Network World articles from October 2002

Network World archives from October 2002

Dell PowerConnect 3248; Ethernet switch hits hard on price/ performance.
October 7, 2002... Ethernet switching technology has matured to the point where customers expect a pile of features and wire-speed performance. Normally, this combination translates into rising switch prices, but Dell has made an exception to that rule with its...

Dell review how we did it.(Editorial)
October 7, 2002... How we did it (on-line only) The following sections describe the tests run on the Dell PowerConnect 3248. All testing was executed using one Spirent (http://www.spirentcom.com) Smartbits 2000 chassis, one Smartbits 6000 chassis, and two...

Preparing for the worst; Disaster-recovery plans are now requiring real-time business continuity based on data centers in different locations.
October 7, 2002... Disaster-recovery plans are now requiring real-time business continuity based on data centers in different locations. By Ann Silverthorn The events of Sept. 11 forced companies without plans for real-time disaster recovery to create...

Federal government is big spender in disaster recovery.
October 7, 2002... Donna Scott, vice president and research director for Gartner, says only a small percentage of companies have increased their disaster-recovery investments since Sept. 11. Other than a big spike in consulting, Scott says there hasn't been much...

IBM eServer xSeries x440; Raising the bar for server performance scalability.(Evaluation)
October 7, 2002... IBM has truly thought "out of the box" with its new xSeries x440 server that began shipping in April. The company has taken server scalability and processor density to a new level with the ability to run eight processors in a 4-U (7 inches)...

Settling an argument on IP telephony features.
October 7, 2002... IP telephony, while it promises to alter the way we use that hunk of plastic sitting on our desks, is still in search of its "killer app." Consequently, changing perceptions about IP-based telephones as an adequate replacement for TDM-based...

Add to Bass review.(IBM x440)
October 7, 2002... ((Online -- Add this as a page to the review -- will link back to the DocFinder in the main story.)) Other physical features of the IBM x440: The 4U-high chassis has two 1-inch hot-swap drive slots and two Ultrabay 2000 slots for the...

Server review how we did it.(Editorial)
October 7, 2002... How We Did It Since the x440 is meant to be a compute server (a server that handles computational tasks, cgi-scripts, database operations, and the like - typically not file and print services), we developed a test to maximize processor...

A small ray of light; Optical switches find a niche in enterprise networks.
October 7, 2002... Optical devices are making inroads into corporate networks as companies look to multiplex a single fiber link into high-speed channels for applications such as disaster recovery, storage-area networks and high-bandwidth campus interconnects....

Is biometrics ready to bust out?; NETWORK SECURITY: Update on biometrics.
October 7, 2002... No single network security technology arouses passionate debate like biometrics, which relies on authenticating identities by matching a person's body parts, voice or signature to grant access to computer resources or restricted building areas....

How we did it.(Editorial)
October 7, 2002... Since the x440 is meant to be a compute server (a server that handles computational tasks, cgi-scripts, database operations, and the like - typically not file and print services), we developed a test to maximize processor utilization. SSL...

Other physical features of the IBM x440.
October 7, 2002... The 4U-high chassis has two 1-inch hot-swap drive slots and two Ultrabay 2000 slots for the floppy and CD drives. Ultrabay 2000 slots are half-inch-high peripheral ports originally developed for IBM's ThinkPad notebook platform. Two hot-swap,...

Orbitz doesn't really care that you hate their pop-ups.
October 7, 2002... Orbitz doesn't really care that you hate their pop-ups Buried deep on the FAQ page of the online travel site Orbitz is this rather revealing question: "How can I stop Orbitz pop-up ads?" The question reveals that Orbitz at least...

Help wanted: Uncle Sam is hiring; There's money in the federal budget for IT pros specializing in network infrastructure and security.
October 7, 2002... Help wanted: Uncle Sam is hiring There's money in the federal budget for IT pros specializing in network infrastructure and security. n BY CAROLYN Duffy MARSAN Job-hunting network professionals should consider the federal IT...

