Network World articles from July 2006

Network World archives from July 2006

Media-via-cell-phone investors overly optimistic.(cellular telephone services)
July 3, 2006... Byline: Scott Bradner If the United States were like the rest of the world, this would be the ideal time to sell some of the specialty cell phone services that so far just seem to be eating investors' money. It's hard to imagine a...

Are you a good fit for the job? * Why is it that the most technically qualified person seldom gets the job?
July 5, 2006... Byline: Linda Leung In a newsletter a couple of weeks ago, we discussed what hiring managers look for in an ideal candidate, and one consideration that was mentioned was cultural fit - would the candidate fit in well with the company...

10 reasons why small businesses should consider outsourcing; * Why SMBs should be interested in outsourcing.(Column)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Dan Twing Mega outsourcing deals are traditionally out of reach for small and midsize businesses, but that hasn't stopped some SMBs from outsourcing certain tasks such as payroll, benefits and other HR activities. However, big...

'Unlimited' mobile data: A misnomer? * Double-check your contract to ensure compliant use.(Net neutrality)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Joanie Wexler You've probably heard a lot of recent chatter about an issue called 'Net neutrality. This federal controversy debates whether or not ISPs should be allowed to discriminate against certain content, applications,...

Linux is non-stop at Stratus and Availigent; * Fault-tolerant Linux.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth In server management, there's no such thing as a happy abend-ing (as in abnormal ending, or system crash). And you don't have to tell that to server hardware/software vendors Stratus Technologies or Availigent....

Google is not the only company building a data center near the Columbia River; * Microsoft buys tracts of land along the Columbia River.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Julie Craig Recent articles have speculated about the purpose of Google's new data center on the banks of the Columbia River. From my perspective, the more interesting news was announced during a keynote address at last...

VoIP is key to Microsoft's unified communications platform; * Microsoft sees VoIP in its unifed communications future.(voice over internet protocol)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Steve Taylor,aLarry Hettick Last week, Microsoft announced major enhancements to its products that support the company's unified communications platform. The changes will be included in the broad range of the company's 2007...

Identity management education opportunities; * Identity management conferences.(Identity Mashup Conference)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns A three-day Identity Mashup Conference took place last week hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. This was another in a long string of individual, or as it's being called...

Sonus betting on fixed/mobile convergence; * Q&A with Bruce Trvalik, director of IMS Strategy for Sonus.(Sonus Networks Inc.)(IP Multimedia Subsystem)(Interview)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan Sonus Networks, which provides IP-based voice and multimedia gateways, switches and servers to leading service providers, says a push toward converged fixed and mobile networks will create new enterprise...

Markdown for markup; * Markdown to HTML.(HyperText Markup Language )(Column)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs I rather doubt that there's anyone reading this newsletter who hasn't heard of markup languages. But how many of you have heard of "markdown"? And, no, before you say anything, a markdown language is not a...

Futuristic optical system tackles image processing; * OptIPuter clustering system outlined at TeraGrid '06 conference.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan A team of researchers led by the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of California at San Diego are creating an IP-based computing system for scientists who need to visualize and analyze...

Quest, Centrify extend ADFS to non-Windows platforms; * Quest, Centrify integrate with ADFS to bring its benefits to non-Windows platforms.(Active Directory Federation Services)(Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns Last week I mentioned the decided benefits of Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) - the biggest reason to upgrade your Windows Server 2003 installations to R2. It's a great way to allow access to your...

Shavlik plugs gap left by discontinued Microsoft scanning tools.(Shavlik NetChk Analyzer from Shavlik Technologies)
July 5, 2006... Byline: John Fontana Shavlik Technologies on Wednesday released a trio of tools to fill the gaps that will be left when Microsoft drops support later this year for its older security scanning tools. The security vendor is offering...

DOE's Federated Model aims to identify security threats.(Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory)
July 5, 2006... Byline: Cara Garretson Argonne National Laboratory, a division of the Department of Energy (DOE) operated out of the University of Chicago, is spearheading an effort to collect information about cyber security events that is beginning...

