InfoWorld.com articles from December 2003

InfoWorld.com archives from December 2003

ReefEdge introduces WLAN switch; Company rolls out products for customers with 100 or more distributed locations.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Nancy Gohring The WLAN (wireless local area network) switch market just got a bit more crowded. This time the new entrant isn't a startup but a convert from the gateway market, a segment sometimes viewed as a competitor to the WLAN...

BladeLogic, Smarts sign utility computing deal; Companies to deliver line of self-healing systems management software.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Smarts and BladeLogic on Monday announced that they have formed an alliance that will allow the two companies to deliver a line of self-healing systems management products to help datacenters establish a utility...

UBL proceeds for e-commerce; OASIS approves beta proposal.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Universal Business Language 1.0, which is intended as a common XML message format for e-commerce, is now available for public implementation testing in a beta format, according to an official of OASIS. The UBL 1.0...

Sun hails Java Studio Creator tool; Company also declines invitation to join Eclipse group.
December 3, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems on Wednesday reiterated its intentions to increase the number of Java developers by unveiling a preview release of its so-called easy-to-use Java development tool, now named Java Studio Creator. ...

Chasing Microsoft's silver foxes; Preparation and online resources make sticking with old versions of Windows a little easier.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist "These three machines need to stay on Windows 98 because... ." Anybody heard that before? Even companies with medium-sized user loads often have combinations of platform and software that make it temporarily...

Microsoft's patchwork security blanket; Microsoft has had a lot of Windows patches, but is that really a bad thing?
December 5, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash A few days ago, I was asked whether a particular fact being used by an InfoWorld writer was reasonable. The fact, according to the writer's research, was that Microsoft has issued 60 patches to Windows and related...

Storage vulnerabilities; Lack of storage security spells identity theft.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella The subject line of a recent unsolicited e-mail I received read: "Recover your lost data." In the message body, I was promised guaranteed data recovery from just about any media, even for volumes with completely...

Candle upgrades integration software; Company rolls out six packages for WebSphere.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Candle on Monday rolled out six packages targeted at helping infrastructure architects ready more reliable products for J2EE-based WebSphere environments. The new PathWAI products are intended to provide development...

Report: IBM grabs Web-hosting lead; Big Blue holds 27 percent share.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Leveraging the strengths of its application services business and overall corporate market share, IBM has grabbed a leading share of the Web hosting market, according to a report expected to be released on Tuesday by...

Oracle launches HR-XML product; Will Microsoft Word follow?
December 8, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Human Resources recruiters will receive welcome news this week when Oracle announces that its Human Resources Management System will use the HR-XML standard for data exchange. Developed by the HR-XML...

Software AG extends access to Natural programs; Version 6 of development environment is launched.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Software AG on Tuesday is shipping Version 6 of its Natural 4GL development environment, enabling Windows developers to access Natural programs running on a Unix or mainframe system. The company calls this feature...

IBM upgrading resource allocation package; Company also opening 'e-business on demand Center of Competency'.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill IBM this month plans to release Version 2 of Server Allocation for WebSphere Application Server, the company's software for pooling of application resources and allocating workloads. New features include the ability...

Blue Titan ships SOA tool; Network Director 2.5 features faster Linux performance.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Blue Titan on Tuesday will ship Network Director 2.5, which the company is calling an enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) "Fabric." The company describes an SOA Fabric as a network overlay that provides a...

Fortinet, NetContinuum update appliances; Start-ups announce enhancements to their multifunction appliances.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer Using custom-built ASICs to do packet inspection is a growing theme among firewall manufacturers. Fortinet and NetContinuum on Monday released new versions of their multifunction appliances that employ...

Gric launches Universal Remote Control; Portal manages wired and wireless connections.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Gric Communications announced this week Universal Remote Control (URC), a Web-based portal to monitor, configure, troubleshoot, and manage remote users over wireless or wired connections. Under its brand, Gric...

Novell adds some muscle to OSDL; Novell joins group to work on key initiatives.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) on Tuesday gained a little more market influence to convince corporate users to adopt Linux by announcing that Novell has joined the consortium to help drive both server and...

WS-I releasing use cases for Web services; Ten companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, provide implementations.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) on Wednesday plans to release its WS-I Sample Application 1.0 documents, providing use cases for interoperable Web services. Being released at the XML Conference...

AmberPoint readies Java Web services tool; Free offering due in early 2004.
December 10, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Web services management software vendor AmberPoint on Wednesday is announcing Java versions of its AmberPoint Express developer tool for monitoring and debugging Web services. AmberPoint Express provides monitoring...

Cape Clear integrates data via Web services; XML Schema is key to offering.
December 11, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Cape Clear Software on Thursday is rolling out Cape Clear Data Interchange, which presents a Web services-based approach to integrating data with enterprise applications. The product provides a visual environment for...

Caveo enters SSL VPN market; Company teams with Sun, RSA.
December 11, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer Caveo Technology Group entered the Secure Socket Layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) market Wednesday with a security appliance that leverages technology developed by Sun Microsystems and others. Dubbed...

IBM makes a Rational choice; Big Blue turns over tools to acquired company.
December 11, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Almost exactly a year after IBM bought Rational Software, executives from both camps on Wednesday marked the occasion by deepening their common commitment to the IBM Software Development Platform and announcing plans to...

Open source said on cusp of broad acceptance; Apache founder anticipates vast expansion.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Burlingame, Calif. -- Open source software, in which developers get access to source code, still is not being used by the masses but is on the cusp of a much broader acceptance, said Brian Behlendorf, founder of Apache,...

