Network World articles from October 2004

Network World archives from October 2004

Cracking the wireless security code.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder and Rodney Thayer Clear Choice Special Report: Cracking the wireless security code By Joel Snyder and Rodney Thayer Is it possible to deploy a secure wireless LAN with technology available today? That...

Glossary of wireless security terms.(Glossary)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder Glossary of wireless security terms 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g: Four standards for wireless LANs (WLAN), ranging in speed from 1M to 54M bit/sec. The 802.11 family is the most commonly used WLAN specification...

WEP: Stick a fork in it; Tests show some vendors are lax about plugging WEP holes.(Wired Equivalent Privacy)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder and Rodney THayer WEP: Stick a fork in it. Tests show some vendors are lax about plugging WEP holes. n By Joel Snyder and Rodney Thayer, Network World Lab Alliance EP is notoriously bad. We set out to...

802.1X: A stepping stone.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder 802.1X - A Stepping Stone As an authentication standard for wired networks, 802.1X has a happy side effect when used with WLANs: It gives you per-user, per-session WEP keys. While WEP's many other theoretical...

WPA - An accident waiting to happen.(Wi-Fi Protected Access )
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder WPA - An accident waiting to happen WPA is an industry specification the Wi-Fi Alliance pushed into adoption. This cooperative of wireless manufacturers - worried that WEP would stall sales - took an early draft of...

802.11i: The next big thing.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder 802.11i - the next big thing he IEEE standard called Robust Security Networking is a force to be reckoned with. As an amendment to the original 802.11 WLAN standard, 802.11i replaces the original meager 10-page WEP...

Security standards aside, lock down your boxes, boys!
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder Security standards aside, lock down your boxes, boys! To build a secure wireless network, it's not enough to watch the airwaves. You must lock down the access points, much like the rest of your network...

Wireless Access Point: Wire-side security testing.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Rodney Thayer Wireless Access Point: Wire-side security testing 2 Contents 2 Notes 3 Best and Worst 3 Among the most secure products in this test. 3 Among the most insecure products. 4 3Com WL-450 Access...

Tools, not standards, that help tie down wireless nets.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder Tools - not standards - that help tie down wireless nets ecurity standards aside, wireless gear vendors are peppering their products with other features that can help secure WLANs, including access controls, VPN...

How to do it: Securing your wireless LAN.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Joel Snyder How to do it: Securing your wireless LAN We're left with the question: How do you secure your WLAN? If you are starting from scratch and have no legacy equipment to contend with, the answer is to use WPA with...

Implementing ITIL; the state of michigan's gradual rollout of itil's best practices has eased growing pains.(IT Infrastructure Library)
October 4, 2004... Byline: john cox Implementing ITIL The state of Michigan's gradual rollout of ITIL's best practices has eased growing pains. n by John cox How do you convince your network and IT professionals to adopt "best practices" when...

Cisco takes on managed services.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Jeff Kaplan Cisco's acquisitions historically have been early indicators of the company's strategic direction and bellwethers of broader industry trends. Whether acquiring companies such as Komodo Technology to build its VoIP...

Video on demand on the horizon.(Column)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Howard Anderson Network speeds have increased from about 1M bit/sec in 1974 to 1G bit/sec today, to a projected 100G bit/sec in 2014 and 1T bit/sec by 2020. Clearly, networks haven't peaked - we're pushing more data down our...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 4, 2004... Byline: readers Regarding the story "Broadband over power lines gaining steam" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 4022): There's a memorable line from the movie "Jurassic Park" that can apply to the BPL controversy. In the film, actor Jeff...

Getting patching right: A debate.
October 4, 2004... Byline: John Dix The controversy swirling around Microsoft's recently released Windows XP Service Pack 2 serves as a simple reminder that the patch problem remains at the core of network security. There is no silver bullet and...

Winning over skeptics, VoIP support builds; INFRASTRUCTURE: A look at the IP PBX.
October 4, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH While brand-name companies are making news with ambitious convergence plans, other large businesses eyeing convergence say VoIP adoption will be more of a slow march than a sprint. Industry experts say that IP PBX...

