Computerworld articles from January 2002

Computerworld archives from January 2002

Lead With Inspiration.(Opinions)(Column)
January 1, 2002... Leadership is one of those words that carry a lot of weight but can have surprisingly little substance. Many CEOs get called leaders when they are anything but. Many teams have designated leaders who merely manage. True leadership is like great...

The Power of Technology.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... The article "Trading Giant Enron Stumbles" \(Page One, Dec. 3\) could have been subtitled "It's the Management, Stupid." The quote "They really believed in the power of technology" is ironic. The profession still hasn't learned the obvious:...

Tired of Waiting.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... Regarding Fleet's plans \("FleetBoston to Web-Enable ATMs, Revamp Technology," News, Dec. 17)(, do I really want to stand in line behind someone at an ATM as they print their statement and do online banking, when all I want is $100 cash? ...

Irony Alive and Well.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... From the News Briefs of the Dec 17 issue of Computerworld, excerpts from two adjacent articles: "Sources said President Bush is expected to appoint Howard Schmidt, currently Microsoft's chief security officer, to be vice chairman of the...

Cable Companies' Limits on VPNs Get Slammed.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... At the software company where I work, telecommuters rely on VPN technology to check e-mail, download source code and remotely control test machines over a secure connection. When evaluating options for remote access, a VPN was the clear choice...

Cable Companies' Limits on VPNs Get Slammed, 2.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... I use VPN now and it's great! I get more work done in an hour at home than I do all day at work. In a two-hour session, maybe 20MB of data flows, which is nothing. An MP3 album is about 50MB, and movies are more than 100MB. I don't know what...

Cable Companies' Limits on VPNs Get Slammed, 3.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... It's a good thing that I don't get my telephone service through the cable company. Would it charge extra for me to call in to work? If cable companies want to protect their bandwidth resources, they can limit the amount of data that flows to a...

Users: Tax Breaks Can't Jump-Start IT Buying.
January 1, 2002... WASHINGTON Congress may try again in 2002 to pass an economic stimulus bill with tax incentives to encourage companies to buy IT equipment. But the measure, which lawmakers failed to adopt before recessing in December, is far from a...

CIA-Backed Analysis Tool Eyed for Passenger Checks.
January 1, 2002... Data analysis software backed by the CIA and used by some casinos to catch gambling cheats is now being tested for its potential to detect suspected terrorists and their associates when they make airline, hotel or rental-car reservations. ...

MetLife Building Giant Customer Relational DB.
January 1, 2002... MetLife Inc. is building what will arguably become one of the largest real-time relational databases in the financial services industry by using middleware that will tie together silos of customer information through emerging XML standards....

Financial Firms Say Decentralized Systems More Secure.
January 1, 2002... Washington Decentralized systems, such as those used by electronic communications networks (ECN) to trade securities, are a good model for protecting computer systems from catastrophes such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, financial...

Users Say Lack of IT Integration Hurts B2B.
January 1, 2002... NEW YORK Information technology and e-business managers who attended a conference here in December targeted the lack of a well-integrated technology infrastructure as the chief culprit responsible for many business-to-business projects'...

Large-Scale Attack Targeting XP Possible.
January 1, 2002... Critical security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP desktop operating system that were made public in late December pose a lesser threat to corporate users than to consumers, a company spokesman said. Microsoft issued a...

At Deadline.
January 1, 2002... UCITA Backers Offer To Water Down Law The drafters of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) did an about-face on some of the proposed software licensing law's key provisions. The Chicago-based National Conference of...

Users: AT&T Comcast Should Change Policies.
January 1, 2002... Unless AT&T Broadband and Comcast Corp. change their policies toward business broadband users, the merger of the two companies will result in the creation of an even larger entity characterized by a hostile approach to remote workers and small...

Will Microsoft Save the Day?(investment in ATand T Comcast)
January 1, 2002... If the merger of AT&T Broadband and Comcast goes through, Microsoft Corp. would convert $5 billion worth of AT&T Broadband stock into common stock in the new company, AT&T Comcast. Microsoft considers its investment "an opportunity to bring...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2002... Correction In the article "Sept. 11 Attacks Prompt Decentralization Moves," \(News, Dec. 17\), we incorrectly reported that Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield is building a new headquarters in midtown Manhattan. The headquarters is actually...

