InfoWorld.com articles from November 2007

InfoWorld.com archives from November 2007

IBM details risk management, PCI tools; More companies are abandoning the reactive security model in favor of comprehensive, top-down strategies, and IBM is starting to cater to this trend.
November 1, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Security vendors have been harping on the need for enterprise companies to adopt top-down risk management strategies to improve their overall security standing for several years, but experts at IBM claim that the trend...

ENTERPRISE INSIGHT: The new lightweight service models: A no-brainer for SMB; Google and Amazon are two of the companies offering Web-based services that let your enterprise focus on its strongest value-added layer.
November 1, 2007... Byline: David L. Margulius Last week I had an experience that drove home the giant leaps IT is making, particularly with Web-based service models. In my spare time, I’ve been developing a niche-content Web site (more on this in a...

From BPM, ERP, Adobe LiveCycle bridges apps across the board; Flash and PDF combine with J2EE server to streamline IT development and reduce support costs.
November 1, 2007... Byline: Mike Heck You probably know Adobe for its Flash creative software, Acrobat document processing systems, and now RIA (rich Internet application) development using Flex technology. What you might not realize is the company's BPM...

SECURITY ADVISER: Don't laugh at Estonia -- it could happen to you; Massive DDoS attacks can be devastating, no matter who or where you are.
November 2, 2007... Byline: Roger A. Grimes In April of this year, Estonia suffered under a huge denial-of-service attack. Lest you think that Estonia is some little, underprepared country that doesn't follow basic computer security practices, you need to...

STORAGE INSIDER: Closing back doors to your data; Axeda's new service-monitoring app puts IT managers back in control of remote datacenter access.
November 2, 2007... Byline: Mario Apicella Storage vendors often brag that their systems "phone home" in the event of malfunction, often before something breaks. “We call you before you realize there's a problem, telling you a component is about to...

Google's Android boosts enterprise mobile Linux; The clout of Google and its partners in the Android mobile platform could finally provide the stable, viable Linux option enterprise IT managers have been waiting for.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Google's introduction of its Android device operating system and Open Handset Alliance on Monday could help create just the breed of mobile Linux platform that many enterprise IT managers have been waiting for, industry...

Trend Micro highlights maturity in mobile security; With the release of Mobile Security 5.0, Trend Micro says it has created a mobile security package on par with desktop suites -- something IT workers have clamored for.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Security software maker Trend Micro maintains that enterprises are already shopping for integrated packages of anti-malware and encryption tools for use in smartphones and other mobile devices. In releasing the fifth...

Microsoft seeks more Web-hosting inroads; Upcoming Windows Server 2008 platform is company's new entrant in this space.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft is positioning its upcoming Windows Server 2008 operating system as a bonanza that, for Web hosting companies, stacks up well against the rival Linux platform, Microsoft officials said. Due in late February...

Developers get multi-core CPU assistance; RapidMind Multi-core Development Platform 3.0 helps developers fully leverage the processing power of multi-core x86 chips.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill RapidMind is announcing on Monday software intended to help developers leverage the power of newfangled multi-core processors based on popular x86 chips built by Intel and AMD. Shipping in December, RapidMind...

Five ways to roll out SOA; Big-name companies from Comcast to United Airlines are jumping into SOA, changing the way organizations plan, develop, and deploy enterprise applications.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Galen Gruman Back when SOA first started getting traction, the goal was simply to make application functionality available as a shared service. Companies made up their architectures as they went along – and of course,...

Cisco's Catalyst switch upgrades tout speed, ease, and innovation; New Catalyst 4500 E-Series chassis and supervisor promise an easy onramp to 10Gig, while new Catalyst 6500 supervisor and Virtual Switching System remake redundant networking.
November 6, 2007... Byline: Paul Venezia Today Cisco Systems introduced a new chassis and supervisor module in its midrange Catalyst 4500 series of switches, and a new supervisor for its flagship Catalyst 6500 series. Both sets of announcements -- one...