Crisis requires change of habit.
October 7, 2002... It's no secret that the service providers are having problems. We've not seen the last of the big bankruptcies. Most of their business customers are sitting it out, rechecking their own strategies in light of the telecom mess and waiting for it...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 7, 2002... Regarding Kevin Tolly's column "Technologists against progress" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2524): I am a Cisco certified engineer, but I wouldn't say I'm reluctant to embrace technology. I would say my experience with these types of tools...

Start-up tackles app-integration hassle.(M12 Gateway Router and M8 Analytics Router from Metapa)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... LOS ANGELES - Instead of investing in a full-blown enterprise application-integration platform, start-up Metapa wants companies to consider its lighter-weight integration tools, unveiled last week. Metapa's software is tailored to specific...

Microsoft faces 64-bit question; New Datacenter release to offer improved performance over 32-bit version.(Microsoft Windows.Net Server 2003 Datacenter Edition)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... REDMOND, WASH. - Microsoft's first operating system designed for the corporate data center has garnered sparse acceptance since its release two years ago, but the software is on the verge of a performance upgrade that experts say could put it...

Graceful restart improves on BGP; New standard minimizes duration and impact of BGP router failure.(Border Gateway Protocol)
October 7, 2002... Redundant network designs and hot-swappable router hardware components have long helped improve network uptime. Now the Internet Engineering Task Force is leading a software-centric high-availability effort, which entails building extensions to...

Covad CEO sees brighter days ahead.
October 7, 2002... While the stigma of bankruptcy - whatever remains of it these days - still hangs over Covad Communications, the competitive local exchange carrier is moving forward, debt-free. The company is in the midst of a $15 million ad campaign and has...

Sadly predictable.(Editorial)
October 7, 2002... The Sept. 28 edition of The Wall Street Journal included a 16-page telecommunications report on the state of the wireless world. It was full of all sorts of fantastic almost-here technology and advice on, as the subtitle put it, "How to get the...

RIVERSTONE REVS UP MPLS; NBY JIM DUFFY.
October 7, 2002... SANTA CLARA - Riverstone Networks last week unveiled a series of Multi-protocol Label Switching enhancements to its metropolitan routers designed to provide carriers with more control in creating and delivering MPLS-based services. The new...

News briefs.
October 7, 2002... n WorldCom's UUNET network, one of the world's biggest carriers of Internet traffic, suffered a major outage last week that slowed or disrupted service for customers, Internet providers and rival carriers worldwide. Latency across WorldCom's...

Rules for a successful VoIP rollout.
October 7, 2002... It seems that 2003 finally might be the long-awaited year of voice over IP. According to a recent Meta Group survey, 68% of large organizations are either deploying VoIP or plan to do so within the next two years. That's up from roughly 25% to...

NORTEL SHUTTERS TUNABLE LASER FIRM, COSTING 160 JOBS.
October 7, 2002... WILMINGTON, MASS. - Nortel is shutting down the optical components business, CoreTek, it acquired in March 2000. The Boston division, which developed tunable lasers and other components for optical carrier networks, fell victim to the glut...

Quality question remains for VoIP.
October 7, 2002... Is the voice in voice over IP good enough to bet your business on? That's the make-or-break question for many network executives as they consider the promise of integrated voice/data. And it's one of several key questions we'll try to...

Not backing down on Apple attitude.(Column)
October 7, 2002... In almost seven years of writing Wired Windows, I've never before had such an outpouring of reaction as I did for my last column taking Apple to task for its "switcher" television ads (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2527). My in-box overflowed,...

Netezza aims to speed apps processing.(Netezza Performance Server 8000)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... FRAMINGHAM, MASS. - Start-up Netezza, which gets its name from an Urdu word meaning "results," says its new multifunction appliance can get customers results 10 to 20 times faster than when they use a combination of separate server, storage and...

