Network World articles from September 2003

Network World archives from September 2003

Image is everything; Banks are replacing paper-clogged, check-clearing systems with electronic-imaging networks, saving an estimated $2 billion annually.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Peter Ruber Image is everything Banks are replacing paper-clogged, check-clearing systems with electronic-imaging networks, saving an estimated $2 billion annually. By Peter Ruber With the labor-intensive and...

To the letter of the law.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act )
September 1, 2003... To the letter of the law Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Passed: August 1996 Purpose: To improve the portability while maintaining the privacy and security of patient information. Types of companies...

Under the gun; Compliance with new security and privacy regulations falls squarely on IT departments.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Cara Garretson Under the gun Compliance with new security and privacy regulations falls squarely on IT departments. By Cara Garretson Network executives who want to keep up with the latest developments affecting their...

Vendors hope for compliance windfall.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Vendors hope for compliance windfall While IT departments struggle to make sense of recent legislation, IT vendors are preparing to ease their pain by releasing products and services specifically designed to help companies comply with new...

The toys of summer; Some cool tools that will get you through the lazy days.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Keith Shaw The toys of summer Some cool tools that will get you through the lazy days. By Keith Shaw A sluggish economy hasn't stopped a lot of device manufacturers from producing new cool gadgets and gizmos. They've...

VoIP drives network makeovers.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: David Ladd The early use of Internet protocols and Ethernet for inexpensive, international phone calls exposed the problems of relaying voice over a network designed for data. Voice quality was poor because the Internet's...

Watching the shop; Managed security services are gaining ground and winning enterprise customers.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER The idea of turning to an outside firm to manage your firewall, VPN, intrusion-detection system or vulnerability assessment still raises a few eyebrows. But outsourcing security has become a popular step, either as a...

Patch problem.(spam)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Dave Mackler Regarding "Patch management burdens customers" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7423): Having tried several commercial patch products and purchased the St. Bernard application, I have found one major problem: There is no...

The gospel according to Dilbert.(Information Technology industry)
September 1, 2003... Byline: howard anderson You should see my office. It's littered with blow-ups of "Dilbert" cartoons - some of which I have blown up to 2 feet by 6 feet. The longer I am in this business, the more I am absolutely certain that Scott Adams...

Proprietary servers keep losing ground.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS When B.F. Goodrich spun off its performance-materials division in February 2001, it created a $1 billion specialty chemical company that found itself supporting multiple server platforms better-suited for a $5...

ISNS eases management of storage nets.(Internet Storage Name Service)
September 1, 2003... Byline: PRASAD PAMMIDIMUKKALA Internet Storage Name Service brings the plug-and-play capabilities of Fibre Channel to IP storage networks. ISNS facilitates automated discovery, management and configuration of iSCSI and Fibre Channel...

Ask Dr. Internet.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass How can you install a clean copy of Windows 2000 or XP without reformatting the hard drive? If your system has enough free disk space for a second operating system, you can reinstall Win 2000 or XP...

Mgmt. tools help curb cell phone costs.
September 1, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO No one wants to be the guy on the block who spends the most on wireless services. Unfortunately it takes time, effort and sometimes a capital investment to ensure you're getting the best service rates for your...

Microsoft seen sparking corporate IM.(Office Live Communications Server 2003 )(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: JORIS EVERS Riding a tide of desktop domination, Microsoft's latest foray into presence is expected to kick-start corporate adoption of instant messaging. Lateness to market, however, has analysts skeptical as to how the offering...

More than full employment for lawyers?(after Federal Communications Commission released new rules on facility sharing in the telecom world)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Scott Bradner The FCC finally recently released its new rules on facility sharing in the telecom world. As far as I can tell no one is happy with all of them other than the lawyers. Most of the FCC commissioners went so far as...

WLAN security: A big problem for small nets; Emerging standards and products aim to remedy the problem.
September 1, 2003... Byline: JOHN COX Rachel Metz opened her Apple iBook in June to take some notes at a middle school she was visiting in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley. Upon bootup, the laptop's wireless LAN adapter picked up a strong WLAN...

Wi-Fi service: What's missing?(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Johna Till Johnson When it comes to Wi-Fi services, the big boys are definitely on the loose. SBC, Sprint and Verizon recently have announced plans to roll out Wi-Fi hot spots to consumers and small businesses - Verizon plans to...

