Network World articles from September 2004

Network World archives from September 2004

VoWi-Fi keeps nurses on call; Hospitals deploy voice over 802.11 wireless LANs to save time and lives.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Susan Breidenbach VoWi-Fi keeps nurses on call Hospitals deploy voice over 802.11 wireless LANs to save time and lives. n By Susan Breidenbach ospitals are finding voice over wireless LANs to be just what the doctor -...

Someone to watch over the 'Net; A behind-the-scenes look as the Internet Storm Center's Johannes Ullrich battles the MyDoom-O virus.(Column)
September 6, 2004... Byline: JASON MESERVE As a new variant of the MyDoom virus begins spreading across the Internet, slowing search engines to a crawl in the late morning of July 26, Johannes Ullrich jumps into action. Ullrich, CTO at the SANS Institute's...

Distribution online: Dawn of a new era.(Column)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Johna Till Johnson Every now and then you get a glimmer of good news. Today's is regarding online information distribution: I'm seeing the first signs that the music industry is finally getting its collective head around the idea...

Executive enforcers; Chief compliance officers ensure corporations toe the line.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Stacey Cowley Executive enforcers Chief compliance officers ensure corporations toe the line. n by stacey cowley The wave of accounting scandals that swept through corporate America a few years ago and the resulting...

SOA and the death of platforms.(Service-Oriented Architecture)
September 6, 2004... Byline: james Kobielus As high-tech buzz phrases go, service-oriented architecture is vaguer than most. SOA isn't a technology, product, service or protocol. But it's been mentioned in many marketing pitches lately, promising greater...

Extreme's S400 raises the bar for workgroup switches.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 6, 2004... Byline: David Newman, Network World Lab Alliance 10G Ethernet workgroup switch Extreme's S400 raises the bar for workgroup switches By David Newman, Network World Lab Alliance Enabling gigabit to the desktop - or to lots of...

How we did it.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 6, 2004... We assessed Extreme Networks' S400 in terms of its performance, security, and features. (Access the complete methodology at www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 3637.) We measured the device's 10G Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet baseline...

Will the real Bill Gates please stand up? Billionaires they're not, but Gates impersonators are cashing in.(lookalikes of Bill Gates)
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Will the real Bill Gates please stand up? Billionaires they're not, but Gates impersonators are cashing in. It not only pays to be Bill Gates, it also pays to look like him. Just ask John Ranlett and Steve...

Hats off.(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2004... Hats off Regarding "Hack . . . hack back . . . repeat" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 3523): Say you go home to find someone has thrown a brick through your window, entered and rummaged through your stuff. What is the first thing you do?...

Wireless insecurity rising.(network security)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Ira Brodsky In the past, wireless security concerns seemed exaggerated. Given the limited enterprise adoption of wireless LANs and mobile data, stories about researchers cracking wireless encryption codes in labs made a good read...

Research center plugs physical security into its network.
September 6, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Keeping its huge data center humming is vital at NASA Ames Research Center, where 4,000 scientists are working on aeronautics and biotechnology projects. When a new custom-built air conditioning system couldn't keep...

Presence applications poised for takeoff; APPLICATIONS: Presence technology.
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA There is a killer on the loose under the covers of instant messaging, and no, it isn't malicious; it's a killer application that has the potential to revolutionize the way companies collaborate and communicate. ...

10GBase-T brings blazing speed.(network standards)
September 6, 2004... Byline: JAN ALEXANDER AND TOM DEBIEC As the density of devices in enterprise networks and data centers increases, there is an emerging need for low-cost, 10G bit/sec Ethernet over twisted-pair cabling. A 10GBase-T standard in the works will...

The Internet is not a new telephone.
September 6, 2004... Byline: scott bradner F CC Chairman Michael Powell seems to have found that the thin air in the mountains of Colorado can encourage clarity - in any case he was quite clear about a number of issues when interviewed at the recent Aspen...

Paper trail won't cure e-voting ills.(electronic voting)(Column)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Dave Kearns I still get the occasional e-mail about a column I wrote in February ("Rock the 'Net vote," www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 3526) about electronic voting devices, equating my support of electronic voting with a...

short takes.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... n The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards this week announced it would take over the development of the Data Center Markup Language Framework Specification 1.0. The XML-based specification will provide an...

short takes.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... n Start-up Orion Multisystems last week unveiled its Orion Cluster Workstation, which packs the power of a PC cluster into a desktop-size package that uses low-power chips and an innovative motherboard design, the company says. The Orion...