Ransomware, other Trojans dominate in 2006.
July 5, 2006... Byline: Cara Garretson Ransomware, or software that takes control of a computer and demands money in exchange for access to files, is one type of Trojan Horse program growing in popularity, according to Sophos' mid-year security report...

Novell safeguards nets from USB-borne malware; * Novell to resell SecureWay's Sanctuary Suite as part of ZENworks.(Sanctuary Device Control and Sanctuary Application Control)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns USB storage devices are handy. I've got them on my keychain, my wife wears one as a bracelet - I've even got a watch that has a USB plug and can hold 512MB of data! They've become the de facto replacement for floppy...

Gomez aims to provide users with deeper contextual information; * Gomez upgrades Web performance software.(Gomez Performance Network 6.5)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie Coupling Web-based application performance management with intelligent diagnostics is what many network managers do on their own, but a new release from Web performance management vendor Gomez could help network...

BellSouth expands wireless broadband; * BellSouth brings its wireless broadband service to five new markets.(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy BellSouth is expanding its wireless broadband service into five new markets. The carrier will turn up the service in the third quarter to select parts of Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss.,...

Excel helpers can damage data; * Sometimes Microsoft Excel format conversion functions should be disabled.(Column)
July 6, 2006... Byline: M. E. Kabay A tool can be the best in its class, but if it is misapplied, it can cause havoc. Imagine the likely damage if a 4-year-old were to use a top-quality surgical scalpel to peel an orange. Now consider the following...

Aperi vs. EMC: What's the squabble all about? * How open is Aperi?(Chronology)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Mike Karp Last time, we introduced the players on either side of the Aperi battle. Today and next time we'll look at content - what there is of it, anyway. The Aperi project's stated goal is to create an open and...

Foundry switches put security at edge; * Foundry's latest security switches.(Foundry Networks SecureIronLS)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jeff Caruso Foundry Networks last week introduced products that combine the company's security technology with LAN switching. The SecureIronLS LAN switches are part of the larger SecureIron family. Previous models were billed...

What the Cheshire cat knows about your network architecture; * The pitfalls to creating a network architecture.(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Steve Taylor,aJim Metzler In the last WAN newsletter, we discussed the fact that many companies don't have a network architecture. We also discussed the fact that many of the companies that do have merely adopted vendor...

New updates from Apple; * Patches from Apple, Debian, Gentoo, others* Beware latest Clagger variants* After feud, researcher promises daily browser bugs, and other interesting reading.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Jason Meserve Today's bug patches and security alerts: Apple patches iTunes A denial-of-service vulnerability has been found in Apple's iTunes, the popular music/podcast aggregation application. The flaw is in the way...

Intel releases Woodcrest to inch closer to AMD Opteron's performance; * Woodcrest claims 135% performance improvement and 40% reduced energy consumption.
July 6, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor Intel last week launched a line of Xeon chips that are expected to close the performance gap between AMD Opteron and Intel-based machines. The Xeon Processor 5100 Series, codenamed Woodcrest, is a dual-core...

Readers answer the Bully Software Alliance; * And Microsoft flat out lies about proof of software legality.(Business Software Alliance)
July 6, 2006... Byline: James E. Gaskin Before we get to reader comments about the Business Software Alliance, what I like to call the Bully Software Alliance a(see: The software protection racket, Part 1 & Part 2), let me highlight what Microsoft had...

Taking a LEMONADE stand to mobile messaging; * LEMONADE standard focused on making mobile comms cheaper.(License to Enhanced Mobile Oriented and Diverse Endpoints)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Michael Osterman The License to Enhanced Mobile Oriented and Diverse Endpoints (LEMONADE) Profile is a collection of open standards focused on making mobile communications cheaper and more efficient by making better use of...

Symantec ends the development of security appliances; * Symantec gets out of security appliance business.(SGS Advanced Manager development discontinued)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene The recent decision of Symantec to get out of the security appliance business says more about the hardware industry than it does about the security business in general or Symantec in particular. The company is a...

Savvis signs e-learning customer.(Chalk Media )(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Canadian e-learning company Chalk Media inked a two-year deal with Savvis, which is providing virtual hosting, storage and security services to the company. Savvis is expected to announce the deal on...