McData ups storage switching ante.(acquires Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems)
September 1, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR McData's acquisitions of Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems last week put it in the middle of a select group of manufacturers - including Brocade Communications and Cisco - that are embedding applications in their Fibre...

Brave new world of WLAN analyzers.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Kevin Tolly As wireless LAN use has surged in corporations, it is no surprise that WLAN analyzers have sprung up all around us. What is surprising, though, is how radically different some of them can be from their wired brethren -...

Infrastructure briefs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: staff writers IBM next month will offer some enhancements to its FAStT600 storage server that it says will improve its performance and double the amount of data that the system can store. Called the "turbo" option, the enhancements...

News briefs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: staff writers As expected, some service providers are suing the FCC over its Triennial Review order issued two weeks ago (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7454). The order sets competition rules that pertain to how the four regional...

Net.Worker briefs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: staff writers Netgear last week announced a wireless firewall router and wireless PC Card that, when used together, have a rated speed of 108M bit/sec. Built using Atheros' Super G technology, the 802.11b/g network equipment is...

Cool tools.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Keith Shaw Get an iPAQ for $200 HP last week launched a new iPAQ Pocket PC, the h1935, which it plans to sell for $199 (after rebates). The device features a color transflective display and a thin design that makes it easier to...

Speedy returns are Google's goal.(Company Profile)
September 1, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH While few Web sites can handle an average of 200 million queries and a billion HTTP requests per day, Google has done it for years. But the search engine leader wanted to do it better. Known for its speedy return...

Network Associates targets SMB management.
September 1, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Network Associates last week announced a tool designed for small and midsize businesses that the company says makes enterprise-level network troubleshooting, security and analysis capabilities available in a low-priced...

Policy software targets broadband use.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: NETWORK WORLD STAFF Software maker Motive Communications last week announced a product it says gives service providers more insight into how their broadband offerings are being used. The company's Usage Policy Manager...

Enterprise Applications briefs.
September 1, 2003... Byline: staff writers A flaw in almost every generation of RealNetworks streaming servers, including Helix Universal Server 9 and RealSystem Server Versions 7 and 8, could be exploited by an attacker to gain root access on the affected...

Storage servers, backups and architectures.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Mark Gibbs Last week we almost wrapped up our discussion of the Snap Server 2200 from Snap Appliance but were left with what looked like a bug. And indeed it was, as far as can be determined, a "you're kidding me, are you sure?...

Service Providers briefs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: staff writers Oklahoma's attorney general last week filed charges against MCI (legally known as WorldCom) and its former CEO Bernie Ebbers. The state says the company and a handful of executives, including Ebbers, violated security...

Showdown set for fall VON in Boston.(Network World Showdown at the Voice on the Network conference )
September 1, 2003... Byline: John Dix For our fourth Network World Showdown at the Voice on the Network conference - this one Sept. 23 in Boston - we challenged a handful of IP PBX vendors and IP Centrex service providers to come mix it up in a...

NetBuzz.
September 1, 2003... Byline: Adam Gaffin And the winner is . . . Everybody! It's mouse pads all around for the SoAnnoying competition, in which I asked for people to send in their SoBig.F message counts and their best SoBig stories. No, I'm not copping...

Netgear router quirk perturbs college.
September 1, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH If you own a Netgear router, Annie Stunden would like you to stop pinging her network. The University of Wisconsin, Madison's CIO says that a software glitch in some Netgear products has the routers bombarding the...

Microsoft's VoIP server could shake IP PBX market.
September 1, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH While IP PBX vendors duke it out for market share in the converged LAN/WAN arena, a recent analyst report warns not to count out a certain software vendor from Redmond. A report from IDC identifies Microsoft as a...

NetScreen to add application layer security to gear.
September 1, 2003... Byline: TIM GREENE NetScreen Technologies later this year will improve its security products to help customers combat attacks disguised as innocuous traffic that might sneak by traditional firewalls. By incorporating technology it...

Watching the shop; Managed security services are gaining ground and winning enterprise customers.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: Ellen Messmer Watching the shop Managed security services are gaining ground and winning enterprise customers. BY Ellen Messmer The idea of turning to an outside firm to manage your firewall, VPN, intrusion-detection...