Infrastructure as commodity.
October 7, 2002... Do you care whether your traffic rides over frame relay, ATM or something else? Qwest would argue that you don't. Last month at Network World's State of the WAN event in Richardson, Texas, Bob Schroeder, senior director of IP product...

cool tools.(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... D-Link ships USB 2.0 products D-Link announced a full line of USB 2.0 connectivity products to connect desktops and notebooks to the higher-speed format. D-Link now has a 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet Adapter ($70), a two-port PCI adapter...

Infrastructure briefs.(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... Sun last week announced a storage system that brings high-end features for protecting data to the low end of its storage line. Sun will start shipping the StorEdge 3300 Series systems this month. The storage servers will fit under Sun's...

NEW EDGE AVOIDS MARKET'S WRATH.
October 7, 2002... VANCOUVER, WASH. - New Edge Networks is emerging as an up-and-coming competitive service provider... that isn't all that new. The company was founded three years ago as a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) offering DSL services to...

edge briefs.(Lucent 5ESS Switch used by Conversent Communications)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... Conversent Communications, a competitive local exchange carrier based in New England, last week announced that it will purchase $35 million worth of Lucent gear over the next three years to expand its network throughout the Northeast....

NETRAKE UNWRAPS ITS SESSION CONTROLLER; NCITE HANDLES NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION, FIREWALL TRAVERSAL FOR IP VOICE CALLS.(nCite IP Session Controller from Netrake)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... ATLANTA - Netrake this week is unveiling gear designed to let service providers more easily deliver voice-over-IP services. The 2-year-old company's nCite IP Session Controller hardware and software keeps track of complex IP phone call...

Service Providers briefs.(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... Qwest last week refiled long-distance applications for nine of its local states with the Federal Communications Commission. Qwest withdrew the applications last month after the FCC raised questions about accounting matters. Qwest says it has...

Applications briefs.(Microsoft Office price reduction; Inxight Software's Smart Discovery 3.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... n Microsoft and Apple last week began offering customers in North America who purchase new Macintosh systems a $300 reduction on the price of Microsoft Office. From now to Jan. 7, 2003, customers who buy any new Mac will be eligible to purchase...

Qwest touts VoiceXML.(Qwest Development Network Web portal)
October 7, 2002... Qwest has launched a development portal designed to help companies roll out voice-enabled applications easily and inexpensively. Called Qwest Development Network, the portal supplies subscribing companies with development tools, technical...

Mercury moves into IT service mgmt.(Optane suite from Mercury Interactive)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... SUNNYVALE, CALIF. - Mercury Interactive last week introduced software the company says gives network executives an easy way to view application performance data and relate it in real time to business services and end users. Mercury...

MARCONI SWITCH ADDS LIFE TO AGING CARRIER BACKBONES.(Marconi Communications OC-192c/STM-64 ATM module)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... PITTSBURGH - Marconi last week rolled out a 10G bit/sec ATM card for its BXR 48000 multiservice switch router, enabling users to prolong the life of their current ATM core networks before transitioning to IP/"Multi-protocol Label Switching...

Ask Dr. Internet.(Questions and Answers)
October 7, 2002... We were trying to change something on WinMX and we got a message, "You cannot switch to this setting because we did not find a UDP port." What is a UDP port? A User Datagram Protocol port is an internetworking software abstraction, not a...

Dirig looks to help manage Java apps.(Dirig Software PathFinder)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... NASHUA, N.H. - Dirig Software last week released a management product designed to help businesses maintain the performance of online stores and other Web-based Java applications. Called PathFinder, the product uses server agents to create a...

Selling without the sleaze.
October 7, 2002... Using the Web to attract and keep new customers Many people can't say "sales" without grimacing, forever associating the act of selling anything with pushy used car salesmen. Because many small businesses sell products or services, you...