Postal Service delivers single sign-on.
October 4, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA The most famous person on the U.S. Postal Service's payroll - six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong - is known for his singular focus, a trait that appears to be rubbing off on his colleagues who handle the...

Get to know IT issues that could affect the election.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Dave Kearns R ep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), when he was chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, once announced that there was good news and bad news about the Internet. The good news, he said, was that...

A few things to know before presence really takes off.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Cisco's recent move to acquire Dynamicsoft highlights the emerging importance of presence. In addition to softswitch capabilities, Cisco reportedly was interested in Dynamicsoft's presence engine, which...

Enterprise Applications briefs.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Staff Encentuate this week unveiled Encentuate TCI, identity-based access control software that includes client- and server-side features to control user authentication and authorization. The IMS Server provides centralized...

Net Buzz.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Paul McNamara Spammers are rats? Are you one, too? A family member? . . . No, I would not drop a dime on a relative. Close friends are safe, too, but let's emphasize "close." Casual friends and acquaintances had better not...

Is part of the future of VoIP open?(voice over internet protocol)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Scott Bradner I n February, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered "a focused examination and assessment of California state government." The $10 million review, conducted by about 275 state employees and released in...

LLDP helps troubleshoot, map and more.(Link Layer Discovery Protocol)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Anja Allen and David Frattura The soon-to-be-ratified IEEE standard, 802.lAB Link Layer Discovery Protocol, promises to simplify troubleshooting of enterprise networks and enhance the ability of network management tools to discover...

Software follows trails left by computer thieves.
October 4, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER On rare occasions when employee laptops go missing, Joe Scavetti, chief information security officer at Pension Benefits Guaranty in Washington, D.C., isn't content to write it off to bad luck. Scavetti doggedly...

IT pros may know more, but so do their kids; Keeping online children in line is a common goal but strategies differ.
October 4, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ AND DENISE DUBIE IT pros may know more, but so do their kids Keeping online children in line is a common goal but strategies differ. Writing group policies, assigning user privileges and setting restrictive...

Still going at a Klip.
October 4, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs I n last week's Gearhead we discussed a fabulous tool, er, utility, no, system . . . well, an unusual piece of software called KlipFolio published by Serence. To briefly recap: KlipFolio is a framework for managing...

F5 appliance extends remote access.
October 4, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE F5 Networks is wheeling out new hardware that lets more remote users securely connect simultaneously to corporate networks than past iterations of its product. Called FirePass 4100, the security appliance supports...

Quovia updates VoIP mgmt. appliances.(Voice over Internet Protocol)
October 4, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Quovia this week is scheduled to release new versions of its IP PBX management appliances with improved monitoring and remote features it says will help users with 3Com, Cisco, Nortel or NEC IP PBXs run their...

Upstart firm touts remote DSLAM.(DSL Access Multiplexer)
October 4, 2004... Byline: JIM DUFFY A privately held Canadian company is attempting to head off more-established players in bringing next-generation broadband capabilities to North American carriers and their customers. Critical Telecom, a 40-employee...

Security management wares get smarts; Companies add business reporting and compliance management features to software offerings.
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE A slew of security event management vendors are set to offer products that address everything from how security problems affect applications to ensuring network devices comply with internal and regulatory policies. ...

Private line usage up, but revenue is falling.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO According to a recent study from Insight Research, private line revenue will dip 4% this year to $33.9 billion from $35.5 billion in 2003 - despite increased usage. This year there is predicted to be about...

Service Providers briefs.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Staff Last week Leucadia National filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying it has sold all its shares of MCI stock. Leucadia owned about 5% of MCI and sold its share for a pre-tax profit of about $20...

Two live-savng travel tools.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Keith Shaw S eptember was a busy travel month for us, and we were happy to have two devices along for the ride that helped us save some time, and kept us updated and connected. The scoop: BlackBerry 7100t (with T-Mobile...

Infrastructure briefs.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: staff Artisoft, a maker of IP PBX software, bought IP PBX hardware vendor Vertical Networks this week for about $19 million. Vertical Networks products include the InstantOffice IP PBX for small businesses and branch offices....