Microsoft to revamp patch mgmt. software.
September 1, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA In the wake of recent ugly worm episodes, Microsoft is planning to overhaul its much maligned patch management architecture in an effort to ease the frustrations of corporate users. Company officials say they are:...

IBM cuts mainframe software/hardware pricing.
September 1, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS IBM is reducing hardware and software costs by as much as 80% with an eye toward making it easier for businesses to buy and deploy big iron. IBM says it hopes the pricing moves - which create set list prices for...

Sears techs packing a wireless punch.
September 1, 2003... Byline: JOHN COX When it comes to wireless networking, Sears isn't choosy. As part of a $65 million project, the retailer this year has outfitted trucks used by its 10,000 service technicians with a five-antenna dome that supports...

Gartner: Expect to see wireline-to-wireless portability.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Consultants at Gartner predict that up to 10% of wireline users will port their phone numbers over to wireless service providers when that opportunity is available. The consulting firm expects the FCC to give...

Disaster-recovery plans still need work.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Byline: SEPT. 11 SECOND ANNIVERSARY FINDS MANY COMPANIES REMAIN VULNERABLE Nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, many organizations remain woefully unprepared to quickly recover their IT systems and key business processes in the...

Running the numbers on source verification.
September 1, 2003... Byline: Mark Gibbs We ended last week's discussion about how to combat spam (see www.nwfusion. com, DocFinder: 7452) by mentioning a technique called source verification and readers who sent feedback about their experiences with a system I...

Auto industry portal kicks into high gear.(Covisint )(Company Profile)
September 1, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER DETROIT - The Big Three automakers are finally ready to make Covisint, the business-to-business Web portal they founded three years ago to reach suppliers, the central engine in their e-commerce and messaging systems....

PeopleSoft refund offer aims to assure customers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Byline: JOHN COX PeopleSoft took another jab at Oracle last week, as part of its aggressive defense against the database giant's hostile takeover bid. PeopleSoft confirmed it will renew an offer to pay customers two to five times...

Dell to help customers corral their switches.(OpenManage Network Manager)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2003... Byline: STEPHEN LAWSON Dell this week will offer a free tool for centrally managing its LAN switches, a move that better matches up the boxes vs. those of network gear sellers such as Cisco and Nortel that already offer such software. ...

CSI: Lost e-mails; Forensic experts sift through electronic data looking for key bits of evidence.(Crime Scene Investigation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Steve Ulfelder CSI: Lost e-mails Forensic experts sift through electronic data looking for key bits of evidence. by Steve Ulfelder Your CIO calls. He just had a visit from the CEO, who just met with the company...

Retention is key.(managing old email files)
September 8, 2003... When it comes to policy, IT groups primarily will implement policies created by lawyers. But you can begin following these procedures to protect your company - and yourself, immediately: * Don't delete employees' e-mail accounts the minute...

Better save than sorry.
September 8, 2003... Given the prominent role of technology in business today, it's no surprise that electronic data often factors into lawsuits and compliance issues. E-mail seems to play a key role, as demonstrated by several recent events: * In December,...

Converging with Six Sigma.(define, measure, analyze, improve and control)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Chuck Yoke Sometime during the next eight to 12 weeks I should receive my Green Belt. After additional practice and experience, I might try for the Black Belt, and ultimately, I might become a Master. This has nothing to do...

Real-time survival; Chemical manufacturers tap up-to-the-minute performance data to improve processes in a bid to stay competitive.
September 8, 2003... Byline: lauren gibbons paul Real-time survival Chemical manufacturers tap up-to-the-minute performance data to improve processes in a bid to stay competitive. n By Lauren Gibbons Paul Like every other company in its industry,...

Favorable returns on Exchange; Exchange Server 2003, Outlook 2003.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: TRAVIS BERKLEY, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE Exchange Server 2003, Outlook 2003 Favorable returns on Exchange BY TRAVIS BERKLEY, NETWORK WORLD GLOBAL TEST ALLIANCE The newest upgrade to Exchange 2003, based on our...

Exchange how we did it.(Exchange 2003 Server )
September 8, 2003... Byline: Travis Berkley How we did it We installed our Exchange 2003 Server on an HP Compaq ProLiant DL360 G3 server, with twin 2.4-GHz Intel Xeon processors, 1G byte of RAM and a 36G-byte RAID5 array, running Windows Server 2003....