Hosted BlackBerry e-mail coming to a service provider near you.(Hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Server introduced by Research in Motion Ltd.)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: John Cox Research in Motion has unveiled a software package that lets hosting service providers offer BlackBerry wireless e-mail as a monthly service to small and midsize businesses. The software, dubbed Hosted BlackBerry...

Orange adds T-Mobile hot spots to expand Wi-Fi coverage.(Orange Business Services)(Brief article)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Pappalardo Orange Business Services Wednesday announcedathat it is teaming with T-Mobile to expand the reach of its Wi-Fi network in the U.S. Orange Business Services is France Telecom's newly formed unit that...

Deploying dashboards the right way; Recent study says IT and business dashboards immature, advises how to approach deploying scorecard technology.(survey by The Data Warehousing Institute)(Survey)
July 6, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie A recent survey of nearly 700 IT and business professionals shows that the use of dashboards to monitor performance metrics is on the rise. Yet IT and business users will need to invest more time and money to reap...

Carnegie Mellon researchers' robot outsmarts Texas Hold'Em programs; Computer program not smart enough to beat humans - yet.(GS2 robot)(Brief article)
July 7, 2006... Byline: Network World Staff Computer scientists have moved beyond figuring out how to beat computerized chess systems and are now tackling automated Texas Hold'Em programs. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created a...

Sun to kill open systems virtual tape project.(Sun Microsystems Inc. stopping the production of Virtual Storage Manager)(Brief article)
July 7, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor Sun is expected to announce next week that it will discontinue development of its Virtual Storage Manager Open product. According to sources, Sun will notify customers on Monday that the open systems virtual tape...

Small network problems add up to big costs.(survey by Toronto software and Softchoice )(Survey)
July 7, 2006... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan Is your network in danger of dying from a thousand cuts? A recent survey of more than 200 North American companies found seemingly small but widespread problems, such as malware infestations, unpatched...

Software piracy: Love it or hate it; Fight against illegal software use heats up, though not all see a problem.
July 10, 2006... Big vendors such as Microsoft and IBM say that they're collectively losing billions of dollars a year in software sales because of piracy, and are working together and with government to address the problem. But others argue that the...

Ask Dr. Internet.(MathML from Design Science Inc.)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Steve Blass The World Wide Web Consortium includes a listing of Mathematics Markup Language (MathML) software where you can find links to several equation editor programs for the Web and desktop, including browsers, plug-ins,...

Technology's next wave: the dashboard.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Ever heard of "continuous partial attention"? Maybe not. But you've probably engaged in it. And it's a critical component underlying a techno-cultural seismic shift that's happening as we speak. Let me...

Wireless training, certification grow steadily in popularity.(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Cox Security is probably one of the most specialized areas for enterprise wireless LANs. Training companies are expanding their wireless offerings, emphasizing hands-on curricula, with an eye to readying attendees for one...

New Novell CEO stresses execution; Open source competitors, shifting corporate culture key challenges for Ron Hovsepian.(cheif executive officer)(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth,aMichael Cooney WALTHAM, MASS. - It's do or die time for Novell. Again. The company changed CEOs last month and will shortly release its latest Linux-based server and desktop software, which will share a...

Imperfect storm needs full-spectrum defense.
July 10, 2006... Defense in depth is failing. As cybercrime mounts and attackers exploit the spectrum of technical and managerial weaknesses, companies must adopt a full-spectrum defense. We are facing a not-so-perfect storm of rapidly changing business...

Workflow and Lightroom.(Adobe Systems Inc. launches workflow software)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs Workflow is a concept the computer world and academia have been theorizing about and experimenting with for years. What's fascinating about computer-mediated workflow is that workflow systems can be really effective...

Microsoft sets communication plan; Microsoft outlines broad unified communications strategy.('Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007')
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Fontana Microsoft has put its stake in the ground concerning unified communications, saying it plans to integrate e-mail, instant messaging, voice and video into a single platform stretching across corporate applications...