ACTELIS SAYS IT HAS CURE FOR FIBER EXHAUSTION.(MetaLoop from Actelis Networks)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... FREMONT, CALIF. - Actelis Networks last week announced the availability of a product designed to provide fiber-optic-like service over copper wires. Actelis' MetaLoop "supermodem" - as the company describes it - enables multiple copper...

Dispatch from D.C., Part 2.
October 7, 2002... The Telework Consortium makes waves. The Telework Consortium is an odd bird. Its mission is to spur telework in order to drive broadband adoption. An arm of the Software Productivity Consortium, the group contends that ultra-high-speed...

A sexy power switch that comes up short.(FastNet Remote Monitor and Control Unit from E-Comms)(Evaluation)
October 7, 2002... In February we looked at a network power switch (see www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2533) and were very impressed. This week we've got our hands on a similar device that not only controls power but also can switch its serial interface or telnet...

Bluetooth finding its way in.
October 7, 2002... When we reviewed Bluetooth developments last January the technology was showing promise because it was cropping up in things like cell phone headsets that let you place calls while driving, even if your cell phone was in your briefcase in the...

New CTO lays out Novell's vision; NetWare is here to stay, but services will expand to other operating systems.(Alan Nugent, Novell's new CTO)
October 7, 2002... Later this month, at an event headlined by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Novell will announce the rebranding of its products in four key categories. Alan Nugent, the company's new CTO, says that effort is in line with Novell's mission to...

Casting a web of trust over spam.
October 7, 2002... A few weeks ago (see www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2545) I wrote the resigned and beaten words: "I'd like to officially announce that the war on spam has been lost." And I meant it. Given today's technology, spam has gone beyond the point where...

Symantec opens security mgmt. suite.(Symantec Security Management System)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... NEW YORK - Symantec last week unveiled a set of security applications it says will help network executives control and correlate corporate security efforts. The Symantec Security Management System will let the company's event management...

Fed plan exposes 'Net's weak links.
October 7, 2002... In the fine print of the Bush administration's recently released cybersecurity strategy is the stark admission that three critical components of the Internet's infrastructure are highly vulnerable to a variety of attacks. The three...

IBM automates management software; New products incorporate technology from Project eLiza.
October 7, 2002... ORLANDO - IBM's Tivoli software group this week will unveil upwards of 25 upgraded products, all which now exploit automated computing technology that first showed up in IBM servers. Tivoli says the upgrades in its performance and...

Nortel to speed up firewall throughput.(Nortel Networks Alteon Switched Firewall 5408, 5710)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... SANTA CLARA - Nortel this week will announce three new versions of its firewall family that could help businesses support Gigabit-speed traffic into and out of data centers, while applying stateful packet inspection to incoming traffic to...

Microsoft readies Exchange for future.
October 7, 2002... Microsoft readies Exchange for future n By John Fontana ANAHEIM, CALIF. - Microsoft's annual Exchange user conference this week will be somewhat of a strategic juggling act as the company highlights the product's future while trying to...

Vendors set to launch VoIP volley.
October 7, 2002... ATLANTA- As the Voice on the Net Conference show opens this week, vendors remain bullish that, despite the sluggish economy, corporations will adopt their new products or services that blend voice and data traffic over IP. Voice-over-IP...

Cisco adds IOS to wireless.(Cisco Aironet 1100)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... Network executives now can extend the controls they use in their Cisco backbones to wireless LANs from the same vendor. The Cisco Aironet 1100 access point, unveiled last week, is the first wireless product to use the company's IOS...

Novell to expand Web services.(Novell exteNd 5.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... Novell plans to announce as soon as the first quarter of next year a new version of the exteNd Web services software it obtained through its acquisition of middleware vendor SilverStream in June. Version 5.0 will incorporate parts of Novell...

Commerce-tested search tool bows.(Endeca ProFind)(Product Announcement)
October 7, 2002... CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - Software developer Endeca, which is boosting sales for companies such as Barnes & Noble by making it easier for buyers to find what they're looking for online, is bringing its guided navigation search technology to corporate...