Spring Framework upgrade set for November 19; Improvements include greater use of annotations and metadata, though some older versions of Java will no longer be supported as the platform progresses.
November 6, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Technologists building the Spring Framework for Java application development are mapping out improvements to the platform as well as determining which versions of Java will no longer be supported by upgrades to the...

WSO2: A lightweight, fast, and free ESB; Open source WSO2 ESB 1.0 makes XML messaging easy to deploy and easy to manage, but lacks high-availability options.
November 6, 2007... Byline: Steven NA*A[+ or -]ez With the increased adoption of SOA, companies are finding the ESB (enterprise service bus) the "must have" application to connect disparate systems. Although a number of open source ESBs, such as Mule,...

HP leverages SOA for wireless service providers; Service Delivery Platform 2.0 also encompasses Web 2.0 capabilities, including mashups.
November 7, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday is unveiling its Service Delivery Platform (SDP) 2.0, which is geared to help wireless service providers take advantage of SOA and offer Web 2.0 services. Offering capabilities for...

Sun eyes consumer focus for upcoming Java kit; Sun is still in the early stages of planning for Java Development Kit 7, its application development platform, and has a long list of potential features.
November 7, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Sun is working on a long list of potential features for the planned JDK (Java Development Kit) 7, which is based partially on the upcoming Java Standard Edition (SE) 7. JDK7 is expected to have a consumer focus,...

Sun's open source strategy questioned; Former VP Larry Singer says he left Sun because he disagreed with CEO Schwartz's over-emphasis on open-sourcing when the company should have been focusing on generating revenues.
November 7, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems' push to open source all of its software helped prompt one vice president, Larry Singer, to leave the company, Singer said at a conference in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon. The company has been...

Federal IT pros insecure over security; A poll by Cisco finds that government IT managers are spending more time on security compliance but don't feel that their infrastructure is secure.
November 8, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines If a new poll sponsored by Cisco is to be considered an accurate indicator of the opinions held by a majority of federal IT leaders, it appears that the security of the United States government's network infrastructure...

Source code testers expect PCI windfall; Companies' need to comply with new standards for storing and protecting sensitive data will be a significant driver of business for source code analysis vendors.
November 8, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines With two elements of the PCI data protection regulation that address applications security set to reach their deadlines during the first half of 2008, source code analysis vendors say they are priming for rapid growth as...

XP inventor talks about agile programming; Kent Beck touts shorter development cycles and says agile methods can detect unworkable software projects quicker.
November 8, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Recognized as the inventor of XP (Extreme Programming) and a co-author of the Agile Manifesto, Kent Beck has been a prominent advocate of agile programming and its use of shorter release cycles in software development...

ENTERPRISE INSIGHT: My Google phone hangup; Attention CIOs and IT execs responsible for mobile applications: Google is coming to save you!
November 8, 2007... Byline: David L. Margulius That's right: Google has announced a consortium of companies to develop an "open" mobile device platform, designed to unleash the creativity and innovation heretofore stifled by the major big, bad wireless...

Oracle Universal Content Management lives up to the name; Oracle UCM 10g R3 scores high with Microsoft integration, comprehensive search, and new Ajax tool for organizing Web sites.
November 8, 2007... Byline: Mike Heck It's not always practical or affordable for large enterprises to consolidate their disparate systems that store unstructured content such as documents, Web material, and digital media. Yet maintaining these siloed...

Open-source Java could result in port to iPhone; As the first anniversary of open-source Java approaches and Apple prepares to release an SDK for the iPhone, Sun thinks it may have a way to put Java on the popular handheld.
November 9, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill With the first anniversary of open-source Java coming up November 13, a Sun official believes the project could bear a sought-after fruit in the Java community: The porting of Java to the Apple iPhone. Apple has not...

Zero day specialists hooked on spear phishing; Complex phishing attacks are targeting financial services firms and government entities -- the very organizations that spend more time and money on security than anyone.
November 9, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines At the cutting-edge of IT-based crime, attackers are using a combination of easily sourced technologies and social information to carry out successful assaults on the very organizations that spend more time and money on...

