Network World articles from July 2004

Network World archives from July 2004

Do offshoring's benefits outweigh its drawbacks?
July 5, 2004... Byline: S.M. Balasubramaniyan Yes, by S.M. Balasubramaniyan, Wipro Technologies Organizations all over the world are under constant pressure to provide value to their customers and meet the challenges of competition. In globalized free...

Do offshoring's benefits outweigh its drawbacks?
July 5, 2004... Byline: Linda Guyer No, by Linda Guyer, Alliance@IBM Cracks are appearing in the offshore sidewalk where IT jobs travel from developed countries to places such as India and Costa Rica. There is a plethora of problems that can offset or...

The promise of offshoring; Lower costs, flexibility, expanded resources driving businesses to look overseas.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Jennifer Mears The promise of offshoring Lower costs, flexibility, expanded resources driving businesses to look overseas. by JENNIFER MEARS It's a hot-button issue to be sure, but business customers using offshore...

Jobs at risk; Repetitive, commoditized IT work most likely to head offshore.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Jennifer Mears Jobs at risk Repetitive, commoditized IT work most likely to head offshore. by JENNIFER MEARS MedSite figured it could save money by using offshore resources to bulk up its IT staff, but the online...

A global gambit; India gets a lot of attention but Estonia, Russia, China and other countries want your business, too.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Marc Ferranti A global gambit India gets a lot of attention but Estonia, Russia, China and other countries want your business, too. by MARC FERRANTI Upgrading an Internet connection in St. Petersburg, Russia, can be...

The down side of offshoring; Poor communication, cultural differences and lack of expertise can derail engagements.
July 5, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ Economics lured Hemant Kurande to look to India, his birthplace, for more affordable engineering talent. Three years ago his company hired two service providers to do some core programming for a line of storage...

A political hot potato; Legislatures juggle offshore outsourcing regulations.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan A political hot potato Legislatures juggle offshore outsourcing regulations. by CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN Troubled by the movement of high-tech jobs overseas, state and federal legislatures are trying...

XML and management team up.(Column)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Frank Dzubeck In a previous column, I noted some reasons why SNMP should be re-engineered around XML and event-based bus architectures (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2725). That column drew many responses, most of which were...

Beware the machine-to-machine hype.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Ira Brodsky Industry analysts tout the number of things destined to be networked: cars, utility meters, vending machines and other devices. Estimates range from tens of billions to more than 1 trillion potential machine-to-machine...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2004... Byline: readers It was interesting to read Mark Gibbs' Backspin column on spyware (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2722) and the many letters you got in response (DocFinder: 2125). Like other respondents, my company is spending more and more...

Offshore guidance.
July 5, 2004... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Offshore guidance by Denise Pappalardo Your company just cleared its first hurdle by deciding to outsource software development, its customer-care call center or financial business processes to an...

Offshoring, the monster that won't die.(issue preview)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Michael Cooney Few IT topics stir so much emotion, angst, fear and misunderstanding than offshore outsourcing. Rarely a day goes by without some group putting out a new study on the subject. One concludes offshoring is purely...

Mgmt. vendors make good on acquisitions.
July 5, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Enterprise network managers could benefit from a flurry of acquisitions in which network management veterans BMC Software and HP separately bought leading-edge technologies and integrated the wares into their software...

Minn. portal provides statewide benefits.(Minnesota)
July 5, 2004... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN The state of Minnesota recently launched a new feature on its Web site that helps citizens shop for lower-priced prescription drugs in Canada. Called RX Connect, this feature was created in just six weeks by...

Start-up crams more data onto WAN.(wide area network)(Orbital Data's appliance boosts wide area networks' throughput)
July 5, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Start-up Orbital Data is launching gear that it says boosts throughput on WAN connections 10 times or more by overcoming bottlenecks caused by the limitations of TCP. Called Orbital 5500, the appliance is sold in...

'Net Buzz.(meshed briefs)(Meetup reports forums oragnized in support of presidential candidates)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Paul McNamara A couple of slam-dunks Wireless telephone directories are going to happen whether wireless customers like the idea or not. So, too, will hands-free-only become the law of the land - everywhere - for operation of a...

Is paying twice better?
July 5, 2004... Byline: Scott Bradner T he U.S. National Weather Service currently is running a neat little data service that is an almost perfect example of what I want a tax-funded government agency to provide. But not everyone is a fan of this...