Azul Systems to launch Java appliance.(Azul Systems)
October 4, 2004... Byline: ROBERT MCMILLAN A start-up run by the former CEO of Cobalt Networks is readying a multi-core server designed to speed up Java processing in the data center. Azul Systems, a 2-year-old, 130-person company, expects to begin...

Start-up takes new anti-virus tack.(Avinti)
October 4, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Start-up Avinti is putting a virtual server twist on a well-known concept - quashing viruses that use e-mail as their delivery vehicle. The company this week will unveil its iSolation Server, a virus-blocking...

Ask Dr. Internet.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass We have an application on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) that runs well in the Runtime Workbench, but we are having difficulty getting it to start outside of Eclipse. We exported our program...

A letter to Messrs. Gates and Ballmer.(Letter to the Editor)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs Dear Bill and Steve, Considering that we've never met please forgive the rather familiar greeting. I suspect the chances of actually getting a reply from either of you is pretty low, as you are very busy people and...

McData box offers SAN consolidation.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR McData last week introduced a Fibre Channel, iSCSI and Gigabit Ethernet storage-area network router for users who are aggregating storage from a number of networks within an organization. The Eclipse 2640 SAN Router...

SurfControl turns a trick on phishers.
October 4, 2004... Byline: CARA GARRETSON In response to the growing threat that phishing poses to e-mail users, SurfControl plans to upgrade its e-mail filter to catch these attacks, and flag more spam and other abuses. SurfControl's E-mail Filter 5.0,...

Start-up touts SQL back-up product.(structured query language)(Idera)
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR Start-up Idera last week introduced disk-based back-up and recovery software for Microsoft SQL Server that the company says will let users save and retrieve data faster than tape-based approaches. Called SQLsafe,...

News Bits.(Romanian anti-virus software firm BitDefender protests against McAfee ad)
October 4, 2004... Byline: staff PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway last week was shown the door by the company's board of directors, who immediately replaced him with Dave Duffield, PeopleSoft's founder and chairman. Conway's dismissal was because of a "loss of...

IBM Tivoli digs deeper into app transactions.
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE IBM Tivoli last week announced it has upgraded its application performance management software to more accurately identify network troubles and speed problem resolution. IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction...

Citadel, Preventsys sharpen vulnerability-assessment tools.
October 4, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER A pair of vulnerability-assessment and remediation tool vendors are separately upgrading their products so that customers more easily can prioritize which networked systems need to be fixed. Citadel Security...

Entrust targets improper e-mail.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Entrust, best known for its encryption technology, last week introduced an appliance that works alongside e-mail servers to scan for inappropriate content entering or leaving an organization. The Entelligence...

Vendors tout SSL remote-access gear.(Secured Socket Layer)
October 4, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Three Secure Sockets Layer remote-access vendors are upgrading their equipment, one with software enhancements and two with new hardware. Aventail is upgrading its SSL remote-access gear to give end users varying...

Microsoft leaves colleges vulnerable.
October 4, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Microsoft's licensing policies and legal restrictions that forbid schools from distributing software patches to many students are leaving IT executives at universities with potentially thousands of unmanaged desktops...

AT&T expands network globally.
October 4, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO AT&T last week announced network expansion initiatives that include extending the reach of its Multi-protocol Label Switching network in Asia and South America, boosting IP capacity in the northwest U.S.,...

Cisco deals kick VoIP market into high gear.
October 4, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Cisco has been on a roll in VoIP lately - announcing three huge wins with Fortune 50 companies in three months. Users and analysts cite a convergence of several factors, including the improved ability of Cisco...

3Com, Toshiba launch convergence gear.
October 4, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH 3Com will use the Internet Telephony Expo this week in Los Angeles to launch applications for hardening business VoIP networks and expanding user capabilities, while Toshiba will unveil gear to make employees more...

Inside the complexity crisis; How IT managers are banking on intelligent infrastructure to ease their layered burden.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Sandra Gittlen Inside the complexity crisis How IT managers are banking on intelligent infrastructure to ease their layered burden. By Sandra Gittlen Bob Kelly is the first to admit it; he's knee-deep in an enterprise...