WS02 upgrades open-source ESB; ESB 1.5 will be bolstered with scheduler, XQuery, and caching, but analyst is not sold on company's approach.
November 9, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Emphasizing SOA deployments, WSO2 will upgrade its open-source ESB (enterprise service bus) next Tuesday with such features as a scheduler and XQuery support. The Apache-licensed WSO2 ESB 1.5 can run scheduled tasks...

SECURITY ADVISER: Protecting the end-user; Sometimes security means protecting end-users from themselves.
November 9, 2007... Byline: Roger A. Grimes The recent OS X-specific Mac Trojan ignited many hot conversations on various security mailing lists last week. Supposedly, the excitement regarding the Trojan is that it is the first time profit-seeking criminals...

STORAGE INSIDER: Living off the grid OS; 3Tera extends AppLogic to bring automated appliance-style functionality to app management.
November 9, 2007... Byline: Mario Apicella If you read Greg Nawrocki’s Grid Meter, you're likely already in the loop about 3Tera, the hard-to-pin-down software company that doesn’t develop business applications, doesn’t create games, and is...

Carrier security outsourcing making connections; Large telecom carriers such as AT&T and Verizon are able to take over customers' IT security operations -- and enterprises are happy to embrace the notion.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Massive telecommunications carriers, including AT&T, BT, and Verizon, are promoting their ability to take over a significant portion of customers' IT security operations, and some enterprises are already buying into the...

Sprint hints at cutback on ambitious nationwide WiMax rollout; As the joint WiMax deal with Clearwire falls through, Sprint says it will rethink plans, likely killing off plans of nationwide WiMax deployment.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz After a much ballyhooed announcement last July that saw Sprint Nextel and Clearwire promise a nationwide rollout of high-speed mobile WiMax by the end of 2008, the deal between the two companies has officially...

2007 InfoWorld 100 Awards; This year's recipients of InfoWorld's highest honor are shining examples of IT projects undertaken by tech leaders committed to pushing their organizations forward.(Company overview)
November 12, 2007... Byline: Jason Snyder Abbott Laboratories www.abbott.com Sales and Financial Data Warehouse Initiative Project Lead: Peggy Mathias, Senior Manager HQ IT Applications, International Division Project Description: Abbott launched an...

2007 InfoWorld 100 Awards; This year's recipients of InfoWorld's highest honor are shining examples of IT projects undertaken by tech leaders committed to pushing their organizations forward.(Company overview)
November 12, 2007... Byline: Jason Snyder Distribution | Education | Financial Services | Government Health Care / Pharmaceuticals / Donation Services | Hospitality Insurance | Manufacturing / Engineering / Agriculture Research & Development / Aerospace |...

AT&T virtualizes customer service; Nationwide virtual contact center offloads service calls while retaining regional flavor.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Leon Erlanger So you think merging nine regional call centers into one nationwide virtual contact center is work enough? Now imagine doing so while navigating hundreds of regional regulations and myriad regional back-end systems in...

Bank of America pioneers faster way to trade; Java-based system enables bank's busiest trade desks to increase trading volume by factor of 10.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Dan Tynan In today's financial markets, speed and accuracy are everything. Capitalizing on momentary differences in buy and sell prices can add up to millions of dollars in profits -- or losses, if mishandled. When Bank of...

Capital One credits VoIP a success; Company's My Phone, My Way initiative lends employees much-needed mobility.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Large corporations may be slow to change, but when they do change, they do so in a big way. Such is the case at Capital One, where IT is playing an integral part in revolutionizing how employees work. Under the...

Correos delivers on the promise of RFID; Spain's postal service taps technology to keep the mail moving in an era of instant communication.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz E-mail, IMs, text messages, online bill payments -- each has chipped away at our need for a postal carrier, seemingly dooming plain old mail to take its place on the dusty shelf of history as a legacy means for...

Patience pays off at CUNA Mutual; Insurance provider's Claims Express project benefits from a break to reassess.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Jeff Angus When it comes to optimizing IT systems, sometimes it pays to have the suits there to slow things down. Headfirst into its Claims Express project plan to revamp the company's claims-filing application, CUNA Mutual...