Appliance controls RFID traffic.(ThingMagic unveils radio frequency identification readers)
July 5, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ As companies begin to scale their radio frequency identification implementations from pilot to production mode, gear brought online for reading wireless tags needs to be on par with corporate network standards. In...

Infrastructure briefs.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: staff IBM Global Services has begun offering a round-the-clock monitoring service to detect rogue wireless LANs by using the AirDefense wireless sensor and equipment IBM developed. The price for the monitoring service starts at...

Ease of use and the exasperation factor.(software products)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Kevin Tolly E very product, according to its makers, is easy to use. And, for the folks who designed it, I'm sure it is. But, say what they will, so many products that should be easy to use, just aren't. This "exasperation...

Zultys adds IP PBX clustering.(Internet Protocol)(Private branch exchanges)
July 5, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Zultys Technologies this week is set to announce a clustering technology for its IP PBXs aimed at letting users create resilient, high-scale VoIP systems using groups of small call servers. MXCluster could help...

Cool Tools.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Keith Shaw The scoop: TuneCast II, from Belkin, about $50. What it does: Like a good Hollywood sequel, the TuneCast II takes the good parts from the first version and adds features to improve the product. The device connects to...

APM pinpoints service problems.(application-performance management)
July 5, 2004... Byline: TOM MURPHY One of the biggest challenges facing IT departments today is delivering higher service levels for critical applications. Undiagnosed problems associated with poorly performing applications can cause unnecessary staffing...

University graduating to wireless net.
July 5, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO American University is on the verge of pulling the plug on its traditional wired voice network for students. The Washington, D.C., university embarked on an ambitious plan two years ago to offer students...

Struggles over spectrum will bring great change.
July 5, 2004... Spectrum allocation probably isn't a top-of-mind issue for you at the moment - but you might want to start paying attention. Plans currently under discussion could dramatically affect the availability of broadband wireless products and services...

Last week Washington, D.C., and New Jersey became the latest locales to outlaw the use of wireless handsets while driving.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Last week Washington, D.C., and New Jersey became the latest locales to outlaw the use of wireless handsets while driving. They join New York in requiring hands-free cell phones for motorists. In Washington, D.C., violators will face a fine of...

Enterprise Applications briefs.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: staff Softricity this summer will ship an enterprise version of its SoftGrid application management software. Softgrid translates, via its Sequencer program, Windows applications into a set of files that are stored on a central...

Hate spam? Say hello to SPIT.(meshed briefs)(spam over internet telephony)
July 5, 2004... VoIP management vendor Qovia is warning of what it regards as a nuisance waiting to happen: the inevitable arrival of audio spam that clogs VoIP customers' voice mailboxes. VoIP spam, or Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT), will rear its head...

Net.Worker briefs.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: staff writers Linksys announced the Network Storage Link, a device that connects external storage devices to a home network. An Ethernet port connects to the router or switch, and two USB ports connect external hard disks or a USB...

Surviving the DNC with telework tools.(Democratic National Convention)
July 5, 2004... Byline: TONI KISTNER The 2004 Democratic National Convention Web site includes "alternate routes" for Boston-area commuters to take during the event. But the smartest route is down the hall to the home office. Major arteries including...

ask dr. internet.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: steve blass Steve Blass My PC seems to have been infected with something that has taken over my Internet settings. The Internet Explorer home page has been changed to a search site, and I can't set it back. Every time I...

Congress targets telework slackers.
July 5, 2004... Byline: TONI KISTNER Congress finally is fed up with the federal government's dismal telework performance. The House Appropriations Committee recently approved a spending bill that withholds $5 million from the budgets of the...

Secure communications with SSH.(secure shell)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs O nce upon a time, there were only Unix machines on the Internet. No, really, you could look as hard as you liked and all you would find were *nixen from wall to wall. Anyway, in those far-off days, we had tools...

Defaults ON, adverts OFF.(Norton Personal Firewall/Internet Security 2004)
July 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs "Who'd a thunk a firewall would be set by default to screen advertising?" - Stephen Mahaney, at www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2741. My friend Jim dropped me a note the other day asking if I knew of any reason why...

