InfoWorld.com articles from August 2003

InfoWorld.com archives from August 2003

Keeping IT jobs in the U.S. When you pay bargain-basement prices, there's still a cost.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Chad Dickerson Recently, I got an e-mail from Dave Hoerman, who has worked in the IT industry since 1985 as "a software tester, developer, and system administrator for just about everything," as he puts it. He is concerned about...

Microsoft imperialism could benefit storage; Redmond's Virtual Disk Service may spur innovation from competitors.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist Storage virtualization has long been the Holy Grail of many network administrators, giving them the ability to simply see all storage capability on the network as logical-layer volumes without regard for where the...

Wireless security: Harder than you think; Adding encryption to wireless networking isn't always simple.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash Once more I sat at the control console and went through the D-Link wireless access point's forms to enable WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption. I knew it wasn't exactly the best encryption on the planet, but it was...

Can we blame only storage vendors? OS vendors should do a better job at following storage evolution.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella It's a relatively quiet week, at least from a storage news point of view, so let's sit back, shift our brains to neutral, and dream, shall we? One of my job's most interesting aspects is keeping a dialogue open...

Interview: Brian Marick digs into the evolution of testing; This believer in test-driven development sees IT learning to write tests that lead to better code.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Jon Udell Brian Marick, a longtime professional software testing consultant and founder of Testing Foundations, has a unique perspective on the evolution of test-driven development and its relationship to conventional testing...

Qualys CTO paints grim picture of security; Some vulnerabilities may plague networks indefinitely.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Andrew Brandt, PC World A study unveiled at the Black Hat Briefings conference in Las Vegas last week paints a grim picture of network security problems. Among the study's surprising results: Some kinds of computer security...

Novell buys Ximian; Novell makes move to become more serious Linux player.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Novell made a move on Monday to become a more serious player in the Linux market acquiring the Boston-based Ximian, one of the major drivers behind the Gnome project to create a Linux-based desktop, and Mono, software...

Linux-based WebSphere integration debuts; Changes help build trading partner community.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell IBM on Monday rolled out improvements to its WebSphere Business Integration Connect that are intended to help users better integrate and manage a business-to-business trading community made up of partners, suppliers,...

Oracle raising grid stakes; Database to boost enterprise use.
August 4, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Oracle's upcoming database addresses major issues surrounding grid computing by enabling enterprises to build reliable grids based on commercial, rather than customized, technology, an Oracle official said on Monday. ...

InfiniCon shrinks InfiniBand; New 32-port switch arrives.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer Still looking to score with high-performance computing, clustering, and large enterprise customers, InfiniCon Systems on Monday introduced three 1U-high switches packed with 32 10Gbps ports. The King of...

Mercury Interactive ramps up BTO offerings; Applications from Allerez and Motive beef up product line.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz This week enterprise application vendor Mercury Interactive will take two key steps in broadening Optane, its BTO (business technology optimization) suite of applications with the acquisition of Allerez, a...

Update: Novell hails Linux, criticizes SCO; Exec charges FUD being thrown.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Novell officials at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo on Tuesday hailed their company's commitment to Linux and criticized The SCO Group for its attempts to extract licensing fees for use of the open source platform. ...

Interview: Grid computing poised to shake up storage; Sandial Systems' Rob Strechay talks enterprise grid computing.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer The concept of grid computing has been a hot topic for some time, and as the year has unfolded the future application of grids is becoming more clear. Sandial Systems' Director of Technical Marketing Rob Strechay...

Sun embraces Linux while touting Solaris; Sparc remains company's high-performance chip choice.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill While continuing its recent embrace of Linux and the Intel architecture, Sun Microsystems nonetheless remains committed to its own Sparc chip architecture and Solaris Unix operating system. The company made several...

Wi-Fi in the sky; Satellite technology targets RV parks and mariners.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Hughes Network Systems launched today a Wi-fi service that originates from satellites circling as high as 24,400 miles above the earth. The geostationary satellites rotate in sync with the earth and so appear...

Geeks triumph at LinuxWorld Penguin Bowl; Contestants poke fun at SCO.
August 6, 2003... SAN FRANCISCO -- From Linux kernels and chemistry to lawsuits, all things nerdy and newsworthy were fair game at the Golden Penguin Bowl, a fixture of the LinuxWorld conference meeting here this week.The trivia contest, which pits the Geeks...

Wireless wave continues to roll; SBC promises 6,000 hot spots in 2006.
August 6, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Between Wayport, Boingo, T-Mobile, iPass, Gric, Cometa, and now SBC Communications, it looks like North America will be blanketed with hot spots for broadband wireless access to public and private networks. ...

Sybase previewing database upgrade; Web services functionality boosted.
August 6, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sybase is giving developers a preview of an upcoming version of its Adaptive Server Enterprise database featuring improved Web services functionality. The company at its TechWave user conference in Orlando, Fla.,...

Microsoft says .Net usage passes Java; Upcoming technologies are touted.
August 7, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft is boasting that it has surpassed Java usage with .Net and is preparing to make its application development platform more conducive to Web services. In a speech at the VSLive conference in New York last...