Georgia Aquarium's diverse IT infrastructure makes a splash; World's largest aquarium taps array of platforms to meet needs of employees, guests, and sea critters alike.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Ted Samson The Georgia Aquarium doesn't just house a remarkably diverse population boasting 500 species of sea critters; the facility's IT infrastructure comprises an admirable array of heterogeneous, integrated platforms to ensure...

MedicAlert responds to SOA’s call; Web services overhaul enables those with vital medical emergency needs to trade in bracelets for USB fobs.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz When responsiveness is the lifeblood of your business, agile systems provide competitive advantage. But when your business involves responsiveness to medical emergencies, the ability to surface data quickly -- and...

Opal reins in consolidation chaos; Pension management offshoot arises to meet the portal integration challenge.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Jeff Angus Born into the chaos of a large implementation effort, Israel-based Opal Future Technologies took the reins of eight struggling pension funds -- each with its own unique IT platform -- and threaded them together into one....

Solvay streamlines sales with Fusion; Pharmaceuticals firm ditches paper-based system for digital sales push.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Leon Erlanger In an industry better known for cutting-edge R&D than innovative use of IT, Solvay Pharmaceuticals stands apart. Undertaking Fusion, a massive transition from paper-based sales processes and stovepiped back-end...

Sterling accelerates personnel screening with SOA; The need for flexibility in performing background checks beckons an architectural shift.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Doug Dineley Imagine having to vet, and vouch for, the potential hires of more than 6,000 companies across multiple industries, each with its own employment procedures and compliance regulations from government agencies such as the...

Citrix NetScaler meets the need for speed; Version 8 of Citrix's Web application delivery appliance combines rich acceleration features and easy administration, offering a good value to large and busy sites.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Logan G. Harbaugh The Citrix NetScaler handles standard load-balancing functions, but is billed as an Internet application accelerator, due to the features that speed up delivery of browser-based applications, including caching,...

IBM adds to Watchfire tools; The IBM Rational AppScan 7.7 testing platform is the first iteration of Watchfire's flagship app on the Rational platform since IBM acquired Watchfire earlier this year.
November 13, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Sticking to its promise to advance the Web applications security tools acquired via its June 2007 buyout of Watchfire -- even as it works to meld the technology into its Rational software development platform -- IBM...

Monta Vista launches Linux Carrier Edition 5.0; The carrier-grade real-time OS claims a latency of only 50 microseconds.
November 13, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Monta Vista, the mobile and embedded Linux company, unveiled version 5.0 of its carrier-grade embedded Linux kernel today. The performance and security upgrades are yet another contribution from an...

Eclipse gets seat on Java board; Open-source tools organization will serve alongside Sun, which has been an Eclipse holdout.
November 13, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill In a first for the open-source tooling organization, the Eclipse Foundation has won a seat on a Java Community Process (JCP) executive committee. The election presents a peculiar alliance in that Sun is the founder...

Sun to herald virtualization plan at Oracle show; The strategy to be described at the OpenWorld conference enables multiple OSes and apps to run on same computer.(Conference news)
November 13, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Sun President/CEO Jonathan Schwartz will focus on Sun's virtualization strategy during a keynote presentation at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. Schwartz will emphasize software to run...

Microsoft upgrades Customer Care Framework; CCF 2008 features automated workflow and a hosted app toolkit for incorporating third-party applications.
November 14, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Microsoft announced the availability of Customer Care Framework (CCF) 2008 today, replacing the 2005 Framework edition. The latest version adds a hosted application toolkit that should make the incorporation of...

Mobile Web leaders push for open standards; Industry leaders see proprietary devices, closed-off networks, and specialized apps as hindrances to the growth of the mobile Web.
November 14, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines The technological barriers and business models that have led to the current morass of proprietary handheld devices, closed-off carrier networks, and specialized wireless applications must be eliminated if the mobile...

Nortel readies SOA and communications push; Web services and alliance with IBM are key to plan to integrate communications services into business apps.
November 14, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Nortel will leverage Web services and SOA to enable integration of communications services into business applications with the company launching its Communications Enablement strategy Wednesday. Built both for...