Offshoring's victims: Two stories.
July 5, 2004... Byline: RYAN FRANCIS Michael Emmons lost his $90,000 a year job as an applications developer and consultant with Siemens when the work was outsourced to companies overseas. "It is an absolute selloff of well-educated skilled...

Novell CTO updates open source plan.(Chief Technology Officers)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Byline: PAUL ROBERTS BOSTON - As part of its transition to an open source software model, Novell will scale back its investment in some proprietary technology that competes with open source alternatives. The company will make only...

Start-up to tackle app mgmt.(application management)
July 5, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE IT managers looking to better understand how applications use their network infrastructure - and more quickly spot potential failures - have a newcomer to the application management market to consider. NLayers,...

Rx for patching mired in red tape.(securing Windows based medical devices from computer viruses)
July 5, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER The epidemic of Windows-based worms and viruses in the past year has put hospital IT administrators on a state of high alert to protect patient-care systems that have become reliant on Microsoft operating systems. ...

Cisco buy to link remote resources.(Actona Networks)
July 5, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH AND DENI CONNOR Cisco's plans to acquire Actona Networks is a move to help users link remote enterprise resources with corporate storage and file serving. The proposed $82 million buyout of Actona, announced last...

Tumbling telecom rates give customers leverage.
July 5, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO While prices for voice, IP and traditional data services such as frame relay have been in free-fall for three years, the largest service providers continue to slash rates. This means that if you haven't...

Air Force unwires fighter maintenance.
July 5, 2004... Byline: JOHN COX An airman with the 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron powers up a portable air conditioner to cool down an F15E's avionics, then ducks under the jet's wing to escape the broiling Nevada sun. He opens a laptop to access...

How GM saved a billion dollars.(General Motors)(Interview)
July 12, 2004... General Motors' IT group has undergone a thorough transformation in the last eight years, one that has seen the company knock more than a billion dollars off its annual IT budget of $4 billion. Tony Scott has helped drive that change over the...

Un-wiring the wireless LAN; Mesh networks allow deployment of large-scale wireless nets without having to physically link every access point back to the wired network.(local area network)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Jeff Vance Un-wiring the wireless LAN Mesh networks allow deployment of large-scale wireless nets without having to physically link every access point back to the wired network. By Jeff Vance Funny thing about wireless...

Empire-building not needed.(Microsoft-SAP discussions)
July 12, 2004... Byline: James Kobielus Microsoft's recent overtures to SAP should come as no surprise to anyone who's followed either vendor. Each company covets the other's market. Microsoft is evolving into a more complete vendor of ERP and other...

Smart contracts make smooth flights.(network service agreement)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Justin Castillo Just as take-offs and landings are the riskiest parts of flying, the beginning and end are the riskiest parts of a network service agreement. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid some of the most common problems....

Phishing expedition.(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2004... Regarding "Phear of phishing" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2822): I recently had an experience with phishing, but mine is a bit different than those in your story. A woman called my work phone number and left a message stating that my...

Dell continues network battle.
July 12, 2004... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS Two years ago, Jim Barry was scratching his head over Dell's decision to enter the switching market. Today, the CIO at OneUnited Bank in Boston has deployed a number of Dell switches to complement the Dell servers...

LANsurveyor 8.5 for Windows.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Paul Ferrill LANsurveyor 8.5 for Windows By Paul Ferrill With the complexities of today's network environment, it's always good to have an understanding of the basic layout of your network. Neon Software's LANsurveyor 8.5...

Pedestal aids in security enforcement.(Pedestal Software's SecurityExpressions 3.1)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Mandy Andress, Network World Lab Alliance Security auditing tools Pedestal aids in security enforcement By Mandy Andress, Network World Lab Alliance No corporate security policy is effective without enforcement, and...

How we did it.(SecurityExpressions software's evaluation)(Brief Article)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Mandy Andress How we did it We installed SecurityExpressions on a generic, Intel-based 2-GHz, 2G-byte RAM system running Windows 2000 Server and a 1.2-GHz, 512M-byte RAM laptop running Windows XP Professional. We scanned...

SCO's UnixWare measures up with open source additions.(The SCO Group Inc.'s UnixWare 7.1.4)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Tom Henderson, Network World Lab Alliance Operating systems SCO's UnixWare measures up with open source additions By Tom Henderson, Network World Lab Alliance With the newest release of The SCO Group's UnixWare, it...

