Network World articles from March 2003

Network World archives from March 2003

XRN Interconnect architecture; New XRN architecture offers high availability, low cost.(Expandable Resilient Networking)
March 3, 2003... Byline: DAVID NEWMAN, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE Com is targeting the enterprise backbone with its new Expandable Resilient Networking architecture, and our tests support 3Com's claim that its XRN interconnect technology combines...

XRN road map.(3Com)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: david newman 3Com plans a three-phase rollout of XRN technology. Phase 1 products are shipping now. These support interconnection of two switches at a distance of up to 16 feet using a proprietary cable. We tested XRN support...

IP and the WAN: The time is now.(corporate upgrades)(Industry Overview)
March 3, 2003... Byline: deb mielke With all of the choices corporations have in telecom products, services and strategy, coupled with stringent economic conditions, it's sometimes easier to do nothing than to make a change for the better. The problem with...

Does bankruptcy give companies an unfair advantage? Two industry insiders debate whether filing Chapter 11 gives firms a leg up on competitors.(Industry Overview)
March 3, 2003... Byline: YES, by Janice Aune There is absolutely no doubt that bankruptcy gives some companies an unfair advantage. But perhaps the focus should be less on the companies and more on the public policy that enables this inequity. Let me...

Does bankruptcy give companies an unfair advantage?(Industry Overview)
March 3, 2003... Byline: NO, by David Lynn Why should a mismanaged company or, worse, one that has deliberately cooked the books, be able to waltz through Chapter 11, emerge streamlined and cleansed of its sins, and then be able to outperform its...

Letters to the editor.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
March 3, 2003... Byline: readers John Dix was right to observe in his editorial "WAN carriers rock and teeter" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 4528) that the long-distance sector is suffering from the lingering economic doldrums, but if one really looks...

Wi-Fi switching adds wireless control.
March 3, 2003... Byline: MERWYN ANDRADE Wireless LAN switching centralizes control of access points and wireless switching much like intelligent switching did for the wired world. The technology provides a structured blueprint and centralized...

Windows patch management tools; PatchLink Update's flexibility helped it best three other products tested.(BigFix's Enterprise Suite, Gravity Storm Software's Service Pack Manager 2000, PatchLink's Update, Shavlik Technologies' HfNetChk Pro)(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 3, 2003... Byline: MANDY ANDRESS, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE With Microsoft releasing more than 230 security bulletins since the beginning of 2000 - most of those requiring some sort of corrective action to fix a hole in one of its...

Not in the game.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mandy Andress We limited this review to stand-alone patch management products, meaning we did not include enterprise management products that required the purchase of another product before you could use patch management features....

How we did it.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mandy Andress How We Did It We installed each product on a Pentium III, 800 GHz system with 256M bytes of RAM running Windows 2000 Server. This system resided on a network of five systems running Windows 2000 Workstation,...

Ink fuels the printer wars.
March 3, 2003... Byline: Linda Musthaler You might think that all laser or inkjet printers are pretty much the same, and basically, they are. Manufacturers such as Canon, HP and Lexmark don't make a lot of money on each printer they sell. The big bucks...

Support savings; Tapping Usenet and vendor sites for technical help and updates conserves time and money.
March 3, 2003... Byline: Deni Connor Support savings Tapping Usenet and vendor sites for technical help and updates conserves time and money. BY DENI CONNOR Is the support you find online for problems with your network gear worth it? ...

Web site warrantee; Altaworks tunes AAA's Web site to keep the auto giant's apps running smoothly.
March 3, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE When it comes to gauging Web application performance, timing is everything to Steve Herrington. As database systems and Web integration manager at American Automobile Association (AAA) Missouri, Herrington needs to...

What about Microsoft?(Windows patch management)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mandy Andress For smaller or cash-strapped companies looking to automate Windows patch management tasks, Microsoft provides several patch management tools, some of which are available for free. For small businesses, Microsoft...

infra briefs.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... n IBM has pepped up the low-end server in its Unix line with the addition of one of the latest Power4 processors. IBM will start shipping the p630 server with a 1.45-GHz Power4+ immediately. The new chip is more powerful than the older,...

Thy vendor oath: First, do no harm . . .(Linksys)
March 3, 2003... Byline: kevin tolly Dating back to the time of Hippocrates in 400 B.C., physicians have sworn and endeavored, above all, to avoid having their actions make a patient's condition worse. Perhaps it's time to ask your network infrastructure...

