InfoWorld.com articles from November 2003

InfoWorld.com archives from November 2003

Borland stands tall on profitability; Execs stress neutrality as BorCon kicks off.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Borland executives trumpeted the company's profitability, cross-platform support, and integration capabilities during an opening keynote session at the BorCon conference here Sunday evening. ...

Microsoft, Borland: We're friends; Competing companies voice joint interests.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Microsoft and Borland may have competing development tools for building Windows applications, but this does not mean the companies are not partners. Microsoft's David Treadwell, general manager of...

Microsoft launches mobile Voice Command; App gives users voice-activated control over mobile devices.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz On Monday Microsoft will launch Voice Command for Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition. The 5MB application, available only as a download for $39.95, will give users of mobile devices voice-activated command...

Rational touts link to IBM portal pack; Upgraded tool works with WebSphere.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill IBM Rational on Tuesday will further its integration with IBM brands through a new release of the IBM Rational Rapid Developer tool. The company's IBM Rational Rapid Developer 2003 release 2 will enable development...

Serena upgrades change management software; Management dashboard portal, role-based interface are highlights.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Serena Software on Monday will announce an update to its TeamTrack 6 enterprise change management software featuring a real-time management dashboard portal and a role-based interface. TeamTrack provides process...

Sonic Foundry enlivens rich media communications; Mediasite Live gains automated capture and publish features.
November 3, 2003... Byline: Cathleen Moore Sonic Foundry on Monday is rolling out a new version of its rich media communications system for Webcasting, content publishing, and online presentations. Enhancements to the system include automated workflow and...

Borland's Kylix in limbo; Company pushing C++Builder as alternative.
November 4, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Borland's Kylix development software remains in limbo, with no new release having been issued for a year and the company not saying whether there will be an upgrade. Kylix is a RAD development...

Sun's Schwartz cites 'shared services'; Company also touts Windows desktop competitor at BorCon conference.
November 4, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Sun Microsystems' Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of the company's software group, preached Sun's "shared services" vision of computing and touted recently announced products during a...

Borland exec doubts Sun's desktop chances; CEO Fuller sides with the skeptics.
November 5, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Borland President and CEO Dale Fuller is not optimistic about partner company Sun Microsystems's chance to unseat Microsoft on the desktop. Fuller sat down with InfoWorld on Tuesday for a...

Interview: Siebel exec backs Web services model; David Schmaier argues hosted CRM is an extension of object-oriented history.
November 5, 2003... Byline: Mark Jones and Ephraim Schwartz Siebel believes enterprises want the choice of on premise or hosted CRM -- or both. And the glue in the middle is Siebel's Web services-based Universal Application Network (UAN). In an interview with...

Sun seeks partners in per-user licensing plan; Third-party software to be included.
November 5, 2003... Byline: Robert McMillan Sun Microsystems at its SunNetwork user conference in Berlin next month plans to announce the first independent software vendors that have agreed to distribute their software along with Sun's Java Enterprise System...

IBM gets ready for SOAs; IBM supports Web services security.
November 6, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell IBM on Thursday is announcing its support of key industry standards for Web services security for its WebSphere and Tivoli server applications that will better enable those products to fully embrace service oriented...

IBM heads toward next generation of app servers; Componentized version of WebSphere will let users mix and match functions across IBM's portfolio of apps.
November 6, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell IBM revealed that it is working on a componentized version of WebSphere, code-named Vela, which the company said represents the next generation of application servers. The forthcoming edition, due in the second half...

Interview: IBM's Sutor on how SOAs fuel integration; IBM exec says componentization will work, thanks to Web services, SOAs.
November 6, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Big Blue is betting big on the broad-based acceptance of Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) as the best way to help corporate users integrate application functions and data across the wild patchwork of software...

Sun still pondering Eclipse move; Company seeks unified development plug-ins.
November 7, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems is pondering joining the IBM-led Eclipse open source development tools project for Java, but still has some concerns, a Sun official said on Thursday. The company believes it is good to have...

SBS 2003 has everything you want -- perhaps too much; Small Business Server 2003 is great for aspiring enterprises, but including both Exchange and Outlook is overkill.
November 7, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist OK, I'm supposed to be discussing solutions for managing Windows in the enterprise in this column, but enterprises come in more than one size. Some are huge, while others are, well, on their way to being huge. For those...

Managing security means locking the back door, too; Your greatest vulnerability may not be the obvious Web server, but your sales staff's laptops.
November 7, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash It's always entertaining to watch IT vendors quote famous military men. In many cases, the quotes sound good, but it's clear that the vendor spokesperson hasn't a clue what the quote really means. Of course, there...

Warring tape library giants; StorageTek foresees competition-bashing library.
November 7, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella Who do you go to when you need a really large tape library? Well, you only have a handful of options. ADIC, IBM, StorageTek and Sun are the only 'large' vendors that come to mind. And I'm defining 'large' as a...