Swan dives into WAN compression.
September 6, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Swan Labs thinks making WAN links more responsive is such a hot idea that it bought the WAN-acceleration line of ITWorx. Called NetCelera, the ITWorx products optimize WAN links by searching traffic streams for...

Infonet VPN service to exploit the 'Net; MPLS-based offering complements VPN service based on Infonet's private IP net.
September 6, 2004... Byline: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN Infonet Services next week will announce a low-cost, managed VPN service that uses the popular Multi-protocol Label Switching protocol and rides over the Internet. The new IP VPN Internet service...

Celestix improves all-in-one security packages.
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Celestix Networks this week is introducing a security appliance built on Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 that is designed to give users firewall, VPN and Web caching capabilities in one box....

BMC cooks up batch mgmt. tools.
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE BMC Software this week is set to unveil software that can alert IT managers when batch job failures or performance decreases will affect critical business services. BMC's Batch Impact Manager (BIM) is add-on...

10G still prepping for big dance; Prices fall, new standards make technology more practical - but challenges remain.(Ethernet ports)
September 6, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH While not yet a technology for the masses, more corporations are adopting 10G Ethernet as prices fall and vendors refine their 10G product portfolios. Whether 10G Ethernet is ready for widespread corporate...

Ask. Dr. Internet.(Change@Work )(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass We tried the FormMail modifications you suggested last week (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 3528), and the data file was saved but the comma separated value format didn't work. The data file contains...

F5, Redline launch data center gateways.
September 6, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH F5 Networks and Redline Networks this week are set to launch versions of their respective Layer 4-7 switch/traffic accelerator boxes, with both vendors promising improved application performance and security for...

News Bits.
September 6, 2004... Byline: staff Microsoft last week warned Windows XP users to scour their systems for spyware before downloading the free security updates, called Service Pack 2. An Associated Press report quoted Microsoft executives saying some spyware...

Cool Tools.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Keith Shaw Apple iMac G5 merges computer and display Apple last week launched the iMac G5, a thin desktop computer that integrates everything into a flat-panel display. The iMac G5 includes a G5 processor (with speeds up to 1.8...

Service Providers Short Takes.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... n AT&T inked a $3 million deal with Vector Security last week for a 22-site network-based IP VPN. AT&T displaces MCI as the primary carrier for the Pittsburgh company. Vector had a frame relay WAN but now has opted for an IP VPN service that...

ScriptLogic beefs up desktop mgmt. tools.(Advertisement)
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA ScriptLogic last week introduced the latest version of its desktop management software with an eye toward helping corporations support the rollout of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Desktop Authority 6.0 adds a slew of...

Driven to drink by code and coding.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Mark Gibbs W e were recently driven to drink trying to get an application to talk XML to the embedded Web server in HomeSeer, the home automation application we discussed some weeks ago. The application, written using...

Start-up offers VoIP users pick of phones.(IPtimize)
September 6, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE IPtimize is moving beyond its data services roots with a managed VoIP offering that gives small businesses a choice of using IP phones, softphones or their existing analog handsets. Called Voice Pilot, the service is...

Opnet tackles configuration mgmt.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Opnet Technologies last week said by next January it would join the growing number of management vendors offering users software applications designed to monitor, report and track configuration data and changes across...

Multicore processor on Intel road map.
September 6, 2004... Byline: TOM KRAZIT Intel will preview a multicore future this week during the Fall Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco as it tries to leave behind a tumultuous year plagued by product delays and road-map revisions. The company is...

The skinny on VPLS.(Virtual Private LAN Service)
September 6, 2004... Byline: Tim Greene Virtual Private LAN Service technology tries to overcome some of the inherent shortcomings of WANs, namely complexity, limited bandwidth and application performance degradation. VPLS combats complexity by presenting...

Next up at Nortel: The new CEO.
September 6, 2004... Byline: John Dix Soon after we met with Nortel President and CEO Frank Dunn last February, he and a number of his lieutenants were fired for accounting shenanigans. The background of his replacement, Bill Owens, should help calm any...