Oracle sours on BEA buy plan; BEA is no longer worth the $17-per-share price, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says.
November 15, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Oracle, at least for the moment anyway, has backed away from its pursuit of BEA Systems. Speaking during a meeting with analysts Wednesday, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said Oracle wanted to buy BEA for its sales force...

ENTERPRISE INSIGHT: Wanted: Some nice German voting software; What do you get when you combine the worst of democracy with the worst of technology? The modern voting machine!
November 15, 2007... Byline: David L. Margulius In my hometown of San Francisco, the accusations are flying: Our optical scanner voting machines have been "compromised," so the Secretary of State insisted all the ballots be hand counted, and the city is suing...

Coyote Point load balancer sticks to the essentials; Equalizer E550si doesn't match the traffic acceleration features of high-end competitors, but delivers most everything else at a winning price.
November 15, 2007... Byline: Logan G. Harbaugh Coyote Point Systems was one of the first vendors to produce a commercial load balancer in the mid-Nineties, and the company has always offered good basic features at very competitive prices. The Equalizer E550si...

Consumers to drive enterprise mobility; Enterprise workers will continue to adopt new mobile tools that enable them to integrate their jobs and personal lives, despite corporate efforts to slow or block that trend.
November 16, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Enterprises hoping to maintain tight control over future adoption of mobile technologies should open their minds and embrace the notion that consumer devices will continue to filter their way into the workplace, whether...

Google offers API for Outlook migration to Gmail; Administrators get a new Google tool to play with -- and to help them migrate from their present e-mail system to Gmail.
November 16, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Google took a giant step on Friday to make it easier for companies to migrate any e-mail system over to Google Apps Gmail by offering an E-mail Migration API targeted at corporate developers and e-mail...

Personnel cited as critical to SOA governance; Vendors cite experiences during Web conference; HP official stresses the importance of having the right people on board to make SOA governance work.
November 16, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill While technology and the setting of policies often are cited as critical to SOA governance, an HP official Thursday emphasized another key factor: Having the right personnel. During a Web conference, officials from...

SECURITY ADVISER: Protect against external threats; Outside threats (eavesdropping, password guessing, misconfigurations, information slips) are real and many; follow these simple steps to reduce your risk.
November 16, 2007... Byline: Roger A. Grimes In a previous column, I revealed how the vast majority of computer security threats facing your environment live on the client side and require end-user involvement. Users have to be socially engineered to click an...

STORAGE INSIDER: Storage built for HPC speed; DataDirect Networks and SGI accelerate storage performance with complementary HPC offerings.
November 16, 2007... Byline: Mario Apicella When it comes to talking about performance, speed turns people's heads. Bring up racing cars in a room full of folks discussing sedans and pickup trucks, and you'll see what I mean. The same goes for computing,...

Thin vs. Fat: Google’s plan to kill Microsoft Office; Is the Redmond juggernaut running out of steam, just as Google revs up its suite of thin-client apps?
November 19, 2007... Byline: Randall C. Kennedy The long battle of “thin versus fat” has commenced. From all appearances, Google is angling to end Microsoft’s hegemony by disrupting fat client computing on the desktop. The target: none other...

Gartner predicts lower software licenses ahead; Pressure on traditional vendors from BPO and SaaS cited as major contributors to the anticipated decline in licensing starting in 2008.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Gartner Research, a key analyst company for the high-tech industry, took a look into its crystal ball and announced late last week that it sees wide changes in IT having a major impact on software licensing and the...

Microsoft ships Visual Studio 2008; Accompanying .Net Framework 3.5 also available for download to MSDN subscribers now with disk versions to be offered in the next few weeks.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft has released to manufacturing its Visual Studio 2008 software development platform and the accompanying .Net Framework 3.5, meaning these technologies are available for download on MSDN to subscribers today,...

Mainsoft links SharePoint, WebSphere portals; IBM will resell the technology, which allows enterprises to federate SharePoint data within WebSphere, enabling greater access to information.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Mainsoft is joining with IBM Monday to enable enterprises to link portals based on .Net with portals built on Java. Mainsoft's .Net Extensions for WebSphere Portal product suite combines new technology with software...