BackWeb rolls out Offline Access Server 4; Eclipse-based environment simplifies development process.
November 10, 2003... Byline: Cathleen Moore BackWeb Technologies on Monday rolled out its Offline Access Server Version 4, which is designed to offline-enable Web applications such as portals, intranets, and extranets or any ASP, ASP .Net, or J2EE...

Informatica recasts PowerCenter 7 for SOA; BI vendor adopts grid architecture.
November 10, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Informatica, a leading provider of data integration and business intelligence software, will unveil this week PowerCenter 7, the next release of its integration platform. Version 7 is a major upgrade based on...

Kodiak enters push-to-talk market; Technology leverages wireless carriers' existing voice networks.
November 10, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz On Monday, Kodiak Networks, a startup in the telecommunications industry, will launch the only push-to-talk technology that leverages the wireless carriers' existing voice networks. The Kodiak system would...

Portal vendors unite behind standards; Plumtree, Sun, BEA, Documentum create open source site for portlet sharing.
November 10, 2003... Byline: Cathleen Moore Attempting to drive real-world deployments of standardized portlets, several competing enterprise portal vendors this week kicked off an open source site designed to let customers share portlets developed according...

Salesforce.com touts online application delivery; CEO Benioff calls Sforce the 'industry's only on-demand application server'.
November 10, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz and Mark Jones SAN FRANCISCO -- Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, kicked off the company's first user and developer conference, Dreamforce, with a brief but significant peek into the future of delivering...

IBM bolsters database for handhelds; Big Blue improves .Net, Java development functionality in DB2 Everyplace.
November 11, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill IBM is extending its DB2 Everyplace database for handheld devices by adapting it for .Net development and offering a special version for small to midsize businesses. The database commonly is used for embedded...

Borland updates Janeva; Tools vendor adds support for Office, transactional services and improves security in integration software.
November 11, 2003... Byline: Tom Sullivan Borland on Tuesday released Janeva 6.0 software for connecting .Net applications to J2EE and CORBA on the back-end. The latest version includes support for Microsoft Office applications, transactional services, and...

Liberty Alliance issues Phase 2 of ID spec; Organization also foreshadows what will come in Phase 3.
November 12, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill The Liberty Alliance on Wednesday is rolling out Phase 2 of its federated identity specifications, which enables identity functions for Web services. The organization also is mapping out the planned Phase 3 of its...

Microsoft touts new database functions; Transformations, best practices boosted for SQL Server.
November 12, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft on Wednesday detailed tools planned for increasing database administration capabilities in the current and upcoming versions of the company's SQL Server database. The company revealed the details during its...

Xandros delivers Linux desktop; Company looks to provide more secure alternative to Windows.
November 12, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Hoping to help the cause of planting Linux more firmly on the desktop, Xandros on Wednesday unveiled an enhanced version of its Linux-compatible graphical environment with most improvements aimed at users. Based on...

OMG to vote on reusable asset spec; Proposal is intended to simplify app development.
November 13, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill The reuse of existing software development assets would become easier under a proposal to be pondered by the Object Management Group next week. The OMG is expected to vote on adopting the "Reusable Asset...

Sun readies J2EE 1.4, app server; Enterprise Java variant backs Web services; company also seeks "per citizen" charge for desktop package.
November 13, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill SAN FRANCISCO -- Sun Microsystems next week will ship Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4, which is designed to enable the use of Web services in Java applications, along with an application server based on the new platform....

Agile revamps PLM platform for SOA; Company adds environmental compliance module.
November 17, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Agile Software, a product life cycle management ISV, will announce this week availability of Agile 9.0 rewritten as a SOA (services-oriented architecture) platform. The company also unveiled an environmental...

IBM fuels Web services push; Big Blue opens Web services centers.
November 17, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell Trying to feed its momentum in the Web services market, IBM on Monday announced it is expanding the number of technical centers dedicated to helping corporate users create Web services as well as identify solutions that...

Macromedia extends Internet apps development; Flex technology is built for enterprise developers.
November 17, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Looking to bring graphical Web development to enterprise developers, Macromedia on Monday will introduce Macromedia Flex, a presentation sever and application framework for building rich Internet applications using...

MySQL shipping SAP database variant; Open source offering is built for enterprise apps.
November 17, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill MySQL on Monday announced its MaxDB open source database, which is a re-branded version of the SAP DB database. The database is tailored for large ERP environments and other applications that require enterprise-level...

Interview: Salesforce.com adopts Amazon.com, eBay model; Marc Benioff outlines his vision for a hosted application server.
November 17, 2003... Byline: Mark Jones Salesforce.com this month will make available the latest version of its hosted CRM application and developer platform, Sforce 2.0. Touting Sforce as a hosted application server marks a significant shift in the company's...

Interwoven unveils Content Networks plan; Strategy to extend service-oriented architecture model.
November 19, 2003... Byline: Cathleen Moore ECM (enterprise content management) vendor Interwoven over the course of several quarters next year plans to introduce new products designed to strengthen the role of Web services, collaboration, and mobility in its...