The secret sauce: Interoperability.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Sandra Gittlen The secret sauce: Interoperability As automation and intelligence efforts gain steam, success will depend on the interoperability of the tools. Products must be able to talk to each other without IT managers...

What's your name again? Company name changes full of challenges; good night, White Pajama.
October 11, 2004... Byline: BOB BROWN What's your name again? Company name changes full of challenges; good night, White Pajama. The name GRIC just had to go. "One of our enterprise partners said at a national sales conference in front of 500 people...

You can't get there from here - yet; Complete ILM solution doesn't exist today, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek the benefits of data classification.(Information lifecycle management)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Michele Hope You can't get there from here - yet Complete ILM solution doesn't exist today, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek the benefits of data classification. By Michele Hope By now, most IT executives have...

Tier factor; Users take baby steps on road to information life-cycle management.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Mary Brandel Tier factor Users take baby steps on road to information life-cycle management. By Mary Brandel Before embarking on the implementation of a new storage architecture at North Bronx Health Network, there...

MasterCard gives credit to ILM.(Information Life cycle Management)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Mary Brandel MasterCard gives credit to ILM For Jim Hull, vice president of engineering services at MasterCard International, there's nothing new about information life-cycle management. "You're just identifying what you need...

Cancer Research Center moves to tiered storage as it battles exploding data management requirements.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Mary Brandel Cancer Research Center moves to tiered storage as it battles exploding data management requirements What would you do if data at your company was growing 100% to 150% annually? At the Fred Hutchinson Cancer...

Federated identity gets a boost.(Column)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Daniel Blum No matter how the November elections turn out, Cabinet changes and other reorganizations are inevitable. I just hope the Federal E-Authentication Initiative doesn't get lost in the shuffle. E-Authentication is one...

How one community got DSL.(Digital Subscriber Line)(Column)
October 11, 2004... Byline: daniel briere It's not news that the telephone company databases feeding broadband customer service front ends can be wrong. Like me, you've probably been in the position of trying to convince a customer service representative that...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Readers Regarding whether site surveys are still needed in wireless LAN deployments (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 4122): The answer is somewhere in the middle. For most small businesses, a site survey makes no sense. If you run a...

Feds are losing their balance on privacy.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Two related events highlight the challenge of balancing telecom privacy with security. On Sept. 29, a New York federal judge ruled unconstitutional Section 505 of the Patriot Act, which gives federal agents...

Video users saying hello IP, goodbye ISDN; VIDEOCONFERENCING: Flat-rate pricing catches on.(Integrated Services Digital Networks)(Internet Protocol)
October 11, 2004... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN Consider the difference between an all-you-can-eat buffet and a restaurant with an a la carte menu. That's what companies see when comparing the cost of IP-based videoconferencing services with traditional ISDN...

The theft threat; Don't overlook the security risks posed by portable storage devices.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Barton McKinley The theft threat Don't overlook the security risks posed by portable storage devices. By Barton McKinley Sue is an industrial spy who has arranged to attend a meeting at the company she is targeting....

Hurricane Jeanne and instant disaster recovery.(Column)
October 11, 2004... Byline: Kevin Tolly T here are some benefits of living in New Jersey. Lack of hurricanes is the one foremost in my mind of late. Last year, we moved The Tolly Group to South Florida. In the past six weeks, we experienced more downtime...

Policy pointers; Here are some suggestions to use as a starting point for developing a portable storage device.
October 11, 2004... Policy pointers Here are some suggestions to use as a starting point for developing a portable storage device policy. 1. Identify who the policy applies to, including visitors. 2. Identify the technologies and devices to which the...

Insecurity (or is that frustration?) at the top.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Scott Bradner A couple of months after getting a bad report card and a few days after one reorganization plan was stripped out of a U.S. House of Representatives security bill, the U.S. cybersecurity chief resigned from his...

BMC rounds out mainframe database family.
October 11, 2004... Byline: JAMES NICCOLAI BMC Software has added IBM's IMS mainframe database to the platforms its SmartDBA family of products supports. This completes a two-year mission to provide tools for managing all major databases from one Web-based...