Sun advances file-sharing with Windows; Projects boosts interoperability between OpenSolaris and Microsoft platform.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill File-sharing between Windows and Sun's OpenSolaris Unix platform is being bolstered through two projects at Sun. The OpenSolaris project: CIFS Server features server software source code that implements the CIFS...

Blaze Advisor 6.5 springs forward, falls back; Verification and automated testing for business rules bring more reliability to rule services; if only the new tools were easier to use.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Steven NA*A[+ or -]ez In Blaze Adviser 6.5, Fair Isaac incorporates advanced rule management features such as rule verification and testing, customizable lifecycle management tools, and automated deployment of analytical models....

Dell wants to be more than a hardware vendor; With the acquisition of Everdream, has Dell tipped its hand to a new direction?
November 20, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz The news last week that Dell signed an agreement to acquire Everdream, a SaaS (Software as a Service) vendor for remote management of desktops, was further evidence of a once phenomenally successful high-tech...

NAC industry at a crossroads; Device authentication technology is failing to deliver on its promise, experts say.
November 20, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines According to Steve Hanna, a distinguished engineer at Juniper Networks and the de facto spokesman for the network access control (NAC) industry, the device authentication technology is failing to deliver on its promise....

Survey the green-tech landscape; Green computing is catching on in the business world, but some companies seek clearer incentives.
November 21, 2007... Byline: Ted Samson Organizational leaders have absorbed the buzz surrounding green tech. Yet the allure of environmental stewardship alone isn't inspiring the majority of companies adopting greener practices. Rather, those all-important...

Genuitec tailors MyEclipse toolset for WebSphere; Company presents users of the WebSphere app server an alternative to the more expensive IBM Rational tool.
November 21, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Genuitec is offering an alternative development toolset for IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.1 users with its MyEclipse developer tools. By deploying Genuitec's MyEclipse Blue Edition, users can build Web services...

RightNow November release includes unique widget; Knowledge base widget gives users wide access to product info with a single click.
November 21, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz RightNow Technologies, a SaaS (software as a service) vendor, launched RightNow November 07, the newest release of its enterprise CRM service, this week. Highlighting the release is what company executives call...

Python upgrades readied for 2008; Developers look to smooth transition between versions of the language as they work concurrently on two upgrades to the platform.
November 21, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Developers of the Python programming language are working concurrently on two upgrades to the core platform, both to arrive in 2008, representatives of Python said Wednesday. The first due out, Python 2.6, will serve...

ENTERPRISE INSIGHT: Giving thanks where thanks are due; An almost snark-free column in which I express gratitude to the people and companies who actually deserve it.(Column)
November 21, 2007... Byline: David L. Margulius It's that time of year again: time to count our blessings and appreciate how lucky we are to be where we are, doing what we do, with people we love. Don't worry, the serious part of this column is almost over...

Perfecting perfection: Mac OS X Leopard, part 1; Apple's new operating system challenges users and developers to explore new and better ways of working.
November 21, 2007... Byline: Tom Yager No one is unhappy with Mac OS X Version 10.4, known as Tiger. OS X is not an application platform (I bristle at using the term "operating system" for OS X; I explain why below) that needed repair, speeding up, or exterior...

SECURITY ADVISER: DNS hacked again; New vulnerabilities are still being found in some of the Internet's oldest functions.
November 23, 2007... Byline: Roger A. Grimes Amit Klein recently released details on DNS server cache poisoning attacks that affect both BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) and Windows DNS servers. It goes to show that every time you think a problem with a...

STORAGE INSIDER: In search of lost tapes; New tracking system from Fujifilm provides perfect complement to encryption, taps GPS to locate missing tapes.
November 23, 2007... Byline: Mario Apicella What should you do if the thought of losing a container full of tape cartridges keeps you awake at night? I have two suggestions: First, start encrypting your backups, at least those that you know will travel. No...