Product Peek: SyslogAnalyzer2.0.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Paul Ferrill SyslogAnalyzer 2.0 By Paul Ferrill Reading server log files ranks up there with visiting the dentist and preparing your taxes by hand. But unless you read those log files, you might miss something really...

not all rotten apples.(MCI Worldcom scandal)
September 8, 2003... Byline: michael tierney Not all rotten apples So according to Mark Gibbs, MCI is "rotten to the core" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7522) Please, Mr. Gibbs, take a job at this "rotten" company and then read about yourself in the...

Language lessons; Communication is the key to CIOs forging better relationships with CFOs to win consensus.(Chief Information Officers; Chief Financial Officers)
September 8, 2003... Byline: chuck tatham Language lessons Communication is the key to CIOs forging better relationships with CFOs to win consensus. n BY chuck tatham CIOs and CFOs often act as though they are partners in a strained marriage....

MCI charges: Oklahoma gets it right.
September 8, 2003... Byline: johna till johnson Score one for the state of Oklahoma, which has demonstrated a clearer grasp of the issues surrounding MCI's malfeasance than the federal government. On Aug. 27, the state announced it is filing criminal charges...

Is the spam battle joined?
September 8, 2003... Byline: scott bradner I t's been quite a few weeks recently on the spam front, and it looks like the good guys are losing big time. A few hundred thousand new spam relay hosts might have been established around the world, the...

Big trade shows have lost luster.(computer industry)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Dave Kearns A n invitation dropped into my in-box the other day - I was invited to apply for a press pass for PC Expo, coming up next week at New York's Javits Center. It doesn't seem that long ago that I would have had to...

Proposed provisioning technology set to go; APPLICATIONS: IBM, Microsoft and OASIS debate SPML.(Service Provisioning Markup Language)
September 8, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA A forthcoming XML-based standard is living a double life. It is expected to foster integration of current provisioning and identity management software now and will evolve to support Web service in the future. The...

Software distribution tool on tap from Tally.(Tally Systems Corp.)
September 8, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Tally Systems, which offers corporate executives tools for asset management, now is adding software for helping customers deploy software and remotely manage desktops. The company last week announced its Cenergy...

Bear Stearns is bullish on VoIP.
September 8, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER At the New York City headquarters of investment firm Bear Stearns & Co., the murmur of hundreds of traders in stocks and bonds can be heard, hunkered down behind their space-age, flat-screen computers and telecom...

Boingoweighs in on Wi-Fi.(Boingo Wireless )
September 8, 2003... Byline: denise pappalardo Boingo Wireless helped pioneer the Wi-Fi services market when it launched two years ago. Now the company links 42 wireless LANs operated by others to give users Internet access at speeds of up to 11M bit/sec...

Server management tools grow up.
September 8, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS AND DENISE DUBIE As corporations move toward utility computing, where system resources grow and shrink according to business demands, server management tools are evolving to do more than simply monitor and manage...

XKMS does the heavy work of PKI.(XML Key Management Specification )
September 8, 2003... Byline: RICH SALZ Public-key infrastructure is well suited for securing Web services, but PKI deployment is too cumbersome and costly for the technology to achieve widespread use. An upcoming standard from the World Wide Web Consortium...

Long-haul 'fiber glut' persists.
September 8, 2003... Byline: STEPHEN LAWSON The "fiber glut" that has been widely blamed for a weak long-haul telecom equipment and services market still exists in most areas, but there are signs that more existing fiber needs to come online and demand might...

Enterasys, Netgear target SMB networks.(Enterasys Networks; small and midsize businesses)
September 8, 2003... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Enterasys Networks and Netgear each recently debuted LAN switches aimed at scaling up networks in small and midsize companies. Enterasys introduced Matrix V2, a fixed-configuration stackable switch that could be...

Ask Dr. Internet.
September 8, 2003... Byline: Steve Blass We installed some workstation packet filtering firewall software and found a large number of Internet Protocol 2 packets on the network. What are they used for, and is this a threat? The Internet Protocol 2 packets...

apps briefs.(software/hardware)
September 8, 2003... n Iron Mountain recently announced a service that lets businesses rapidly restore electronic data. The company's Data Restoration and Electronic Discovery Support service lets organizations gather, restore, search for, organize and deliver...

carrier briefs.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2003... n Riverstone Networks says it overstated fiscal 2002 and 2003 revenue by $98.8 million. An ongoing internal audit turned up the discrepancies, which initially found that the two fiscal years were overstated by $51.5 million. The internal review...

cool tools.(consumer electronics)
September 8, 2003... Byline: keith shaw The ultimate media card reader If you have a lot of different gadgets that all use different media cards, then you need an "all-in-one" type media card reader. SanDisk last week launched a USB 2.0 Image-Mate...