Lotus nears release of Notes for Linux.
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Fontana IBM/Lotus this month plans to release a full Notes client that runs on Linux desktops and does not require users to roll out any of the company's Workplace Client technology. Availability of the Notes client...

Retailers fail to pass security test; One year after the deadline, most big merchants still aren't Payment Card Industry compliant.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Ann Bednarz A full year after the deadline, a majority of large merchants face potential fines because they still aren't in compliance with a data security standard created by major credit card companies including American...

Good, Bad, Ugly.(group of researchers have found a way to circumvent China's Internet content controls)(Palm has stopped shipping its latest smart phone )(Microsoft has been hit with a second lawsuit over Windows Genuine Advantage its antipiracy program)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... A group of researchers at the University of Cambridge claims to have found a way to circumvent China's Internet content controls. Their paper, titled "Ignoring the Great Firewall of China," offers an insight into the workings of China's...

CA upgrades configuration database; CA database upgrade targets configuration managment.(Computer Associates Inc., Configuration management database)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie CA recently upgraded its configuration management database to let customers collect configuration data from multiple sources more easily. CMDBs store data about networks, systems and applications to help...

IT's identity crisis; Some say the glory days are over; others believe IT's best days are ahead.
July 10, 2006... Don Dargel, at left,ahas been working in IT since he was a teenager, and now, at age 37, he wants out so badly he's willing to join the National Guard to get extra money so he can go back to college. And yes, he's aware there's a war on....

Is there an identity crisis in IT? Do IT folks understand where they fit in the organization these days?
July 10, 2006... "No, we don't. I'm totally lost down here." Alex Ayotte, systems project administrator for a state agency in Florida "I don't see it. From the bottom up, we understand what our place is. For the most part, we know who we are and what...

Tech students are falling short when learning about business.
July 10, 2006... Don't expect the next generation of computer science graduates to be of much help in addressing the problems facing IT. There will be fewer of them, and they're not learning the skills they need to grapple with the changing face of IT, says...

Internet access via fiber at 15Mbps.(Verizon Communications Inc. providing FiOS Internet access service for its customers)
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Dix After living with Verizon's 5Mbps, fiber-based FiOS Internet access service for several months, I decided to pay the extra $10 per month and ratchet up the speed to 15Mbps to see if I noticed an appreciable difference....

Starting up in 2012.(Microsoft Windows Horizon operating system)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Mark Gibbs 08:52 Welcome to the Microsoft Windows Horizon operating system. Today is July 10, 2012. The temperature outside is 105 degrees Fahrenheit, the wind speed is 40 knots gusting to 80 knots, the air pollution level is...

Optical gear boosts availability; Redundant fibers offer more protection against outages.
July 10, 2006... High-bandwidth networks use fiber links to carry large volumes of mission-critical traffic. Outages often result in large financial losses, so carriers and enterprises have used a variety of mechanisms, such as SONET rings in the core and...

VoIP security services taking hold; Carriers report increased demand for their growing roster of offerings.(voice over internet protocol)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Carolyn Duffy Marsan Carriers are beefing up their VoIP security services, and demand for these offerings is growing as more VoIP vulnerabilities come to light. High-profile attacks against VoIP systems are helping drive...

Demand rises for wireless skills; Most network groups acquire this expertise internally, as IT pros learn on the job.
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Cox Most network groups acquire this expertise internally, as IT pros learn on the job. Scan the job postings: IT network job descriptions increasingly cite wireless skills among the requirements. There also has been...

Does Verizon owe you money?($200 Billion Broadband Scandal)(Book review)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Scott Bradner Would it surprise you to hear that the telcos have been ripping you off for years, promising all sorts of advanced services, as long as regulators do them a favor or two - and then failing to deliver? This is the...

In brief: Sentillion announces desktop software.(A group of schools, vendors and government agencies are banding together to fight identity fraud and theft)(WatchGuard Technologies Inc. is launching computer networking equipments)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Sentillion last week announced vThere, desktop software that partitions a secure compartment in a home PC to create a virtualized office computer and secure remote access via a VPN. The first VPN supported in vThere is Cisco's VPN client....