MetiLinx, Digital Evolution team up on Web services; Companies applying utility computing concept.
August 8, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill MetiLinx and Digital Evolution are embarking on an effort to bring the benefits of utility computing to Web services. The companies are defining utility computing as the ability to manage and allocate network...

Watching out for MOM; Some big changes are on the horizon for Microsoft Operations Manager.
August 8, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist With a fabled feature set and its yo-yoing delivery schedule, Microsoft's Systems Management Server 2003 has been receiving most of the attention when Microsoft's management technology is the question. But Microsoft has...

Small business, big enterprise: Sometimes size really doesn't matter; If you have a small or midsize business, you still must look to enterprise security solutions for guidance.
August 8, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash As you've read everything I've written about large enterprises, you've no doubt felt a sense of detachment. After all, the chances are good that you don't work for a truly massive enterprise but for what business writers...

Small storage vendors, hold on to that niche; Find a sheltered market segment for your products and services.
August 8, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella "StorageNetworks has solutions to help you manage your storage and data like a business -- with improved control, service, and bottom line results.... Description: A storage service provider offering remote data...

Pervasive buying Data Junction; Database, integration vendors combine.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Embedded database vendor Pervasive Software plans to acquire Data Junction, a data and application company, for approximately $51.7 million in cash and stock, Pervasive said on Monday. Through the acquisition,...

Sun touts low-end hardware efforts; Company forms x86 advisory panel to lure ISVs.
August 11, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems wants everyone to know that it is a player in the low-cost server arena, with both hardware and software for this market. The company on Monday is forming an advisory group to boost its application...

Sun discontinuing Intel-based server; LX50 bows out in favor of successors.
August 12, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems will stop selling its LX50 server, the company's first general purpose Intel x86-based server, on Oct. 17. According to a Sun statement released to InfoWorld on Tuesday but actually made on July 15,...

WS-I releases Web services interoperability plan; Document unites Microsoft, Sun, IBM.
August 12, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Looking to find the Holy Grail of low-cost, easy interoperability for data and applications, the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) on Tuesday is set to release its Basic Profile 1.0 document. Basic...

Orbitz travel site undergoes facelift.
August 12, 2003... In an attempt to make its travel site more user-friendly, Orbitz -- http://www.orbitz.com -- has undergone a major facelift. According to company officials, the aim was to offer customers the "fewest clicks to travel" in the tight race among...

Software AG extends communications broker to .Net, Java; EntireX upgrade opens IT systems to the Web.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Software AG is extending its EntireX communications broker to Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) and Microsoft .Net applications, enabling these systems to pass information back and forth to other platforms. EntireX...

Sun promotes new OS as secure alternative to Microsoft; Sun piggybacks Project Mad Hatter on news of MSBlaster worm.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer Seizing the opportunity to criticize a competitor and promote its own operating system, Sun Microsystems on Wednesday opened up early registration for its Project Mad Hatter. Designed to compete with...

IBM automates Web development; WebSphere gets bundled tools.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell IBM on Thursday is rolling out a series of tools that reportedly relieve programmers from some of the menial work associated with Web development, freeing them to focus on building, deploying, and testing applications...

Sun Labs eyes location systems, high-performance boxes; Research director speaks about presence technology.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN FRANCISCO -- Sun Laboratories, the research arm of Sun Microsystems, is working on technology ranging from a location system for tracking co-workers to building massive hardware with 100,000 processors. During a...

Network management made affordable; As companies pinch pennies, affordable network tools are worth a close look.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist Times are tough all over, and never is this more evident than when you're selling IT solutions to small and midsize businesses. Increasingly, it's an issue in the enterprise as well. Folks are being retrained to pinch...

Laziness and ineptitude let the Blaster worm win; Sure, you know what to do to keep your enterprise safe, but you also have to actually do it.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash My friend sighed in frustration. The MSBlaster worm had landed on her computer within a couple of hours of its release into the wild. Now her computer was randomly shutting down. She was frustrated because, as an...

Boxing your storage controls; Storage management applications climb the network.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella Just about all storage vendors seem to be buying in to the concept that key functions such as volume management should reside on network devices rather than on applications or storage servers. It's difficult to...

Nextel to offer Wi-Fi; Nextel to launch hybrid wireless service with RadioFrame Networks.
August 18, 2003... Nextel, in partnership with RadioFrame Networks, will launch this week a unique hybrid wireless service that guarantees improved in-building signal strength for both voice and data with the option to create a campuswide wireless LAN using the...

Microsoft boosts human resources capabilities in business portal; Company enhances Web-based ERP applications.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Marc L. Songini, Computerworld Microsoft pushed out a new release of its business portal software that aims to deliver new self-service features for employees and help companies dynamically adjust to changing conditions by using key...

CollabNet rolls out new SourceCast; New software features project tracker.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell CollabNet on Monday rolled out an updated version of its SourceCast collaborative environment that now features cross-project searching, integration between version control and issue tracking, and project tracking. ...