Update: OASIS approves service-provisioning standard; SPML provides framework for allocating system resources.
November 19, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) on Wednesday announced ratification of Service Provisioning Markup Language (SPML) 1.0, which provides an XML-based framework for allocating...

Ability Plus offers low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office; Suite boasts high-end features.
November 20, 2003... Byline: Caroline Craig Ability Plus Software is targeting budget-strapped IT shops with a streamlined alternative to more resource-hungry office suites. The company's Ability Office boasts high-end features found in Microsoft Office...

PostgreSQL boosts open source database; Data warehousing, Opteron optimization cited.
November 20, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill PostgreSQL Global Development Group this week is shipping Version 7.4 of its open source PostGreSQL Object Relational Database Management System. Data warehousing functionality has been improved in the product...

HP eyes security, SMB spaces; Security projects currently in the hopper include moving VPN technology to 802.11 wireless networks.
November 20, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill While Hewlett-Packard has lofty plans to conquer markets such as security and SMB (small and midsize business), the company does not give rival Sun Microsystems much credence in efforts such as Linux and servers. HP...

ACL launches anti-money laundering BAM module; Compliance regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley may ramp up corporate need for monitoring applications.
November 21, 2003... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz ACL Services, a vendor of audit technology to financial executives, will announce on Monday Continuous Controls Monitoring, a suite of applications that checks and flags anomalies in transactional data at the...

Voice enablement, apps testing boosted; IBM, Scapa, ImmuniCode tout wares.
November 21, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill IBM, Scapa Technologies, and ImmuniCode are undertaking varying efforts to boost software development tools, ranging from improving voice capabilities to accommodating the Eclipse Hyades Project. IBM on its...

The road to SMS 2003 has been arduous, but the destination is worth a look; Advanced Client enhancements and mobile management features among noteworthy improvements.
November 21, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist After fits, starts, and yet a few restarts, Systems Management Server 2003 is finally available. We (my pack of consultants and I) have been dinging around with SMS 2003 since the first beta, and it's been quite an...

Microsoft's security starts to show; The drive for better security has to start somewhere, and it has.
November 21, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash Bill Gates says security has become a vital issue for Microsoft as it prepares its next release of Windows. The Microsoft chairman, speaking in Las Vegas at the opening of Comdex, said that security is being designed...

Betting on a blue laser; Plasmon launches new ultra density optical disc.
November 21, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella It's easy to take storage capacity for granted, especially because there always seem to be constant improvements in disks and tape media. However, there is at least one class of storage devices that has not increased...

Java tools organization pondered; Vendors may form group in an effort to boost interoperability.
November 24, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Java tools vendors may form an organization to make Java-based IDEs more interoperable, officials at Java tools vendors confirmed on Monday. The organization, which may be called the Java Tools Community, would...

Interview: webMethods CEO eyes Web services innovation; Semantic integration, SOA hold key to next-generation integration products.
November 24, 2003... Byline: Mark Jones Integration vendors such as webMethods are constantly attempting to simplify application integration technologies. According to Philip Merrick, chairman and CEO at webMethods, the next round of innovation in the...

Sleepycat boosts Java in embedded database; Replication also is enhanced.
November 25, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill Sleepycat Software on Tuesday announced availability of Berkeley DB 4.2, a version of the company's embedded data management software that is intended to make it easier to build Java applications and features enhanced...

IBM, BEA propose Java standards; Companies aim to bring servers together.
November 25, 2003... Byline: Ed Scannell IBM and BEA Systems on Tuesday disclosed they are working jointly on three new specifications for the Java platform, responding to pressure by developers and users to bring their respective applications server platforms...

ViewCentral partners with Microsoft, MCI; Company brings collaboration management to conferencing software.
November 25, 2003... Byline: Tom Sullivan ViewCentral announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with half a dozen conferencing software makers. The company provides collaboration management software that is now integrated with conferencing software from...

BEA readying Java Web services technology; Reference implementation of specification due in early 2004.
November 26, 2003... Byline: Paul Krill BEA Systems early in 2004 plans to have a reference implementation of Java technology intended to simplify deployment of Web services, based on the company's own WebLogic Workshop IDE. Java Specification Request...

Windows 2003 Server worth switching to; Server OS boasts goodies that will simplify life for network administrators.
November 26, 2003... Byline: Oliver Rist It's been a few months since Windows 2003 Server went active in the real world. Before its release, those of us in the consultancy field were part of the ubiquitous moaning about the additional workload and learning...

Top-down security; Finally - a secure wireless technology designed that way from the beginning.
November 26, 2003... Byline: Wayne Rash I'm sure the look on my face was incredulous, but the inspector was resolute. "Yep," he said, "the ball joint." And thus it was that the Commonwealth of Virginia decreed that my nearly new car was unsafe to drive on...

Hitachi seeks small customers; Partnerships attract new SAN buyers.
November 26, 2003... Byline: Mario Apicella Keeping track of the number of acquisitions, mergers and alliances that occurred in the storage industry this year is no easy task. I admit to losing count a long time ago. And I'm way too lazy to figure this out,...