How we did it.(evaluation of UnixWare 7.1.4 operating system)(Brief Article)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Tom Henderson How we did it We installed UnixWare 7.1.4 on four different server platforms: HP/Compaq DL380G3 (twin 3-GHz CPU, 1G byte dynamic RAM, internal Compaq Smart Array/SCSI drive), Micron MCP Servers (twin 3-GHz Intel...

In the firing line; When you have to let an employee go, take steps to make the termination process less painful.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Linda Leung In the firing line When you have to let an employee go, take steps to make the termination process less painful. n by Linda leung You feel sick to your stomach. Your palms are sweaty, and you've been up...

As for spectrum allocation? . . . Let's get crazy.(out of the box ideas for revolutionizing spectrum allocation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Johna Til Johnson L ast week I noted that the FCC is considering allocating unused television spectrum to broadband wireless services. Time for some out-of-the-box ideas: What if the FCC decided to re-allocate all the...

Tools help manage domain names.
July 12, 2004... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN With thousands of brands and decentralized business operations, The Hearst Corp. was having trouble managing its portfolio of more than 1,500 domain names. Important domain names had accidentally expired....

Qovia ready to take on VoIP spam.(voice over internet protocol)(software to block unwanted voice messages sent over IP networks)(Qovia, VoIP monitoring and management tools)
July 12, 2004... Byline: CARA GARRETSON Hoping to get a jump on VoIP spam before it overwhelms corporate networks, management tool maker Qovia plans to release software designed to block unwanted voice messages sent over IP networks. While...

FTTP boosts bandwidth in the last mile.(fiber to the premises)
July 12, 2004... Byline: JIM FARMER Although many service providers now offer business-class broadband services, corporation haven't widely adopted these DSL and cable modem services because they provide relatively limited bandwidth and scalability. ...

Start-ups automate global trade functions; APPLICATIONS: Global trade challenges.(market for trade management software)
July 12, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ Aerospace company Pratt & Whitney last month agreed to pay a $150,000 penalty to settle charges that it exported controlled items to various countries without obtaining the required licenses from the U.S. Department of...

Maybe you shouldn't digitize your communications.
July 12, 2004... Byline: scott bradner I n a ruling that flies in the face of common sense, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in late June that it would not be illegal for AOL, Hotmail or any other commercial or non-commercial...

Searching for the ideal search engine.
July 12, 2004... Byline: dave kearns M icrosoft launched a "new and improved" search facility at msn.com a few weeks ago, and many people seemed to positively gush about how wonderful it is. But is it? In Network World's story on the launch...

ISPs look inward to stop spam.(internet service providers)
July 12, 2004... Byline: CARA GARRETSON Many major ISPs recently have come to this realization about the fight against spam: They are both part of the solution and part of the problem. Every U.S. ISP uses anti-spam techniques to catch unwanted messages...

ask dr. interenet.(configuring Windows Update)(Brief Article)
July 12, 2004... Byline: steve blass Steve Blass Can we configure Windows Update so patches can get installed automatically without users needing administrator privileges on the system. Administrator privileges are required to install some Windows...

Siemens exec talks up VoIP.(voice over internet protocol)(CEO Siemens USA enterprise operations)(Interview)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Phil Hochmuth Siemens made Andy Mattes CEO of its U.S. enterprise operations in May, and a big part of his job will be to increase the company's market share in enterprise VoIP. (InfoTech had Siemens in fourth place in the U.S. IP...

Cool tools.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Keith Shaw The scoop: LP-120 Coach Edition projector, from InFocus, about $2,100 (version without Coach leather carrying case about $2,000). What it does: A stylish and very portable (it weighs just under 2 pounds) digital...

Infrastructure Short Takes.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2004... n Unitrends Software last week unveiled storage systems to help small and midsize businesses protect their data. The Data Protection Units are available in desktop or rack-mountable configurations and include data backup-and-restore software...

Service Provider briefs.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2004... Byline: staff Verizon Wireless recently announced plans to purchase Qwest Wireless' assets for $418 million in order to expand its market presence. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter or early next year. The...