Net.Worker Short Takes.
March 3, 2003... A study from Parks Associates found those users 45 and older comprise more than 40% of U.S. broadband households. "Broadband Access @ Home III," which surveyed more than 10,000 Internet households, found the most significant growth from 2001 to...

Eaton Vance's security strategy for telework.
March 3, 2003... Byline: Toni Kistner Eaton Vance's security strategy for telework Like most investment management firms, Eaton Vance walks a tightrope between providing its users with the remote access they need, and ensuring those users don't...

Making the worst of a bad situation.(Data Processors International)(Column)
March 3, 2003... Byline: scott bradner It is quite amazing how companies can compound a difficult situation by punishing the innocent and then pointing proudly at the demonstration of their inability to rub two neurons together when it comes to figuring...

Patch mgmt. tools on tap from Shavlik.(HFNetChkPro 4.0)
March 3, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA ST. PAUL, MINN. - Automating will be the prevailing theme next week when Shavlik Technologies releases the first major revision of its patch management product for Microsoft software. For customers, patch...

SSM Health Care uses virtual call center.
March 3, 2003... Byline: TONI KISTNER ST. LOUIS - Medical call centers are a mixed bag. Some hospital systems have huge facilities that serve multiple hospitals; others have a small center that serves only one. Some handle internal inquiries only. Some are...

Cisco exec talks up IP telephony ROI.(Don Proctor)(Interview)
March 3, 2003... Byline: phil hochmuth Don Proctor, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Voice Technology Group, is responsible for the direction of the company's convergence products and strategy. Last month at the VoiceCon show in Washington,...

DSL penetrates the business market . . . slowly.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: MICHAEL MARTIN Many early providers of DSL disappeared during the telecom meltdown, but the technology has continued to evolve and grow in popularity. Double-digit subscriber growth is still the norm for most U.S. providers...

apps briefs.(NetIQ's SQL Management Suite 2.0)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... n NetIQ last week released Version 2.0 of its year-old SQL Management Suite, with new features including a revamped user interface in one module and additional reporting tools in another. NetIQ's SQL Management Suite is intended to ease...

Implementing IP telephony: What to watch for.(Column)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Regular readers of this column will be familiar with my view that when it comes to IP telephony implementations, the devil's in the details. Last fall, we talked about how to craft a credible cost-justification...

Compendium.(Column)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Adam Gaffin Editor's Note: Cool Tools is on hiatus for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Network World Fusion Executive Editor Adam Gaffin offers up some online sightings: Reuseless? Back when I was just a cub technology...

BETTER DAYS AHEAD FOR TELECOM? INDUSTRY REPORT PREDICTS STEADY SPENDING GROWTH THROUGH 2006.
March 3, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO ARLINGTON, VA. - There might be a light at the end of the tunnel for the U.S. telecom market, despite a seemingly continuous drumbeat of bad news. Between now and 2006, telecom spending by carriers, consumers...

Service Provider briefs.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: staff AT&T and Cisco last week announced an expanded marketing and sales relationship. The companies are working to roll out AT&T's managed data services to customers in the U.S. The companies also will team up on product and...

net buzz.(Column)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Paul McNamara 'Don't you dare touch that .DOC' . . . Part II Three weeks ago we opened a can of worms here in recounting a dust-up between security expert Joel Snyder, a regular Network World contributor, and the IT department...

Catching up with upgrades.(TightVNC, Whatsup Gold 8.0)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Mark Gibbs This week we'll catch up on a few upgrades of products we've reviewed in this column. TightVNC First, there's an improved version of a tool we loved, the remote control utility VNC (see www.nwfusion.com,...

Mary Kay exec says Web site more than a pretty interface.(Interview)
March 3, 2003... Byline: Denise Dubie International cosmetics giant Mary Kay, a privately held company with more than $1 billion in revenue, credits its online presence for processing 85% of sales placed by its army of consultants or directly by consumers...

Aelita zeros in on Active Directory restructuring.(Enterprise Migration Manager)
March 3, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA DUBLIN, OHIO - Aelita Software this week will introduce the first software that provides automated tools for reshaping Microsoft's rigid Active Directory. The company's Enterprise Migration Manager (EMM) lets users...

Are media access control addresses really unique?
March 3, 2003... Steve Blass Are media access control addresses really unique? Or are there any (maybe cloned?) network interface cards that have the same MAC address as another NIC? What is the probability of having two identical MAC addresses within one...