Veritas buys e-mail archiving stalwart.
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR Veritas Software last week expanded its data protection and management portfolio with the $225 million acquisition of KVault Software, a leading supplier of e-mail archiving software. KVault's KVS technology, dubbed...

Auto industry pushes for XMLunity.
September 6, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER DETROIT - Seeking to reconcile two rival XML standardization efforts while avoiding the costly and complicated process of supporting incompatible systems, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler last...

3Com adds oomph to wireless bridges; Company also expands Crossbeam relationship to resell larger X series appliances.
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN COX 3Com this week plans to unveil a wireless LAN bridge that quadruples the throughput of the company's current line. The 802.11g bridge can span up to 8 miles between buildings, with throughput of up to 20M or 25M...

Compendium.
September 6, 2004... Byline: Adam Gaffin Sound familiar? Bryce Yehl makes a trip over to OfficeMax to pick up some cheap shelving for the five more used servers he's bringing home. But now he needs some GigE cards with 802.1Q support for a network...

Windows upgrades, licenses getting in sync.
September 6, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA A byproduct of Microsoft's overhaul of Longhorn is that the company's operating system development road map now aligns more closely with its software maintenance model, which presents users with licensing options that...

Verizon Wireless comes to aid of global road warriors.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Verizon Wireless now is offering customers the ability to roam internationally while using one phone and one number. The service provider announced last week that it is exclusively offering the Samsung...

Vendors heed cry for compliance mgmt. tools.
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Suppliers of management software are jumping on regulatory compliance concerns by delivering a raft of tools that do everything from sound alerts when systems drift out of whack to automatically remediate problems and...

LAN services to get new look.
September 6, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Major service providers could begin offering high-bandwidth, low-cost Virtual Private LAN Services next year if the proposed standard for the Ethernet/Multi-protocol Label Switching-based technology is approved by...

'Fired-up' Ballmer zings Linux.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Byline: PAUL ROBERTS WORCESTER, MASS. - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week used an address before software industry leaders outside Boston to tout his company's vision, while casting doubt on alternatives to Windows. Speaking to...

Content switch coming from Sun.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Byline: ROBERT MCMILLAN Sun later this month plans to unveil its first-ever content switch: a load-balancing and Secure Sockets Layer acceleration switch based on the Nauticus N2000 products that the company acquired in January. Sun...

Feds seek software assurance.
September 6, 2004... Byline: GRANT GROSS WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. government agencies need to better understand the vulnerabilities of the software they're buying, said IT workers from several government agencies during a software assurance forum in Washington,...

IBM rolls out low-end storage systems.
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR IBM last week expanded its storage systems with the introduction of two arrays that should help small and midsize businesses and workgroup and departmental users more easily store database, e-mail and Web serving...

SCO's case doesn't fit, but the lawyers won't quit.
September 6, 2004... Byline: mark gibbs Last week The SCO Group held its quarterly earnings conference call and announced it will cut expenses to ensure it will have enough cash to pursue its lawsuit against IBM. Apparently the company burned through $18.6...

CA updates IT service mgmt.
September 6, 2004... Byline: DENISE DUBIE Computer Associates this week will unveil five upgraded applications that are designed to work together at helping customers deliver and manage IT services. The upgraded pieces of CA's Unicenter IT Service...

Crime and punishment; Corporations pay the price when they don't adequately protect customer data.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Ann Bednarz Crime and punishment Corporations pay the price when they don't adequately protect customer data. n by ann bednarz Barnes & Noble.com agreed in April to pay a $60,000 fine after a flaw exposed sensitive...

Double your broadband, double your fun; Dual-Wan routers.(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 13, 2004... Byline: James E. Gaskin Sidebar - Check Point's Safe@Office 225 We tested Check Point's Safe@Office 225 device for comparison, even though it doesn't support two active WAN connections. Relying on fail-over, the Safe@Office 225...

Microsoft: Sitting duck - with baggage.(Column)
September 13, 2004... Byline: kevin tolly OK, I know that I won't win any awards for the mixed metaphor that headlines this column. But, as I flipped through a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal and saw, first, a piece about Microsoft's woes with Internet...

How we did it.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Our SOHO/small business lab includes seven clients, ranging from Windows 98 through Windows XP Pro and Linux. We have a Comcast cable broadband connection and SBC Yahoo DSL connection. Each system used the faster cable broadband connection...