Flamenco adds 'shock absorber' to Web services; Management tool boosts standards compliance.
August 18, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Flamenco Networks is adding a standards "shock absorber" to its Web services management software, enabling users' systems to become compliant with the latest Web services standards without having to change their code....

SAS, eSecurity join security forces; Business Intelligence meets security in technology partnership.
August 18, 2003... SAS and eSecurity unveiled a technology partnership on Monday designed to apply historical trending and correlation to security events, and help enterprises deal with large volumes of security data. Expected to be rolled out over the next...

OWL flies as Web ontology language; W3C seeks more implementations.
August 19, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on Tuesday issued its Web Ontology Language, its acronym spelled and pronounced "OWL," as a W3C Candidate for Recommendation, meaning the organization is seeking more implementations...

Apple: An InfoWorld special report.
August 19, 2003... InfoWorld takes an in-depth look at where Apple is going, and our analysts like what they see. It's not just the glitz factor either; Apple has a technology story as well. Technology and trends for today's CTOs Edited by Carlton Vogt,...

IBM seeks to expand data management platform; Warehousing, autonomic, grid functions eyed.
August 21, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill IBM's labs are at work on a number of improvements to IBM's DB2 data management platform, focusing on data warehousing and integration as well as on autonomic, or self-managing, computing systems, company officials said...

Web services tester lowers TCO, company says; Optimyz releases Version 2.0 of product.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Optimyz Software is offering WebServiceTester 2.0 as a tool for testing and monitoring Web services, saying the product provides for lower cost of ownership of Web services. WebServiceTester eliminates ongoing test...

Web services directory spec advances; Version 3 of UDDI proposed.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Version 3 of UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration), the industry's Web services directory technology, is now available in a beta release, according to the UDDI Business Registry Operators Council. ...

Herding users; Corralling roaming profiles is easier with the right tools.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist "I can't believe you gave Fred a faster system than me. He's just a junior vice president!" I love comments like this. Fortunately, I can flash my consultant card and pass the buck to the local sap with CIO on his...

The good worm. Or not. Nachi may be trying something good, but it still doesn't belong on your network.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash It was crazy last week as the Blaster worm circulated around the Internet infecting computers that didn't have firewalls and hadn't been patched recently. Then came an outbreak of a new variant of SoBig, a virus that...

Extending laptops' ROI; New mobile drives can prolong the life of obsolescing computers.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella If administration criteria for laptops in your company are similar to what we do at InfoWorld, it's quite possible that you inherited that rig from another user. For example, judging from the stickers on its cover,...

BEA adds XML tool to development environment; Deal forged with Altova.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill BEA Systems plans to bundle the Altova XMLSPY 5 XML development environment with the BEA WebLogic Workshop J2EE tools environment, the companies will announce on Monday. Developers can integrate XMLSPY 5 with...

Sun, HDS expand partnership; Resell agreement extended through 2006.
August 25, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer Claiming increased market share and strong customer growth due to its relationship with Hitachi Data Systems, Sun Microsystems on Monday announced it has expanded that resell agreement through 2006. The...

Sun seeks to spur app server adoption; High availability stakes raised in upgrade.
August 26, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems hopes to make a bold leap in the Java application server space with its upcoming Sun ONE Application Server 7 Enterprise Edition, featuring high availability. Having trailed companies such as BEA...

McData snatches Sanera, Nishan; Consolidation of storage industry accelerates with acquisitions.
August 27, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer The consolidation of the storage industry accelerated this week with McData's acquisitions of Nishan Systems and Sanera Systems. Spending $185 million in cash on the two companies, the Broomfield, Colo....

Hung out to dry.
August 27, 2003... Can you get in trouble by doing exactly what your boss tells you to? Apparently you can. If so, is there anything you can do about it? Wednesday, August 20, 2003 Dear Bob, I've made a serious mistake at work. The only way I can...

Applied Micro Circuits buys host bus adapter vendor; Chip company gets Fibre Channel technology.
August 28, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer With designs to get into the storage area networking market, Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) Thursday announced its intentions to acquire JNI. Developers of host bus adapters, JNI will be acquired for...

Tight budgets are no excuse to be lax on security; Looking for an excuse to recruit a security professional? Just scan recent headlines.
August 29, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist Seeing as how e-mail servers across the planet were once again throttled last week by some mud-brained misanthrope's idea of a giggle, I figured it might be a good time to discuss the viability of a dedicated security...

For want of a wall... Don't let your company be the source of the next big attack.
August 29, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash All it took for Sobig.F to be unleashed on the Internet (and thus on your enterprise) was a single unguarded personal computer, a cable modem, and one Arizona ISP with newsgroup access. At least, that's what the FBI is...

Lowering storage TCO; New SAS products promise performance, reliability, and contained space requirements.
August 29, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella The cost of physical space is probably the least-evident factor affecting the TCO (total cost of ownership) of storage solutions. Nevertheless, every IT manager knows that when buying a new storage array, the...