Nipping computer crime in the bud.(Editorial)(Column)
March 3, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. - A sixth-grader accused of changing his marks on a teacher's computer said he needed better grades to get his father to let him play computer games at home again. The 11-year-old used his teacher's...

Sun powers up software, servers.
March 3, 2003... Byline: ASHLEE VANCE SAN FRANCISCO - Sun has charted a new course for the way it will deliver software and manufacture processors in the hopes of keeping users as it faces increased competition from IBM and Intel. Scott McNealy,...

NAI, CA get tougher on viruses; Latest McAfee software selectively scans.(Network Associates' VirusScan Enterprise 7.0, Computer Associates' eTrust Antivirus 7.0 )(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Network Associates Inc. and Computer Associates last week separately announced antivirus-software upgrades in an effort to differentiate their offerings in a market that observers say has nearly reached commodity...

Web services pioneers report minimal pain, plenty of gain.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... Byline: John Fontana John Fontana National Student Clearinghouse has built a Web service that streamlines and automates one of its key business processes. And the good news, according to NSC and other network executives who have...

State of the Web services world.
March 10, 2003... Byline: JOHNA TILL JOHNSON Nemertes Research worked with 45 companies to benchmark how they're deploying Web services, what benefit they're achieving, and how they're measuring and monitoring the performance of these services. The...

Lydian revs up automobile loan business with Web services.
March 10, 2003... Byline: John Fontana When John Studdard talks about auto loans he says he likes to think the "auto" stands for automated not automobile. That's because Studdard, CTO for Lydian Trust, a financial services company in Palm Beach Gardens,...

Ask Dr Internet.(Web site design)(Brief Article)(Column)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Steve Blass We leased a domain name that is being routed by our ISP to a "holding" page. We want to call up the Web page from outside our network and access our Internet Information Server (IIS) and Web page. We want to use IIS to...

HIPAA deadline ups healthcare anxiety; HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE: Regulatory issues abound.
March 10, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER For John Hennessey, sifting and sorting through Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations has been a large ordeal. Hennessey is the CIO for Dallas County, which contracts with the University...

2003 is the year of network security.
March 10, 2003... Byline: chuck yoke In the annals of networks, 2003 will be known as the year of network security. With the passage last year of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the European Union's...

Who's in charge of crypto backup?(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... Byline: winn schwartau At many firms, back-up policies and procedures are a hodgepodge of action, inaction and political infighting. Who's in charge? Is it the disaster-recovery folks, because failed drives and erased tapes certainly could...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
March 10, 2003... Byline: readers Your story "Next 'Slammer' could be worse" (www. nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 4623) states: ". . . the notion of blocking traffic automatically remains controversial because of worries about cutting off legitimate traffic."...

The outsourcing impact; Find out how IT managers handle the employee aspects of outsourcing.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Linda Leung The outsourcing impact Find out how IT managers handle the employee aspects of outsourcing. In October 2000, Michael 'Neill had just put a down payment on a house, and he and his wife were excitedly awaiting...

802.3af powers up LAN, lowers cost.
March 10, 2003... Byline: AMIR LEHR The proposed IEEE 802.3af standard for supplying power over Ethernet cabling will ease deployment of IP telephones and wireless access points, and reduce the cost of powering the devices. Currently in draft status, the...

Sockeye tunes up route-control gear.(Sockeye Networks' GlobalRoute 3.0 )
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE WALTHAM, MASS. - Upgraded equipment from Sockeye Networks gives customers employing lines from more than one service provider the potential to save more money on Internet access bills. The company last week rolled...

Eventually a floor?(final Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act security standards )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Scot Bradner The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the final Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act security standards on Feb. 13, after a rather long gestation period that in the minds of many...

XML FIREWALL APPLIANCE ON TAP FROM REACTIVITY.(Reactivity XML Firewall)
March 10, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA BELMONT, CALIF. - Once focused solely on software, Reactivity this week will release an XML firewall appliance designed to give companies a way to secure their Web services traffic. The Reactivity XML Firewall...

inf briefs.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... n InfiniBand start-up Voltaire last week launched two products that use the next-generation InfiniBand bus. The company announced the ISR 6000 Switch Router and the ISR 9600 InfiniBand Switch Router. The ISR 6000 is a six-port 4x InfiniBand...

Peeking at the RFPs.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Jim Duffy Peeking at the RFPs RFPs issued by the Bells for IP, optical and multiservice switching technology are focused on products that will let them incrementally add services while gradually enabling them to consolidate all...