Tapping Into Real Options.
January 7, 2002... Even before the jolt of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. economy was on shaky ground. An impending recession and rigorous budgeting led many IT managers to seek focused IT projects offering quick returns on investment. Was that a...

Potential Applications For Real Options.
January 7, 2002... Energy exploration. Decision-makers must consider whether to continue exploration or begin development, size production facilities before productivity of a field is known and figure out the value of leases. Utilities. Deregulation and the...

The Accidental Real Optionist.
January 7, 2002... One of industry's leading real options practitioners came upon the methodology accidentally. "We thought we were practicing supply chain management," says Corey Billington, vice president for supply chain services at Hewlett-Packard Co....

Recession? What Recession?
January 7, 2002... Despite the talk about recession, terrorism and the collapse of more dot-coms, author Grady Means is decidedly optimistic. Far from being squelched, the Internet revolution is still alive and strong and making a difference in companies' supply...

Making the Best of a Bad Job Market.
January 7, 2002... Hiring consultants, analysts and IT managers offer the following tips on managing your career during the recession: Stay Put First, and most obvious, it's best not to leave your present job for the time being, unless you're forced to....

Great work,.
January 7, 2002... After chugging along through the late 1990s, the job market came to a screeching halt last year, throwing many people off. For at least the first half of 2002, those bruised and battered workers will have a hard time climbing back on board the...

Perl.
January 7, 2002... Like many Linux and Macintosh fans, devotees of Perl love their technology and defend the language passionately. Case in point: One major Perl user group doesn't refer to its members as "users" or even "advocates." Instead, it calls them...

The Instant Messaging Debate.
January 7, 2002... Instant messaging (IM) conjures up images of bored teenagers using a software-based gossiping tool. Most IM programs are free, and few competing products can talk to one another, making skeptics wonder how useful IM is in the enterprise. ...

Tech - News.(Editorial)
January 7, 2002... Mixed Messages Technology users are divided over the role of instant messaging in the workplace. Some see it as a quick communication tool, but others say it's only a distraction. Page 40 QuickStudy Perl is an open-source...

The Pundit Speaks.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... The book of Deuteronomy (loosely translated as "the second law") says that if a prophet makes predictions that don't come to pass, he is a false prophet and shall die. So let me make this abundantly clear: I am not a prophet; I am a pundit. We...

Anticiparallelism.(Future Watch)
January 7, 2002... Microsoft Corp. researcher Eric Horvitz says he's trying to figure out "what a computer should worry about when its thumbs are twiddling." Computers spend a huge amount of time twiddling their digital digits, wasting computational resources, he...

Business Briefs.
January 7, 2002... Domain Registrations Slow The Internet bubble-burst has reversed the once-booming domain registration market, with more .com, .net and .org domain names being deleted than added, according to an analysis of registrations in October and...

CEO: Help Your Customers Figure Out What They Need.(Anthony W. Ulwick, CEO at consulting firm Strategyn Inc)
January 7, 2002... If your IT shop is "customer-driven," you may have to haul it in for a tuneup. That's the message from Anthony W. Ulwick, CEO at Lantana, Fla.-based software and consulting firm Strategyn Inc., in this month's Harvard Business Review, where he...

Waiting for Convergence.
January 7, 2002... Some of the companies that are holding back on adopting IM are waiting for the technology to converge with other methods of electronic communication. The head of business disaster recovery at a large West Coast insurance company, who spoke on...

Dynamic Web Pages Prepared for Takeoff.(Emerging Companies)
January 7, 2002... You won't find any mention of FineGround Networks Inc. or caching technology sandwiched between the articles about Cameron Diaz or Madrid in Sky, Delta Air Lines Inc.'s in-flight magazine. But without FineGround's ability to speed up the...

Fast Caching in The Slow Lane.(Emerging Companies)(Directory)
January 7, 2002... The current economic slowdown both helps and hurts companies like FineGround, says Greg Howard, an analyst at The HTRC Group. "There's hardly any new spending for added infrastructure, \(but\) you have to manage increasing capacity demands with...

FineGround Networks Inc.(Emerging Companies)(Company Profile)
January 7, 2002... 42 West Campbell Ave. Suite 201 Campbell, Calif. 95008 (408) 376-0570 Web: www.fineground.com Niche: Web content-acceleration server software optimizes SSL traffic and dynamic Web page content. Company officers: Nat Kausik,...