Analyzing software bugs to death; Professor's project relies on users: 'There's always more bugs than engineers.'.(Cooperative Bug Isolation project)
July 10, 2006... Ben Liblit wants to get the bugs out of your software, but he really could use your help. His Cooperative Bug Isolation (CBI) project, with the aid of a few thousand users who run "instrumented" versions of e-mail clients, music...

Hospital group builds wireless LAN skills internally.(Baptist Medical Center, local area network)
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Cox Baptist Health, a hospital system in Jacksonville, Fla., has been building its wireless LAN (WLAN) for about five years, to cover all five hospital campuses and a growing number of outpatient facilities. Chief...

The legal risks of blogging.
July 10, 2006... Corporations have begun to view blogs as a valuable tool for many purposes, including marketing products and services, building good will and brand loyalty, putting a human face on the corporation, countering negative publicity, and...

Are there 'gateway computer crimes'?
July 10, 2006... Byline: Paul McNamara A thief is a thief is a thief, right? And you can waste a lot of time trying to understand the thought processes that lead someone to a life of stealing from others. Nevertheless, a story in last Wednesday's...

Better than a Nano? Archos' mini player rivals the iPod.(Archos 104 mini music player, EZVue Vista USB flash drive)(Product/service evaluation)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Keith Shaw The scoop: Archos 104 Mini Music Player, from Archos, about $160. What it is: The 4GB Archos 104 is a very portable digital audio player that weighs 2.8 ounces and has a 1.5-inch color screen. The device can...

Compromising VoIP.(voice over internet protocol)
July 10, 2006... "Arrests Indicate Vulnerability of Web Phone Service to Fraud" blared a recent Wall Street Journal headline - though I doubt any readers thought broadband VoIP was invulnerable to hacking. A few pages later, "Who's Watching Internet-Phone...

CipherTrust upgrades instant messaging security appliance.(IronIM 2.0)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Cara Garretson Security company CipherTrust on Monday announced an upgrade to its appliance designed to secure and manage corporate use of instant messaging with features that add tighter control and better threat protection to...

Q&A: Nortel's new top technologist aims high.(Northern Telecom Ltd., John Roese )(Interview)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Phil Hochmuth As Nortel's new CTO, John Roese must think big. His task is to rally more than 12,000 engineers in product areas as diverse as Ethernet, cellular infrastructure, optical and wireless mesh, and outline R&D and...

Letters to the editor: "How to protect your VoIP network".
July 10, 2006... Don't forget H.323 I find it odd that the article, "How to protect your VoIP network" focuses on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to the exclusion of H.323. H.323 is the more robust protocol, and with the inclusion of the H.235 and...

Microsoft opens Office 2007 for online testing; Site runs on Unix, Linux and Apache.
July 10, 2006... Byline: John Fontana On the heels of its unified communications blowout Monday, Microsoft is offering users a chance to take a free online test drive of Office 2007 applications and servers. The suite of productivity applications...

Sun jumps back into blades, expands Opteron line.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor,aJennifer Mears After exiting the market last year in face of stiff competition, Sun next week is expected to introduce a new blade server as it fills out its x64-based product line, which has been a bright spot in...

VoIP isn't all about hard-dollar benefits; * Why you should forge ahead with a VoIP strategy.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Robin Gareiss During the past few months, I've noticed a shift in how many IT executives view their VoIP projects. Those who are forging ahead say they've pushed aside the importance of quick returns on investment and view a...

Dell bundles NetWare with servers; * Dell PowerEdge certified for NetWare 6.5.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Dave Kearns The good news is that Dell recently shipped some new PowerEdge servers. The great news is that one is actually certified for NetWare 6.5! And it isn't the low-powered one. The Dell PowerEdge 1950, 2900 and 2950...

Follow the rules - unless you shouldn't follow the rules; * Peculiar ruling on file-deletion case.(International Airport Centers L.L.C.'s Jacob Citrin accused for breach of contract and computer fraud)
July 11, 2006... Byline: M. E. Kabay Declan McCullagh summarized an interesting interpretation of law that occurred in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in March. It seems that Jacob Citrin used to work for International Airport Centers. He...

