform to connect to those using IM on public networks run by AOL, Yahoo and Google. The IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway supports among others...

More Power to Linux, IBM says; * IBM certifies over 2,500 software apps for Linux systems.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Enough of this Lintel stuff, IBM says. More Power to Linux. IBM this week said it has certified over 2,500 software applications for Linux systems running on the computer-makers Power CPU architecture. ...

Cisco taps Scheinman to oversee media group; Dan Scheinman takes reins of Cisco's newly formed Media Solutions Group.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy Cisco tapped an internal veteran to head a new group overseeing product development for digital media content companies. Cisco named Dan Scheinman as senior vice president and general manager of the Media Solutions...

IBM aims federation at SMBs; Oracle opens ID governance framework; * Identity news from IBM, InMezzo, Oracle.
December 6, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns I have overlooked some announcements in the past couple of weeks, so let's get them in now before they get too stale. IBM announced Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway a couple of weeks ago. Now a new...

NetPro allows end users to help themselves; consolidates AD reporting; * NetPro updates Active Directory Administration Suite.(NetPro Computing Inc.)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns I've got two new products to tell you about today both of which should ease network managers' headaches - you could call them early Christmas presents, but you have to buy them for yourself. NetPro has updated...

IBM targets service research; Fraud management, VoIP, security services but a few technologies getting R&D attention.(International Business Machines Corp.)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Ann Bednarz Services research is a hot area at IBM, as the corporate giant looks to eke greater profitability from its services division. The idea behind services research is to build a stable of repeatable industry offerings...

How to roll out 180,000 VoIP phones; Bank of America's Craig Hinkley walks us through massive deployment, shares lessons learned.(Interview)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Craig Hinkley is in the thick of a 180,000 IP-phone rollout at Bank of America, which is replacing more than 460 PBXs with a centralized Cisco VoIP system that 6,000 serves U.S. branches and back office locations....

AT&T, Global Crossing team on IPv6; * AT&T and Global Crossing establish dedicated interconnections for sharing IPv6.(Internet protocol 6.0)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan AT&T and Global Crossing are the first carriers in the United States to establish dedicated interconnections for sharing IPv6 traffic, company officials say. The interconnections - known as peering -...

The difference between call centers, contact centers and IP contact centers; * Customer centers that can manage multiple forms of voice and data communications.(Brief article)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Steve Taylor,aLarry Hettick Following up from our last newsletter on the basic definition of a traditional call center, today we'd like to highlight the differences between a call center, a contact center, and an IP contact...

Fatigue from information overload has a remedy, expert says.
December 6, 2006... Byline: John Fontana Given the avalanche of information from numerous avenues including e-mail, instant message and syndication feeds, corporate users could start to feel attention fatigue and companies may need to institute a strategy...

Dell releases SMB storage duo.(PowerVault NX1950 and PowerVault MD3000 servers)(small and mid-sized businesses)
December 6, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor Dell Wednesday launched two storage systems for small and mid-sized businesses. The Dell PowerVault NX1950 uses Microsoft Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 software and is available in a single or ...

Web technologies reimagining, reforming higher education.
December 6, 2006... Byline: John Cox Former Xerox Chief Scientist John Seely Brown tells of an encounter with an MIT student at the institution's famed Media Lab to illustrate the potential opportunities and dangers of technology in education. "We...

Metro Ethernet Forum hits milestone; * 100 members in the MEF.(Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable joins industry forum )(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jeff Caruso The Metro Ethernet Forum announced this week that it has reached 100 members with the addition of Arris. The group, which advocates Ethernet for carriers, says its membership has risen 50% in the last six months....

New Microsoft Word attack; * Microsoft warns of new Word attack * Patches from Debian, rPath, FreeBSD, others* MySpace worm uses QuickTime for exploit, and other interesting reading.
December 7, 2006... Byline: Jason Meserve Today's bug patches and security alerts: Microsoft warns of new Word attackThere's now one more reason to be careful about opening Microsoft Office attachments. Microsoft Corp. warned Tuesday of a new,...

HP releases blade workstation; * HP isn't the only vendor in town with blade workstations.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
December 7, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor HP last week announced what it claims is the industry's first blade workstation. The HP ProLiant Blade Workstation is based on AMD Opteron processors. It consists of a blade that fits in an enclosure in the...

Software corrals enterprise smart phones; Network Chemistry, Synchronica and Trend Micro roll out management, security tools.
December 7, 2006... Byline: John Cox A trio of vendors has announced new or improved software to better protect enterprise smart phones and the corporate data they hold. In general, the software applications combine centralized management tools with...