Santa's Little Hinderers.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... Well, I tried. I really did. I was willing to invest the time, twiddle my thumbs while pages loaded, fill my cart and pony up the dough. Problem is, too many online retailers still aren't willing to spend the time, and lack the common sense,...

Be More Positive.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 7, 2002... "The IT Budget Squeeze" \(Business ROI, Dec. 10\) states that technology budgets at 68% of companies you surveyed are expected to shrink or stay flat. But in the accompanying chart, the percentage of those that plan to increase spending is...

As 2002 Dawns, Job Market Has Some Bright Signs.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... So you think the most influential stories on the current IT employment market are layoffs, spending cuts, hiring slowdowns, canceled projects and anal-retentive CFOs? Don't get me wrong - things are definitely tough. But it seems we're...

It's a Love-Hate Thing.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 7, 2002... The article "Microsoft to Wind Down Support for Windows NT 4.0" \(News, Dec. 17\) sounds like another advertisement for Microsoft or, at the very least, marketing spin. Most of the networks I know about are still using NT 4. They have some...

News - Letters.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 7, 2002... As a regular reader, I put up with the anti-Microsoft bias of your publication because of your above-average, broad coverage of the technology world. Dan Gillmor's "Has the Door Widened for Linux?" piece in the Dec. 17 issue, however, is...

War Games IT Vendors Play.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... Vendors of solid-state flash memory tend to market it as being so rugged that it's used on battlefields. But the reality is more prosaic and nicely illustrates how best-of-breed IT systems don't automatically make sense, even when they can...

Executive Track.
January 7, 2002... Seattle-based Safeco Corp. has named Yom Senegor as its CIO. In this role, Senegor will develop and implement IT efforts that improve process operations and customer accessibility. He will report to Mike McGavick, president and CEO. Senegor...

Dear Career Adviser:.(Career Adviser)(Questions and Answers)(Column)
January 7, 2002... I was recently laid off as a business analyst in a client/ server environment and am wondering about the viability of returning to school to finish my four-year degree, which would be quite expensive. When I first started going to college,...

ThisWeek'sLinks.(Directory)
January 7, 2002... Securing Windows NT/2000 Servers for the Internet by Stefan Norberg and Deborah Russell (O'Reilly & Associates Inc., 2000): O'Reilly continues to produce excellent reference material, and this book is another example. If you are responsible for...

Vulnerability Draws Yawn From Operations.
January 7, 2002... You've just completed an extensive vulnerability assessment and have compiled the results. You give the report to the appropriate manager, who decides not to implement some of the corrective actions associated with a discovered threat. You want...

is the worst yet to come?
January 7, 2002... Jerry Leslie got his pink slip in August. And after being downsized from a start-up technology integrator five months ago, this unemployed systems administrator says new job opportunities aren't just slim, they're razor thin. "This is the...

The 'Right' Spending.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... In 1986, General Motors' top management became alarmed about escalating IT costs. To benchmark IT spending against Ford, GM hired me as a consultant to deliver an IT-to-revenue ratio comparable to Ford's, whose IT budget was reportedly smaller...

Computer Industry Briefs.(Editorial)
January 7, 2002... Lucent Sells Control Of Venture Group Lucent Technologies Inc. said it has sold off majority ownership of its new-technology venture development unit to Coller Capital Ltd., a London-based firm that buys investment portfolios from...

Oracle Moves to Lay Off Staff After Tough Quarter.
January 7, 2002... Just three weeks after reporting the financial results for what CEO Larry Ellison called "our toughest quarter in a decade," Oracle Corp. disclosed plans to trim as many as 850 employees from its 42,000-person workforce. Without...

HP Defends Compaq Deal As Proxy Fight Intensifies.
January 7, 2002... Hewlett-Packard Co. again was forced to defend its plan to acquire Compaq Computer Corp. after dissident HP board member Walter Hewlett filed a proxy statement asking the company's shareholders to vote against the proposed deal. In a...

Boeing Gets FCC License for Internet Service on Planes.
January 7, 2002... The Boeing Co. has been granted a license by the Federal Communications Commission to launch its new airborne Internet service. However, the project still faces delays because of recent decisions to pull out by the three U.S. airlines that were...

News briefs.(Editorial)
January 7, 2002... Judge to Consider Bid For Microsoft Delay The judge presiding over the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case scheduled a hearing for today on a request by the company to delay behavioral remedy proceedings. The nine states that have refused to...