Must-have gadgets for the discerning geek; Sure, you're getting an iPhone. But real techies will want these cool toys, too.
November 23, 2007... Byline: Galen Gruman It's that time of year when even adults' thoughts turn to toys. For IT pros and technology lovers, that means gadgets and cool apps. Chances are that you've got an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch on your list, if not...

Data leakage prevention becomes a feature; Along with anti-spyware apps, spam filters, IDSes, and firewalls, DLP may go from stand-alone platform to become regular part of bigger packaged security suites.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Driven by market consolidation and the ongoing efforts of large IT security vendors to meld DLP (data leakage prevention) tools into their broader portfolios, some experts contend that the technologies will increasingly...

SaaS delivery model takes new turn; 19Marketplace opens a retail SaaS store offering such apps as WebEx's WebOffice, Microsoft's Hosted Exchange, and Blackberry Mobile E-mail.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz With the announcement tomorrow by 19Marketplace of Workplace2go, SaaS will add yet another unique facet to its business model. Unlike CRM services from Salesforce.com, RightNow, or Microsoft Dynamics,...

The best notebook you can buy; Apple's Santa Rosa MacBook Pro is a near-perfect blend of features and form, and unlike the previous model, it stands the tests of time and travel.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Tom Yager The Santa Rosa MacBook Pro, named for the Intel Core 2 Duo chip set used in the notebook, became available in June, but I wasn't prepared to issue a final judgment until now. I got stung by my last MacBook Pro review,...

Mac OS X Leopard: A perfect 10; Apple's new operating system and its massive new feature set challenge users and developers to explore new and better ways of working.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Tom Yager No one is unhappy with Mac OS X Version 10.4, known as Tiger. OS X is not an application platform (I bristle at using the term "operating system" for OS X; I explain why below) that needed repair, speeding up, or exterior...

Clean up your SOAP-based Web services; The Test Center inspects five worthy tools for keeping your services squeaky clean.
November 26, 2007... Byline: Rick Grehan SOAP is the currency of the SOA marketplace – for now, anyway. Though SOAP's significance may diminish as Web services evolve, its importance for the time being is unquestionable. Therefore, a substantial portion...

BEA touts event-driven architecture; Company officials detail product stack but are mum on Oracle.
November 27, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill BEA Systems officials Tuesday were eager to talk about event-driven architecture and SOA rather than discuss efforts by Oracle to acquire their company. An Oracle offer to acquire BEA expired in late-October and no...

Tibco touts performance in Rendezvous upgrade; Messaging software features lower latency for increased performance in financial services and SOA environments.
November 27, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Tibco Software is focusing on latency and performance in an upgrade to its Tibco Rendezvous messaging software. Available Tuesday, Rendezvous 8 lowers latency down to small milliseconds in the publishing of messages....

Software production management could boost productivity; Software production management tools are seen as a good way for developers to maintain quality and efficiency as applications get more complex.
November 27, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill Organizations could save as much as $2 million and increase productivity by as much as 15 times through use of "software production management," tools, according to an industry analyst who has just published a report on...

Client-side vulnerabilities loom large; The SANS Institute's annual report on the top 20 Internet security risks finds that attackers have found a target-rich environment in both apps and OSes.
November 28, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Critical vulnerabilities in common PC software, including both applications and operating systems, continue to grow in number and stand as the leading cause for concern in the IT security landscape today, according to...

Cost of data breaches keeps rising; Data breaches are costing organizations an average of $197 per lost or stolen customer record, an annual study finds.(Survey)
November 28, 2007... Byline: Matt Hines Organizations that experience data breaches are paying more than ever to recover from the incidents and retain customers once the events become public knowledge, according to a new research report. In its third...

Enterprise Web 2.0 apps highlighted by WaveMaker; Visual environment, framework are offered in WaveMaker's newest apps, which aim to help developers bring Facebook-style apps to enterprises.
November 28, 2007... Byline: Paul Krill WaveMaker Software, formerly ActiveGrid, is unveiling Wednesday its WaveMaker Visual Assembly Studio tool and Rapid Deployment Framework for building what the company calls Enterprise Web 2.0 applications. With this...