Microsoft security: Threat or menace?
March 10, 2003... Byline: dave kearns A couple of weeks ago, Network World Fusion reported that Microsoft will release an add-on security package for Windows Server 2003 that will implement rights management policies for corporate documents...

Optical gear finds home in courts.(New York courts use laser transmission technology)
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE Use of free-space optics in the New York court system started as a response to an emergency need, but now the technology has proven to be reliable enough to be a trusted secondary connection for many court facilities....

Tool helps users create XML-formatted documents.(Altova recently unveiled Authentic 5)
March 10, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA BEVERLY, MASS. - Altova knows there is plenty of conversation these days about integration using XML-formatted data, but the company would rather talk about how to first get that data into an XML format. Altova...

Enterprise Applications.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Staff MasterCard International in the near future will be deploying public-key infrastructure technology from Baltimore Technologies for the card-processor association's SecureCode cardholder authentication. Bruce Rutherford, vice...

carrier briefs.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2003... n Cogent Communications recently picked up the Internet business of access and collocation provider Fiber Network Solutions Inc. for an undisclosed amount of stock and assumption of debt. FNSI's approximately 400 customers are in Ohio, Michigan...

Groove slashes 20% of payroll.
March 10, 2003... n Groove Networks laid off 20% of its workforce last week and also announced that it had closed a fifth round of financing worth $38 million from investors that include Accel Partners, Intel Capital and Microsoft. The company now has raised...

The real problem with those 'crybaby Bells'.
March 10, 2003... Byline: johna till johnson You'll recall that baby Bells have been lobbying for years to undo the FCC-mandated discount rates they must charge other carriers for use of their facilities. The Bells' argument is that these artificially low...

net buzz.(Caelo Software's Nelson Email Organizer handles spam)
March 10, 2003... Byline: Paul McNamara Need a shovel for your e-mail? Caelo Software is a tiny speck of a company located in a tiny speck of a Canadian town. Caelo's product - Nelson Email Organizer (NEO) - is said to save huge amounts of time for...

Collation looks to ease application management.(Confignia)
March 10, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE ORLANDO - A management software start-up last week unveiled a product designed to automatically discover and monitor configuration changes across network elements that support business-critical applications. At...

Vendors tackle app integration.(BEA ships WebLogic Platform 8.1, IBM upgrades WebSphere Business Integration )
March 10, 2003... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ Middleware competitors IBM and BEA Systems unveiled separate integration offerings last week, each aimed at reducing the complexity of systems integration projects. IBM focused on adding business process management...

Customer service VP at WorldCom sees brighter days ahead.(Interview)
March 10, 2003... Byline: denise pappalardo Your company is in bankruptcy, under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and mentioned in the same breath with Enron as an example of corporate malfeasance. Your customers are nervous if not...

Who says the Bells aren't spending?
March 10, 2003... Byline: JIM DUFFY AND MICHAEL MARTIN Capital spending by North American carriers this year - expected to be $30 billion - might be only half that of 2001, but the four regional Bell operating companies will invest nearly three-quarters of...

Fortinet revs its security gear; Multifunction device packs 4G bit/sec firewall potential.(Fortinet FortiGate 3600)
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE SANTA CLARA - Fortinet is getting ready to ship a beefed-up version of its security platform that would let service providers protect their networks and offer security services to customers. Called FortiGate 3600,...

SnowShore, NexTone team to link IP nets.
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE SnowShore Networks is introducing an appliance for service providers that processes IP traffic so it can cross between carrier networks without losing service-quality markers or being dropped altogether. Called the...

AT&T, Aventail tout SSL VPN service.
March 10, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO AT&T is teaming with Aventail to offer what the companies say is a more flexible VPN choice for remote and extranet access. AT&T is expected to announce this week that it is reselling Aventail's Secure Sockets...

compendium.(Editorial)
March 10, 2003... Byline: adam gaffin Editor's Note: Cool Tools is on hiatus for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Network World Fusion Executive Editor Adam Gaffin offers up some online sightings: But how do you really feel? Gerry McGovern, who...

IP PBX vendors ready for VON debate.
March 10, 2003... Byline: John Dix In February we challenged some of the largest IP PBX suppliers to come to the Voice on the Net show at the end of this month in San Jose to discuss just what it is that makes their products stand apart. After all, we...