Retail Exchange Taps IBM, WebMethods for Integration.
January 7, 2002... The WorldWide Retail Exchange LLC (WWRE) announced late last month that IBM and webMethods Inc. will provide integration technology that its 59 members may need in order to participate in its electronic marketplace. Although analysts said...

Pentagon Integrates Procurement Data.
January 7, 2002... The WWRE isn't the only big organization that's turning to webMethods for business-to-business integration help. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) last week said it will use the software vendor's tools to blend product catalogs from online...

Nation's Critical Infrastructure Seen at Risk.
January 7, 2002... This week, as the four-month anniversary of the most devastating surprise attack on America since Pearl Harbor approaches, national security experts are beginning to piece together a puzzle that nobody wants to see completed. Had the...

Caterpillar Digs Into Agile Development.(Caterpillar Financial's application suite, ExpressTrack)
January 7, 2002... To speed the development of a critical Web-based financial system for its dealers all over the world, Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. made Agile programming methods part of the project. Launched at year's end, Caterpillar Financial's...

AIM Vulnerability Highlights Risk of Rushing Features.(America Online Inc.'s AOL Instant Messenger)
January 7, 2002... The buffer overflow vulnerability discovered last week in the latest version of America Online Inc.'s popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) chat software shows how the rush to add new functionality to products continues to compromise security,...

At Deadline.(Editorial)
January 7, 2002... Dow Signs EDS to Expand IP Network Plano, Texas-based Electronic Data Systems Corp. announced a six-year contract to expand an integrated voice, video and data network it's building for The Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich. The deal...

Start-up Advances Public Access Wireless LAN Prospects.(Boingo Wireless)
January 7, 2002... In the past year, Sky Dayton, founder of EarthLink Inc., has been looking for what he calls "the next frontier of the Internet." Now he thinks he has found it in the development of what he says will be the first company to offer easy access and...

Cylink Chief Backs GovNet Proposal.
January 7, 2002... When Richard Clarke, the newly appointed chairman of President Bush's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, first proposed creating a separate intranet for critical government services and e-commerce, many in the IT industry called the plan...

Critical Infrastructure Systems Face Threat of Cyberattacks.
January 7, 2002... As the four-month anniversary of the most devastating surprise attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor approaches, national security experts are beginning to piece together a puzzle that nobody wants to see completed. Had the terrorists...

Home Depot Seeks Remote Control of the Desktop.
January 7, 2002... The Home Depot Inc. has scheduled a major spring improvement project in which it plans to install a remote desktop management system for use by help desk workers at its corporate headquarters. The Atlanta-based retailer is looking to gain...

Coming Retractions.(Opinions)(Correction Notice)
January 7, 2002... Department of Corrections: A few weeks back, I wrote about how virus problems at the U.S. District Court's offices in Miami forced court personnel back into a technological Stone Age of paper, paper and more paper. I wrote that column two weeks...

Shark Tank: Well, THAT'S broken.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... Maintenance worker has his arms full of packages for IT department, so he kicks open the door to IT pilot fish's office. The door slams into a rack, and the DSL router smashes to the floor and begins to bellow smoke. "Well, that's broken," fish...

Security Challenges Take Toll.
January 7, 2002... The increased use of videoconferencing and Internet collaboration technologies, the rush toward Web services, and an emerging class of malicious code that blends virus and wormlike capabilities represent some of the biggest security challenges...

Surveys: IT Jobs Found via Networking, not Internet.(Brief Article)
January 7, 2002... As the economic slump spills into 2002, out-of-work IT professionals may have a difficult time finding work if they limit their searches to job Web sites. According to Drake Beam Morin, a New York-based outplacement consulting firm, only...

Security Challenges Take Toll.
January 7, 2002... Differences of opinion continue to swirl over a potentially problematic Universal Plug and Play service in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system. The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center last week revised a recent...

UCITA Changes Fail to Appease.(Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act)
January 7, 2002... Washington The drafters of the controversial UCITA software licensing law have done an about-face on some of its key provisions, including recommending a ban on remote system shut-offs by software vendors. But the changes don't appear to...

IT Hit Hard in Euro Currency Shift.
January 7, 2002... European Union banks said they were pleased with the 12-nation conversion to the new euro currency last week. But experts suggested that the real test remains ahead for accounting applications, databases, spreadsheets and other business...