Putting the wraps on smelly phish.(email fraud)
July 12, 2004... Byline: John Dix Phishing is quickly becoming the single greatest threat to corporate efforts to serve consumers electronically, and with good reason. Undermining trust in online transactions could set the whole movement back years and...

short takes.(meshed briefs)
July 12, 2004... n Configuresoft last week unveiled upgrades to its Security Update Manager 2.5, which lets companies distribute patches and software updates across firewalls via HTTP. Previously, companies needed to modify firewall configurations to distribute...

When silence sounds too, well, silent; 'Comfort noise' gives a warm, fuzzy feeling.(internet telephony)
July 12, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE When silence sounds too, well, silent 'Comfort noise' gives a warm, fuzzy feeling. When Bob Longhini was evaluating VoIP gear, an unexpected problem came up that turned out to be nothing. Actually, it turned...

Secure communications with SSH, Part 2.(secure shell)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs L ast week we began slicing and dicing a protocol called Secure Shell, which not only provides safe terminal access but also gives you secure file transfer, provides secure X connections and supports secure...

net buzz.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Paul McNamara Wearing 'Net blinders There is something about the Internet that blinds people when it comes to what should be rather simple matters of right and wrong. Music "sharing" is the classic example, of course, but I...

Bits.
July 12, 2004... Byline: staff The FCC decision last week to give Nextel Communications a prime chunk of radio spectrum triggered howls of protest from competitors and industry groups. Nextel will give up frequencies it has used in the 800-MHz band, where...

Microsoft aims to save $1B this fiscal year.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Joris Evers, IDG News Service Microsoft plans to save nearly $1 billion through efficiency improvements and cost-cutting in its 2005 fiscal year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in his annual strategy e-mail message to employees...

Wireless directory draws cheers, jeers.(Cellular telecommunications Industry Association pland to include the wireless phone numbers in directory)
July 12, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO The wireless industry insists that customers are clamoring for directory assistance for mobile phone numbers, although critics - including IT executives - say the move carries unacceptable risks for businesses....

Siemens updates presence, collaboration suite; OpenScape 2.0 promises more scale, new features for connecting employees.
July 12, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Siemens this week is expected to upgrade its OpenScape presence management and collaboration software to quadruple the number of users who can be supported and make it easier to combine IP- and non-IP-based phones and...

Tablus boosts capacity of content protection.(upgrades software for security appliances)
July 12, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Tablus is upgrading software for its security appliances so a single device can prevent more corporate data deemed sensitive from leaving the network undetected. The company's Content Alarm appliances scan data as it...

Has IE dug itself a hole?(Internet Explorer)
July 12, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA When another security hole was uncovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer last week, the third in the past month, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued six workarounds to minimize vulnerability, including a...

NetIQ brings voice into apps mgmt.(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 12, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE John Lewis encountered a few pitfalls when switching his PBX system to VoIP. "As we got more and more people moved from one system to the other, we had issues with communication between the two systems because we...

IBM gives servers boost with Power5.
July 12, 2004... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS AND DENI CONNOR With an eye toward helping users consolidate and improve server performance, IBM this week plans to unveil a new line of midrange and high-end servers based on its Power5 technology. The...

Wary buyers dampen software sales.
July 12, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ A rash of revenue warnings from enterprise software makers has the long-awaited technology-spending recovery sputtering - a situation that keeps bargaining power squarely in the hands of corporate IT buyers. BMC,...

Adverts No, blocking Yes.
July 12, 2004... Byline: mark gibbs Last week we were discussing what was described as "a real concern" by Stephen Mahaney, president of Planet Ocean Communications, an "Internet marketing company" - to wit, the fact that Symantec Norton Internet Security...

Polycom, Tandberg enhance videoconferencing gear.
July 12, 2004... Byline: JASON MESERVE The race between Tandberg and Polycom, the top two videoconferencing equipment providers, continues to heat up with both companies launching product-line enhancements that could result in higher quality audio and...

The other side: Hardware revenue should be up.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Tom Krazit, IDG News Service As the weather heats up in the Northern Hemisphere, revenue from IT hardware tends to cool off. Despite a slew of recent earnings warnings from their software counterparts, the IT hardware industry...

Service providers fall short on service; Major carriers score high on network performance, but billing woes and installation delays open the door for second-tier providers.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Robin Gareiss Service providers fall short on service Major carriers score high on network performance, but billing woes and installation delays open the door for second-tier providers. By ROBIN GAREISS Customers think...