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT FACES HURDLES WITH DNS SECURITY.
October 7, 2002... BY CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN The U.S. military's years-long effort to deploy DNS Security is a good example of how difficult it is for enterprises to retrofit their networks with security fixes to the Internet's underlying protocols. An...

Capitalizing on streaming media; Investment firms use Webcasts to get the word out to clients.(PricewaterhouseCoopers)
October 14, 2002... Early this year, client services and marketing professionals from accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers hit the road with a series of six seminars to drum up business. An average of 70 prequalified attendees filled each event, but now the...

IT jobs still abound, if flexible.(Column)
October 14, 2002... In a previous column I considered whether the current downturn in the network industry is a plateau or just a short resting place (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2525). While job opportunities will decrease, there still will be opportunities for...

IP storage spans the WAN; Companies rely on Gigabit Ethernet to shuttle their mirroring and replication data quickly and reliably.
October 14, 2002... Christopher Black immediately saw the attraction of IP transport for his storage applications. Black, network operations manager for investment and portfolio management company Effron, was looking to protect his data by replicating it from...

Broadband Ethernet: The next frontier; Ethernet needs to enter the first mile to be an end-to-end technology.
October 14, 2002... Sometimes a name says it all. That couldn't be truer for the proposed Ethernet in the First Mile standard. Its mission is to turn Ethernet into a broadband access technology to reach the first mile of homes and businesses. The IEEE 802.3ah...

10G Ethernet elbows into the enterprise; Extreme BlackDiamond switches alleviate Liberty Medical Supply's bandwidth woes.
October 14, 2002... Network administrators at Liberty Medical Supply, a Medicare provider of diabetes products and medications, had no qualms about using 10G Ethernet to handle data traffic between the company's facilities spread across several miles in Port St....

Doing your patriotic duty; Government contractors step up recruiting to meet demand for homeland security IT initiatives.($52 billion slated for government IT spending)
October 14, 2002... Doing your patriotic duty Government contractors step up recruiting to meet demand for homeland security IT initiatives. BY CAROLYN Duffy MARSAN With federal IT spending increased dramatically this year, government contractors are...

Exchange's uneasy dominance.(Microsoft Exchange 5.5)(Product Information)
October 14, 2002... Microsoft now dominates the enterprise collaboration market, although it wears that crown uneasily. The vendor seems more nervous than ever about its future prospects in the collaboration market - and it has many good reasons to worry. ...

net buzz.(Internet Mail Consortium Director Paul Hoffman )
October 14, 2002... A good idea, well executed, but . . . The idea made a lot of sense in 1998 when Internet Mail Consortium Director Paul Hoffman first explained it to me. The impetus was that spammers were regularly besmirching the good names of...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 14, 2002... Regarding Mark Gibbs' Backspin column "Losing? The war has been lost!" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 2625): Antispam sites advise you not to verify your e-mail address to spammers by following the opt-out instructions in spam. So just because...

Circuit extensions assist Ethernet over ATM.
October 14, 2002... ATM circuit extension technology, which leverages enhancements to RFC 1483, lets service providers map multiple virtual LANs to one virtual circuit or multiple virtual circuits to one VLAN. Using this as a building block, service providers...

Ask Dr. Internet.(tracing hosts of active IP addresses)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... How do you most easily identify the host of an active IP address on your network with no record in DNS or WINS? Our first inclination would be to run a packet sniffer to look at what protocols are running and deduce what it might be (only good...

Cool Tools.(MobileWise's Wire-Free-Electricity Base )
October 14, 2002... MobileWise demos "wire-free" electricity pad In covering mobile computing technology, I've always said end users don't become truly mobile until they figure out a way to get rid of the power cord for laptops. MobileWise is one step...

The rest of peer-to-peer.(Column)
October 14, 2002... Peer-to-peer networking has developed a very bad reputation in the last year or so, mostly because it's a term that has been applied to ad-hoc music distribution networks. The music industry has attacked this use of peer-to-peer technology...