Training Would Fill Empty Jobs.(Opinions)(Letter to the Editor)
January 7, 2002... Phillip Bond, the U.S. Commerce Department's undersecretary for technology, is out of touch with reality \("Government: Demand Exceeds Supply of Skilled IT Workers," Computerworld.com, Dec. 21\). I have known numerous people who have applied...

Security Assessments Trump Audits.(Opinions)(Column)
January 7, 2002... Vince Tuesday is correct to question the value of an annual security audit as a measure of improvement in overall security \("Annual Audits Target Security but Miss Mark," Security Manager's Journal, Dec. 10\). Such an audit checks current...

What Lies Beneath.
January 14, 2002... The devil is in the details. That's become a mantra for Mike Smith, director of e-business at Clariant International Ltd., a Muttenz, Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company. Smith acknowledges that his team got temporarily caught up...

ROI: It's About People, Not Numbers.
January 14, 2002... Since Tellabs Inc. put in new procedures for measuring return on IT investment a year ago, "it's all been perfect," says CIO Cathie Kozik. Then she laughs. The Naperville, Ill.-based communications equipment maker, like most companies...

Some Sanity Returns to IT Hiring.
January 14, 2002... Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources manager asked a young engineer who was fresh out of MIT, "What starting salary were you thinking about?" The engineer said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the...

Job Watch.
January 14, 2002... Hiring outlook: Despite a new interest in forensics work since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, forensics placements are still slow, according to Tracy Lenzner, founder and president of LenznerGroup, a security job recruitment firm in Las...

Forensic Detectives.
January 14, 2002... Something looked fishy in PayPal Inc.'s merchant account system. Late in 2000, hundreds of new accounts were being opened under the same names, including Hudsen and Stivonson. PayPal's antifraud team was dispatched. Investigators tied the...

Forensics Clues.(Paypal reduces fraud)
January 14, 2002... Observing cybercrooks in its midst last summer helped PayPal develop a pattern-analysis fraud prevention tool that has greatly reduced its fraud rates. In late October, PayPal's chief technology officer, Max Levchin, who is originally from...

Training: Spending to Rise for Business, Security Skills.
January 14, 2002... Smart managers aren't using tighter budgets as an excuse to put IT training on the back burner for 2002. Indeed, spending on corporate IT and business training in the U.S. is expected to increase by 6.5% next year, growing from $22.3 billion...

Jobs for Life.(a few companies have no-layoff policy)
January 14, 2002... The Lincoln Electric Co. calls it "guaranteed employment for life." After working three years at the $1 billion Cleveland-based manufacturer, employees are guaranteed a lifelong job at the company. Memphis-based FedEx Corp. has what it...

Working Alternatives To Job Cuts.(Company Operations)
January 14, 2002... Since salaries make up the lion's share of corporate costs, cutting jobs is one of the fastest and most readily accessible ways to significantly reduce expenses. Layoffs, then, make great fiscal sense in the current down economy. Right? ...

Fast Double-Talking.(Opinions)(Windows XP fast user switching)(Column)
January 14, 2002... Many thanks to a reader named Kevin, who identified some eye-opening limitations in the new Windows XP feature called fast user switching. Fast user switching is Microsoft's version of multiuser computing. The feature, introduced in Windows XP,...

Hard Swap for A Hard Drive.(three upgrade kits fail to wor kwell)(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
January 14, 2002... Running out of disk space is a bummer, especially on a laptop, where you can't just add in a second drive. I always seem to be on the edge of filling up the 6GB disk on my 2-year-old Dell Latitude as I test-drive new software. The only good...

Dear Career Adviser:.(Career Adviser)(Questions and Answers)(Column)
January 14, 2002... In your response to "Lost in Arizona" \(Business, Dec. 3\), you mentioned that becoming an independent consultant requires significant tax reporting. What do I need to do to go out on my own? - Contract Consultant Dear Contract: In...

It's All Critical in a Department of One.
January 14, 2002... With all the focus on IT as a strategic priority and on visionary IT leadership, it's sometimes easy to forget the little guys who like to roll up their sleeves and dig into a networking conundrum and who keep their companies humming along...

Looking Beyond 'Needs'.(Opinions)(Column)
January 14, 2002... If you look at a large IT procurement deal comprehensively and objectively, its most crucial factors go far beyond a specific set of a given department's needs. Yet vendors' sales representatives are highly trained to identify these needs and...