How to know whether a network architecture would be effective in your company; * Determining factors to whether a network architecture is worthwhile.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Steve Taylor,aJim Metzler In the last couple of newsletters, we've discussed the fact that many companies do not have a network architecture. We also discussed some of the many pitfalls that companies run into when attempting...

Managed security services set for growth; * Customers to flock to managed security services.(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Tim Greene Running a VPN with its own equipment can be expensive and time-consuming for a business, especially with the advent of network security models that call for layering technologies to thwart the range of threats...

Examining IT's identity crisis; * How IT is perceived.(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Amy Schurr It's important for leaders to consider not just how IT is perceived by end users and clients, but how the field is perceived by those who work in it. And the news may not be good. Network World examines the issue of...

User response positive to Sun's Opteron push; * User gives thumbs-up to Sun's latest servers.(Sun Microsystems Inc. introduced Sun Fire x4600 and the x4500 )(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor Users applauded Sun's launch this week of more x86-based Opteron servers. The company is launching two servers - a four to 16 processor eight-socket system for high-performance technical computing and a...

Communications in the healthcare industry has a long way to go; * Research into healthcare and messaging.(Survey)(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Michael Osterman Osterman Research and Health Industry News will be publishing a study that examines the use of electronic communications technologies in the healthcare industry. We have completed the research and have gained...

What Vonage should be doing.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Daniel Briere,aPatrick Hurley A few months back, we were asked by a company sitting on the Vonage IPO what we thought of the company's strategy. Our thoughts at the time (and they haven't really changed) were that it was a very...

Tech tip: Root bridge selection; * Accurate root bridge selection increases the stability of the spanning tree.(Netcordia's Terry Slattery wants to do more with network analysis)(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie Netcordia Founder and CEO Terry Slattery has been successfully heading up that company and developing its NetMRI suite of network analysis appliances, but he still wants to do more. That's why he recently sent me a...

Is Aperi going to be a standard? * What does IBM have to gain and lose in Aperi?
July 11, 2006... Byline: Mike Karp What's it all about, Aperi? Is it just for the moment we live...? Last time I asked two questions: When is a "standard" not a standard, and when is "open" not open? The Aperi mission statement states: "The...

Desktops in the data center? * How desktops can be consolidated in data centers with everything else.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Andreas M. Antonopoulos As a wave of consolidation sweeps over companies, branch offices are stripped of servers and everything is moved to the data center. Even file servers are now being consolidated into large networked...

Verizon Business launches managed WLAN service; * The Verizon Business Managed Wireless LAN Service.(wireless local area networks)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Jim Duffy Verizon Business unveiled a managed wireless LAN service. Verizon Business Managed Wireless LAN Service is designed to address all aspects of a WLAN deployment and provide a platform for future applications, such...

Pressure building for 100G Ethernet, reader says; * Need for higher-speed Ethernet growing - in some circles.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Jeff Caruso I received an e-mail message recently from someone who is looking forward to the development of the next generation of Ethernet. He replied to my May newsletter on the topic of 100 Gigabit Ethernet. He pointed...

Opsware set to buy Creekpath Systems; Company to add storage management technology to its data center automation product portfolio.
July 11, 2006... Byline: Denise Dubie Opsware Tuesday announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire storage management vendor Creekpath Systems for about $10 million in a deal expected to close early next month. Opsware will "focus 100% on...

CA reels in disaster recovery, backup vendor.(acquired XOsoft)(Brief article)
July 11, 2006... Byline: Deni Connor CA Tuesday morning announced that it has acquired disaster recovery and backup specialist XOsoft. CA will add XOsoft's products to its BrightStor backup and recovery products. "With ARCserve, we've been talking...

IVRs vs. offshore call center operators - which would you rather deal with? * Getting your problems solved over the phone is sometimes not as easy as it should be.(interactive voice response)(Column)
July 12, 2006... Byline: Dan Twing There has been much discussion over offshore call center outsourcing. Sometimes the focus is the effect on jobs, other times the focus is the quality of customer service. I wrote about customer service issues back in...