Check Point's Safe@Office 225.
September 13, 2004... Byline: James E. Gaskin Check Point's Safe@Office 225 We tested Check Point's Safe@Office 225 device for comparison, even though it doesn't support two active WAN connections. Relying on failover, the Safe@Office 225 aims at the...

Leave social networks at home.
September 13, 2004... Byline: linda musthaler Attention friends and acquaintances: Please stop sending me invitations to join your electronic social networks. I know Plaxo, Friendster, Tickle and other networking tools help you remember my address and phone...

A VoIP security plan of attack.(Voice over Internet Protocol)
September 13, 2004... Byline: joel snyder From a security viewpoint, VoIP is a nightmare, combining the worst vulnerabilities of IP networks and voice networks. But VoIP's security challenges can be solved. All it takes is a plan. Step 1: Divide and...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 13, 2004... Regarding Mark Gibbs' BackSpin column "Leashing the dogs of law" (www.nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 3723): In the end, it comes down to the fact that we all want our money without responsibility. Concerning money: Can we make it? Can we protect it?...

Some really cool stuff at Demomobile.
September 13, 2004... Byline: keith shaw W hile I did not attend this year's Demomobile show in La Jolla, Calif., I was able to get a sneak peek at some of the cooler products. Here's a closer look. Not just a networked media player ViewSonic,...

Unwiring cities.
September 13, 2004... Byline: Scott Bradner T he next phase of municipal networking might be upon us. Philadelphia is exploring whether to join a handful of other municipalities already offering Wi-Fi Internet connectivity to citizens and travelers. Any...

VoIP: Just what the doctor ordered.(Voice over Internet Protocol)(Queens-Long Island Medical Group)
September 13, 2004... Byline: DENISE PAPPALARDO Old PBXs and a high volume of toll calls between 22 facilities forced Queens-Long Island Medical Group to find a better voice system. "We were looking to reduce our existing phone bills by 40% to 50%, just on...

The medical upgrade mess.(Letter to the Editor)
September 13, 2004... The medical upgrade mess Mark Gibbs' BackSpin columns "Cheap and now meets medical gear and viruses" www.nwfusion. com, DocFinder: 3724) and "Market factors meet medical gear, upgrades" (DocFinder: 3725) struck a nerve with readers. Here's...

Proposed standard simplifies VPLS.(Virtual Private LAN Service)
September 13, 2004... Byline: ODED BERGMAN Virtual Private LAN Service is an emerging technology that lets corporations and carriers segment voice, video and data traffic across a Multi-protocol Label Switching-based backbone network. For corporations, VPLS...

'Google-mania' ignites search technology; There's no shortage of vendors looking to ease enterprise information retrieval.
September 13, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ The fervor around Google's summertime IPO has turned search technology into a hot commodity. Vendors with tools for searching corporate intranets and Web sites are trying to capitalize on the moment. Microsoft, too, has...

Vintela upgrades policy mgmt. package.
September 13, 2004... Byline: JOHN FONTANA Vintela, which develops software that integrates Windows and Unix environments, this week will release a tool that provides customers Windows-centric, policy-based management for clients and servers on either platform....

XOsoft can recover failed app servers.
September 13, 2004... Byline: DENI CONNOR Storage software vendor XOsoft rolled out data protection software last week that the company says lets users instantly recover from application failures. Enterprise Rewinder is designed for data centers that need...

Ask Dr. Internet.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Byline: Steve Blass Steve Blass Is it possible to copy files between PCs through a Windows remote desktop connection without using additional software or having a Windows network connection between the two systems? The Windows XP...

As data compression evolves, savings grow; INFRASTRUCTURE: Data compression.
September 13, 2004... Byline: TIM GREENE Data compression devices have been around for years, but in their latest incarnations they use more than just compression technology to pack extra data onto fixed-size WAN links as a way to boost performance and save...

This ISP flatfoot enjoys giving spammers the boot; Bellyaching bad guys just part of the job.(Internet Service Providers)
September 13, 2004... Byline: CARA GARRETSON This ISP flatfoot enjoys giving spammers the boot Bellyaching bad guys just part of the job. The most trying part of Louis Rush's job is confronting scofflaws, some of whom are hardened criminals, to inform...

A telecom history lesson.(Column)
September 13, 2004... Byline: Johna Till Johnson A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to travel to Seattle on a combined vacation-business trip. Everyone knows Seattle as the source of Starbucks, grunge music and perpetual drizzle. But if you're ever in the...