Basic security is the best foundation; Companies sometimes forget the basics in their effort to cover all the bases - or save time and money.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash I walked down the grassy slope, pausing to knock the soil off my shoes. I looked back at the gravesite in the gathering darkness. The granite cover gleamed a little in the light from the nearly full moon, and it was a...

Storage gizmos from Santa? Personal storage parallels enterprise storage, including the price.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella If you haven't done your holiday shopping yet, get on it. I'm betting hi-tech gadgets will make a killing this year, with a good share of the money going to personal storage devices such as DVD recorders and external...

BEA pushing XML document effort; Company also eyeing notification technology for browsers.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill BEA Systems on Monday plans to offer up to the Apache open source community its XML Beans technology for XML document management. The company is submitting XML Beans as an Apache Project to ensure its...

Check Point to acquire Zone Labs; EMC, BMC Software also make acquisitions.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Scott Tyler Shafer On a day when EMC and BMC Software announced their own intended acquisitions, Check Point Software Technologies also got in the game with the $205 million acquisition of Zone Labs. During a call to announce...

Compuware bolsters app service management; Company improves analysis in Vantage 9.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Compuware on Monday is introducing Vantage 9, an application service management product featuring finer-grained analysis. The product monitors application service from an end-user perspective rather than just...

Microsoft shakes up Platforms Group; Windows Core Operating Systems Division is formed.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Attempting to improve development efficiencies of its Windows core technologies, most notably its upcoming Longhorn release and Trustworthy Computing Initiative, Microsoft on Monday realigned its Platforms Group to be...

PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards integration nears completion; Project is a quarter ahead of schedule.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Using its own integration engine, Integration Broker, PeopleSoft has come in approximately one quarter ahead of schedule in delivering cross-component integration between the suite of PeopleSoft Enterprise...

Union urges IBM workers to fight offshore jobs plan; Company reportedly plans to move 4,730 jobs.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld The labor union representing a small but growing number of IBM employees is considering taking action against the company's reported plan to move nearly 5,000 jobs offshore, including asking...

WiredRed rolls out e/pop Web Conferencing; Browser-based offering provides multi-point audio and synchronous video conferencing.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Cathleen Moore WiredRed Software on Monday shipped its e/pop Web Conferencing Server, which combines multi-point audio and synchronous video conferencing with desktop and application sharing. The server leverages WiredRed's...

IBM to put data administration in business managers' hands; Lay persons can set policies through forthcoming tool.
December 16, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Business managers will be able to take a more hands-on approach to working with their enterprise databases through a tool being developed by IBM researchers. IBM on Tuesday will offer up for a free download a preview...

Macromedia providing video-streaming assist; Company partners with VitalStream on content distribution.
December 16, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Macromedia on Tuesday is joining with VitalStream to provide outsourced on-demand video-streaming services, to lessen the load of video bandwidth on users' networks. The Macromedia Flash Video Streaming Service,...

Sun bolsters services efforts; Company emphasizing technologies involving managed services and utility computing to solve services-related problems.
December 16, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Sun Microsystems onTuesday underlined its commitment to driving cost and complexity out of corporate IT shops with a hard focus on technology-based solutions through its professional services group. Taking a...

BEA, Compuware partner on Java development; WebLogic Workshop, OptimalJ to be linked.
December 18, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Tapping a familiar theme of late, BEA Systems and Compuware on Thursday will forge an alliance intended to make it easier to develop Java applications. The companies plan to integrate the Compuware OptimalJ...

Sun's Schwartz bashes Microsoft; Executive critical of software giant's decision to pull products with Java engine.
December 18, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun's Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of the company's software group, this week criticized Microsoft for pulling the plug on products that had a JVM (Java virtual machine) deemed incompatible with Sun's. ...

Sun researcher: Technology means global shifts; Sun's John Gage predicts China will be major IT player.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Technology is enabling societal changes that are making for a different world, Sun's John Gage, chief researcher and director of the company's Science Office, said during a presentation on Thursday...

'Tis the season to be geeky; Here's a group of goodies for the geeks on your gift list.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist Less than a week until Christmas. Still have a few slots left to fill on the gift-giving list? For those slots occupied by the names of geeks, I've compiled the following mini-list of geek gifts with a serious wow...

Has security come to this? There are many costs associated with security, or the lack of it. Sometimes that cost is to the spirit.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash The Trappist monk's dismay was deep. His sorrow was so great it made me sad to listen to his story. He had been forced, he explained, to stop using e-mail to carry out his work because it had become impossible to stem...

Getting ready for next year's revolution; 2004 will bring dramatic changes and complexity to storage.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella I love writing about storage, but sometimes I really do envy reporters who get to cover real world events. Writing this only a few hours after Saddam Hussein was captured is one of those times. However, I'll look...

The Tweakomatic brings much-needed joy to the holiday season; Redmond delivers a nifty new package -- a tool for easily modifying Windows and IE settings.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist First, it rained on Christmas. That's always a bad sign. Next, our threat level went to an angry-looking orange and every traffic cop started toting assault rifles instead of doughnuts; also a downer. Then some schmuck,...

A year of security trials ahead; You're probably just going to hate 2004 if you're not ready to face the security music.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash I was in my office trying to think of an amusing way to suggest that Virginia's bow-hunting season be expanded to include spammers when Jon Brody, a Sygate vice president, called. Jon wanted a sounding board for his...

Dancing on the storage chessboard; EMC goes for the checkmate.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella The recent company acquisitions initiated by EMC remind me of the first moves in a chess games. Although everyone can clearly see each step, understanding their ultimate strategic objective is not always possible....