Directory projects worth the pain; Survey of large users says systems provide ID management, security platform.
March 10, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Corporate directory projects easily can top $4 million and are rife with peril, but companies that successfully deploy the technology can unify user identities and build new security services, according to a new...

The Zen of PHP.(PHP: Hypertext Processor)(Column)
March 10, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs We've always loved those smart-alecky names that programmers give to their applications. In particular, we rejoice in the recursive names such as Pine and PHP. Pine used to be one of the most widely used e-mail packages...

Net execs hope to spend despite tight purse strings.
March 10, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Talk about a good news-bad news proposition: corporations are planning to spend money on oft-postponed network projects this year but they'll only spend a little more than they did last year. A recent study by...

IBM unveils 'self-healing' tools.(Adaptive Forecasting, Online Capacity Planning and Rapid Reconfiguration modules)
March 10, 2003... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM moved closer to achieving its vision of self-healing, self-configuring systems last week with the unveiling of three autonomic computing software modules. The modules are designed to predict and...

3Com and Foundry have the power; New powered LAN switches could help ease IP phone, wireless LAN base station deployment.(Foundry Networks FastIron Edge Switch 2402,3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 PWR)
March 10, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Foundry Networks and 3Com this week will debut products that deliver power over Ethernet to devices such as wireless LAN access points and IP phones - the latter addressing a critical concern among IP telephony...

Flaws put open source on hot seat.
March 10, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA The SendMail and Snort security bugs exposed last week brought front and center the unique challenges inherent in producing and applying patches to open source software. The bottom line, experts say, is that...

Network Associates tossing wider net; Company plans busy year of new product releases, including antispam and intrusion detection.
March 10, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER NEW YORK - Network Associates last week laid out plans to move into new areas, from spam control to intrusion prevention, as well as to augment its antivirus, help desk and protocol analysis products. CEO George...

Bigger players eye WLAN switch arena; Enterasys, Nortel, 3Com set to deliver wireless LAN switches.
March 10, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH AND JOHN COX Some of the biggest names in wireline switching are readying products designed to incorporate wireless LANs more fully and securely into enterprise networks. Those plotting announcements include: ...

Securing WLANs still a hit or miss proposition.
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE AND JOHN COX Securing wireless LANs is a growing challenge with no easy solutions. The need to spend time, money and staff to beef up security is hobbling the technology, even so customers still spent $1.68 billion...

Redline seeks to boost intranets.(Redline Networks' E/X 3250 Enterprise Web I/ Accelerator )
March 10, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE CAMPBELL, CALIF. - Redline Networks this week will look to extend beyond its acceleration products for publicly accessible Web servers, with an offering for speeding up and securing intranets. The company's new E/X...

Why aren't you migrating to Linux?
March 10, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs Wow. Did you see the recent Business Week story titled "The Linux Uprising"? You can read it online at www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 4661. I'm not pointing it out because it's good (it was pretty poor), but because...

SCO sues IBM for $1 billion for infringement.
March 10, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH AND ANN BEDNARZ LINDON, UTAH - The SCO Group last week filed a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM, alleging Big Blue tried to destroy the value of Unix to benefit IBM's Linux business. SCO's complaint, filed last...

Security squabble; Reader spots security flaw in software, raising issue of effectiveness of vendor bulletins.(Oracle's Internet Application Server security problems)
March 17, 2003... Byline: MANDY ANDRESS, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE An alert reader recently notified us about a potentially serious security vulnerability in Oracle's Internet Application Server, in which any default installation of a PL/SQL gateway...

Our company is looking to change from frame relay to VPN between two locations within the same country.(virtual private networks)
March 17, 2003... Steve Blass Our company is looking to change from frame relay to VPN between two locations within the same country. Can this happen, and what type of VPN would we need for that? Replacing frame relay with a VPN usually means rerouting...

Diary of a data center move; Neither rain, nore balky backups, nor faulty switch ports keep Aquent's tech team from delivering e-mail service.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Suzanne Gaspar Diary of a data center move Neither rain, nor balky backups, nor faulty switch ports keep Aquent's tech team from delivering e-mail service. BY SUZANNE GASPAR A freezing rain drenched the snow-banked...

Reaching out to the unemployed.(network professionals)
March 17, 2003... Byline: barton mckinley Laid-off network professionals are hurting. They are often scorned or ridiculed by people outside the technology sector, scapegoats for the high-tech downturn. Worse, former colleagues and employers often ignore...