Force10 raises the 10G bar, again; New line cards and management modules double Gig and 10G port counts, total capacity.
September 13, 2004... Byline: PHIL HOCHMUTH Force10 Networks this week is expected to refresh its 10G switch product line, doubling the switching capacity and port densities on all its chassis. The new products are aimed at businesses or research centers...

Enterprise Applications briefs.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Byline: staff Symantec last week introduced Norton AntiVirus 2005, the new version of its anti-virus software, adding an "outbreak alert" notification that delivers information about new virus and worms on the Internet. The Windows-based...

short takes.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... n NEC last week introduced a fault-tolerant server. The Express 5800/340-Hb-R uses two or four Xeon processors operating together to ensure the availability of applications. It has integrated 100/1000G bit/sec Ethernet adapters and can be...

Service Providers Short Takes.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... n AT&T Wireless is expanding the reach of its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System 3G service. The high-speed mobile offering is now available in Dallas and San Diego. The service provider has been offering its UMTS service in Detroit,...

Dicing with DSL.(Digital Subscriber Line)
September 13, 2004... Byline: mark gibbs O ur good friends down the road got DSL a few years ago so we installed it for them and recently they decided to upgrade to the 2Wire HomePortal 1000HW, an asymmetric DSL modem with built-in 802.11b support. So...

short takes.(Mirra)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... n Mirra has announced a free upgrade to its Mirra Personal Server for small and home offices. Version 2.0 adds automatic file and folder synchronization and sharing among networked PCs, as well the ability to view large thumbnail previews of...

Intel sets sights on parallel processing.
September 13, 2004... Byline: TOM KRAZIT Intel and the PC industry are about to go through a major change in the way client computers are designed, built and marketed, said Intel President and COO Paul Otellini during his introductory speech at the Intel...

New options for secure remote access; 3am Labs debuts three control and management tools - two for free.
September 13, 2004... Byline: TONI KISTNER Big companies with booming remote-access demands face some tough choices - widen the circle of IPSec VPN users, invest in an additional Secure Sockets Layer VPN product or service, or let users manage their own...

Enterprise WLAN security meets small offices.(Wireless LAN)
September 13, 2004... Byline: TONI KISTNER Small companies and branch offices requiring strong network security have often had to pass up the benefits of a wireless network rather than deal with the cost and complexity of installing and maintaining an 802.11x...

Vendors unveil new security lines of defense.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Byline: ELLEN MESSMER Security vendor McAfee last week unveiled a line of appliances and services for combating spam and viruses, while start-up iPolicy Networks introduced a line of intrusion-prevention systems with content filtering. ...

Start-up makes open source CRM play.(SugarCRM)(Customer Relationship Management)
September 13, 2004... Byline: ANN BEDNARZ SugarCRM is hedging its bets that corporations are sick of paying high licensing fees for CRM software. The 5-month-old Cupertino, Calif., company last week announced a new version of its freely available salesforce...

News bits.
September 13, 2004... Microsoft last week added 120 days to the time a special registry key will block the automatic installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Corporations that use the Automatic Updates feature of XP originally were given a reprieve on automatic...

Show spotlights wireless innovation.
September 13, 2004... Byline: JOHN COX LA JOLLA, CALIF. - Even without the summer humidity, vendor was to pitch their products in a matter of 6 minutes to a crowd of jaded venture capitalists, fellow executives and journalists. In its sixth year, Demomobile...

As telework grows, so does congestion.
September 13, 2004... Byline: toni kistner N ow that we're all back at our desks, let's look at some work-related studies that piled up about Labor Day. Of course, some of us just pretended to unplug in August, lest we scare the boss with our sloppy...

Are 4% of your co-workers morons?
September 13, 2004... Byline: Paul McNamara Are 4% of your co-workers morons? When St. Louis investment house Edward Jones & Co. summarily fired 19 employees for "Internet abuse," this columnist was quick to condemn the dismissals as excessive. "We're...

Stirring up the IT pot.
September 13, 2004... Byline: John Dix Summer is a good time to slap IT folks around with profound statements, like Nicholas Carr did last year with his Harvard Business Review story "IT doesn't matter." While not quite as stirring, Bain & Co. created a ripple...