NetContinuum upgrades for Web services.
October 11, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA NetContinuum is unveiling upgrades to its NC-1000 Application Security Gateway lineup with Web Services Edition that let users filter Web services messages based on the Simple Object Access Protocol. Web Services...

Infrastructure briefs.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: staff Siemens recently agreed to resell routers and switches from Huawei's Quidway product line, eight months after the two companies formed a joint venture for manufacturing new mobile broadband systems in China. The partnership...

RF fingerprinting pinpoints location.(radio frequency)
October 11, 2004... Byline: ALAN COHEN Pinpointing wireless clients makes it easier to secure and manage wireless LANs. However, traditional technologies used for indoor 802.11 location tracking come up short on accuracy. WLANs typically have used closest...

Linksys springs wireless, voice gear.
October 11, 2004... Byline: STEPHEN LAWSON AND TONI KISTNER At its Home Networking Event in San Francisco, Linksys unveiled new 802.11g/a wireless LAN equipment and an 802.11g wireless video camera. The company also announced a deal in which Verizon would...

short takes.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... n IBM announced a ThinkPad with an integrated fingerprint reader. Sitting on the wrist rest below the arrow keys, the reader integrates with IBM's Embedded Security Subsystem, which includes a security chip and password manager. The reader and...

Back-up protection on tap from storage vendors.
October 11, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR Symantec, EMC and start-up Permabit last week announced software that helps customers with the replication, migration, and backup and recovery of data. Among the introductions: * Symantec, which acquired...

short takes.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... n Sprint is exiting the wholesale dial-up Internet access business by selling it to Level 3 Communications for $34 million. The deal includes all of Sprint's wholesale customers, mainly service providers, and much of Sprint's dial-up...

Enterprise Applications briefs.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: staff Apple last week released a security update that fixes several flaws in its Mac OS X operating system. Security Update 2004-09-30 addresses potential denial-of-service vulnerabilities in the AFP server and CUPS printing...

Ask Dr. Internet.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass If we publish online forms with Microsoft's InfoPath, can people with the Mozilla browser use the forms? How difficult is it to publish InfoPath forms to a Web server so they can be used online? ...

BEA polishes Diamond platform; Management, always-on features on tap for WebLogic package.
October 11, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ BEA Systems is readying the next version of its WebLogic platform, dubbed Diamond, which is aimed at helping companies more easily build and deploy a services-oriented architecture. The Diamond suite - also referred...

VPN service exploits multiple MPLS nets; Virtela offering guarantees quality of service across backbones.(Virtual Private Network )(Multi Protocol Label Switching )
October 11, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Virtela this week is set to unveil a site-to-site VPN service that overcomes one of the biggest hurdles to creating far-flung Multi-protocol Label Switching networks: It guarantees classes of service across different...

R&D relief.(Research & Development )
October 11, 2004... President Bush last week signed a bill that included an 18-month extension of an R&D tax credit sought by many IT groups. Bush signed the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, a $146 billion law designed to provide tax cuts to the middle...

The multi-port NIC dilemma.(Network Identification Code )
October 11, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH The emergence of 10G Ethernet network interface cards gives network professionals a new tool for getting more bandwidth to servers, but industry observers say some users might find better value for scaling server...

Snip it with Net Snippets.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs L ike all longtime professional users of the Web, we have been struggling to organize all the material we find online. Every excursion onto the Web leads us to yet more interesting stuff we want to keep for later...

MCI getting a better handle on its VPN services.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO MCI is deploying new technology that the company says will make it easier for the carrier to manage its IP VPN offerings and that should result in better customer service. The carrier says it will spend at...

Cool Tools.
October 11, 2004... Byline: Keith Shaw PalmOne launches 256M-byte PDA PalmOne last week unveiled the Tungsten T5, the company's latest handheld computer. The device includes 256M bytes of memory (215M bytes available to users), giving it one of the...

Doing the compliance two-step.
October 11, 2004... Byline: John Dix If your company hasn't yet installed a chief compliance officer chances are good they will: 1) do so soon; or 2) leave these responsibilities in your lap. Given that IT plays a big role in compliance, either way...