NetWare 6.5; NetWare points Novell directly toward Linux.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Thomas Henderson NetWare points Novell directly toward Linux n By Thomas Henderson, Network World Global Test Alliance ven though all of Novell's network services will not be ported to Linux until late this year, in our...

A peak at Novell's Virtual Office.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Thomas Henderson A peak at Novell's Virtual Office Novell's Virtual Office provides end users with a Web-based virtualization of network resources. These resources revolve around the creation and participation in Virtual Teams....

Netware review how we did it.(Novell NetWare 6.5)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Thomas Henderson How we did it We tested NetWare 6.5 on a Gigabit Ethernet and 100Base-TX network consisting of eight servers (Gateway 955 1U, HP/Compaq DL-360 [2], DL-380, Compaq DL580, and three whitebox servers [ASUS...

Infrastructure briefs.(computer industry)
September 8, 2003... Byline: staff Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will build an InfiniBand cluster using Apple's new dual-processor Power Mac computer with the 64-bit G5 processor. When it is completed, the cluster of 1,100 nodes is...

Ripple expected from patent case.(Eolas Technologies )
September 8, 2003... n Companies with products that work on the Internet are waking up to the implications of a recent judgement against Microsoft in a patent infringement case. The $520 million award to Eolas Technologies and the University of California stemmed...

Readers get another turn.(Letter to the Editor)
September 8, 2003... Byline: Paul McNamara Readers get another turn What does it say about the state of e-mail that finding 850 messages in my in-box after a two-week vacation had me thankful the pile was so small? It says my company's new spam...

Ipswitch IMail now includes anti-spam.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 8, 2003... Byline: mark gibbs K eeping in line with Backspin's current focus on anti-spam technology and the fact that we just received an update of a product that we've meant to review for some time, this week we'll look at an established mail...

Sifting through the FCC order.(Federal Communications Commission)
September 8, 2003... Byline: John Dix The FCC's recently issued order on local telecom competition is a reasonable step forward but might be undermined by the litigation it invariably will inspire. Cementing positions the FCC first aired in February, the...

Stratus expands fault-tolerant server options.(Stratus Technologies )
September 8, 2003... Byline: JENNIFER MEARS Stratus Technologies this week is expected to improve its line of fault-tolerant, Intel-based servers with the introduction of two boxes designed to give customers higher processing power at lower prices. The...

Lotus adds IM to Notes client.(Instant Messaging )
September 8, 2003... Byline: JOHN FONTANA IBM/Lotus later this month will ship Notes/Domino 6.5 and begin to show corporate users how to extend the reach of its collaboration software by embedding it in everyday client software. With embedded components...

IBM racing ahead with component strategy.
September 8, 2003... Byline: John Fontana With Lotus as a lead example, IBM is working to break down the other software products in its portfolio into sets of components that can be assembled quickly in multiple ways to meet corporate computing needs. ...

Cisco expands Fibre Channel line.
September 8, 2003... Byline: DENI CONNOR Cisco is expected to introduce two Fibre Channel switches this week that will give users more choices for expanding the size of their storage-area networks. At Storage Decisions 2003, the company will announce the...

Start-up focuses on anomalies.(System Detection )
September 8, 2003... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Start-up System Detection this week will make its debut with software the company says stands apart through its use of analytics for defining and categorizing threats and attacks coming from the Internet and inside...

Service provider expands VPN reach.(Virtual Private Network)
September 8, 2003... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Service provider Netifice Communications is expanding its network to offer users a simpler way to securely manage remote office connectivity. The company says it will announce this week a deal with New Edge...

Utility computing plans take shape; HP and other vendors bolster product plans via acquisitions.
September 8, 2003... Byline: DENISE DUBIE High-tech heavyweights determined to deliver on utility computing continue to pull out their checkbooks for key technologies they hope will fill out their product lines. The buying spree continued last week as HP...