ArcSight centralizes problem mgmt.; Security information management software allows for automated responses to attacks.(ArcSight 2.0 network security software)
October 14, 2002... SUNNYVALE, CALIF. - ArcSight, a security information management software start-up, this week said its upgraded product will conduct event correlation and allow for some limited automated response to a network-based intrusion or attack. ...

Nortel's Pagani talks optical Ethernet.(Marco Pagani)(Interview)(Glossary)
October 14, 2002... After attempting to enlighten the industry 18 months ago on the different flavors of optical Ethernet - an emerging technology and market on which beleaguered Nortel is depending for recovery - the company has some "new lingo" to share. So...

Ximian watches over Linux software.(Ximian's Red Carpet Enterprise)
October 14, 2002... BOSTON - Linux software maker Ximian last week released a new version of its Red Carpet software management tool, which corporate customers can use to more easily deploy updates and security patches for Linux desktop and server software. ...

Service Providers briefs.(SBC Communications, AT and T)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... SBC Communications last week rolled out a T-1 integrated local voice, long-distance voice, data and Internet access offering. Users can choose between five options, including local voice, long-distance voice, dedicated Internet access, frame...

Returning to work for the disabled, ill; Employees facing physical challenges find comfort and productivity in telework.
October 14, 2002... The corporate office was no place for Judy Johnson to work. With lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and a bum hip requiring a sixth corrective operation, just getting dressed in the morning was an ordeal for the 59-year-old. Add to that the...

Gigabit to the desktop: A decision you can't escape.
October 14, 2002... Back in the good old days, when IT capital spending dollars were free flowing, most network executives seized the opportunity to migrate their LANs to high-performance Layer 2/Layer 3 LAN switches. Thanks to that, they've got a glut of...

SWITCH FABRIC VENDOR TACKLES SCALABILITY; NEW ARCHITECTURE SUPPORTS DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTERFACES, TRAFFIC SCHEDULING REQUIREMENTS.(Dune Networks Scalable Architecture for Networking Devices )
October 14, 2002... AGOURA HILLS, CALIF. - A new architecture for the connections between interfaces on a network switch will let equipment makers build platforms that grow with customer needs for seven to 10 years, according to start-up Dune Networks. The...

Evaluating VPN security alternatives; VPNs: Protecting networked assets.
October 14, 2002... Users looking for a fast, secure way to link remote employees and business partners are finding myriad choices to avoid deploying traditional IP Security-based VPNs and instead install products or services based on Secure Sockets Layer...

Net.Worker briefs.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... Last week at the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo 2002, Advance Reality announced a new release of the Presence-AR Adapter for Excel. An enhancement to Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, the product lets team members share and collaborate on Excel...

Nortel sells its optical assets to Bookham for $108 million.(Bookham Technology)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... Nortel has agreed to sell assets from its optical components business to Bookham Technology for approximately $108 million. The sale is designed to help Nortel in its bid to regain profitability and also ensure it a continued supply of optical...

Automated service gives home networkers a hand.(Motive Communications Home Networking Service solution)
October 14, 2002... AUSTIN, TEXAS - It happens all too often. You buy a home network kit from a retailer or broadband service provider confident you can set it up yourself, only to hit a brick wall. You work with technology every day, follow the quick start guide...

Aventail releases SSL remote-access server.(EX-1500)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... Aventail is introducing a Secure Sockets Layer remote-access appliance that gives customers the option to manage their SSL-based gear or outsource to Aventail. The company is adding EX-1500, an appliance that customers can buy, install and...

IBM lets users divvy up Unix servers.(AIX 5L 5.2)
October 14, 2002... IBM last week provided more details on the latest version of its Unix operating system, touting the addition of mainframe-class technology that could give users more control over their servers. IBM will start shipping Version 5.2 of AIX 5L...