Computerworld articles from July 2002

Computerworld archives from July 2002

Customers staying with WorldCom: amid bad news, they resist analyst advice to flee but keep contingency plans handy. (Financial Failings).
July 1, 2002... WorldGom Inc.'s revelation of financial improprieties last week pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy and forced customers to decide what to do about their mission-critical data services. In a statement June 24, WorldCom acknowledged that...

Sap apparel app gets new push: users find once buggy tools are more stable.
July 1, 2002... SAP AG has resumed aggressively marketing its specialized applications for apparel and footwear makers after a multiyear effort to stabilize and upgrade the software, which initially was a major sore spot for SAP and its users. Several...

Thinking outside the box. (News Special Report: HP-IBM-Sun).
July 1, 2002... HP, IBM and Sun are taking different routes to the same destination - a place where hardware is no longer the only measure of their technological prowess or the generator of financial strength. THEY ARE the leaders in supplying the hardware...

KPMG hires staffers from Andersen. (At Deadline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... KPMG Consulting Inc. has decided to hire en masse the staff of Chicago-based Andersen's business and IT consulting unit instead of acquiring the unit itself, apparently in order to shield itself from legal liabilities. The agreement, which is...

Xerox acknowledges income irregularities. (At Deadline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Xerox Corp. said last week that it will have to restate its earnings for 1997 to 2001 due to accounting irregularities. The move will reduce the company's pretax income for that period by $1.4 billion. As a result of the restatement, 1997 to...

ICANN approves blueprint for reform. (At Deadline).(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted unanimously on Friday to approve a proposed blueprint for reforming and reorganizing the nonprofit group, which oversees basic technical matters...

Microsoft Corp. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... MICROSOFT CORP. announced that TARGET CORP. and ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL will use its Windows XP Embedded operating system in their retail point-of-sale devices.

China's software industry. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... In China, meanwhile, Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding to invest $750 million in China's software industry over the next three years.

Oracle to clarify pricing policies: vendor offers explanations, but users would prefer changes to irksome licensing plans. (News).
July 1, 2002... ORACLE CORP.'S top software licensing executive last week said the company plans to release a pricing guide this summer in an attempt to clear up confusion among users about its licensing policies. "We are in the process of creating a...

Lotus looks to deep-six spam with Domino upgrade: but users could take performance hit. (News).(Domino 6.0)
July 1, 2002... IBM's Lotus Software Group unit last week said that the next version of its Notes! Domino e-mail and collaboration software will include server-side tools designed to stop spam messages before they hit end-user mailboxes. Ed Brill, an IBM...

CPFR clamor persists, but adoption remains slow: tests show supply chain benefits, hurdles. (News).(collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment)
July 1, 2002... THE FACT THAT one retail executive felt compelled last week to issue a public challenge for his industry peers to push collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) at their companies was a telling statement about its slow...

Microsoft announces new vulnerabilities. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Microsoft Corp. urged users of its Commerce Server software to install a new patch designed to fix four security flaws that could allow attackers to run malicious code on unprotected systems. All of the vulnerabilities affect Commerce Server...

Wyly begins new attack on CA board. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Investor Sam Wyly began a second bid to oust the top executives at Computer Associates International Inc. from the company's board, after failing to do so last year. Ranger Governance Ltd., Wyly's Dallas-based firm, proposed a slate of five...

Deutsche Bank trims IT outsourcing list. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Deutsche Bank AG said it has narrowed the list of candidates for a big IT outsourcing contract to IBM and Computer Science Corp.'s German subsidiary. The Frankfurt-based bank said it expects to pick one of the two companies by the end of...

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Paris-based consulting firm CAP GEMINI ERNST & YOUNG said it's laying off 2,500 workers now and may cut another 3,000 employees by year's end.

Digex Inc. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... DIGEX INC., a Laurel, Md.-based Web hosting firm that's majority-owned by WORLD-COM INC., announced a 70/c workforce cutback just one week after naming a new CEO.

IBM iSCSI strategy moves to technology partnerships: company sours on building iSCSI boxes after tepid sales of 200i RAID arrays. (News).
July 1, 2002... AFTER DISMAL sales of its first such product, IBM said last week that it's no longer pursuing a strategy of independently developing native disk arrays using SCSI over IP, or iSCSI. Instead, IBM will pursue partnership agreements that will...

Storage start-up pushes big, but expensive, NAS box: system supports up to 200TB of data. (News).(Zambeel Aztera system)
July 1, 2002... A storage technology start-up has found a potential, though expensive, answer to the problem of users buying file server after file server in order to keep up with an explosion of data: It built a really, really big file server. Fremont,...

Dell expands into enterprise networking: move could lower prices, analysts say. (News).
July 1, 2002... Following its entrance last September into the small and midsize business networking market, Dell Computer Corp. last week announced its expansion into enterprise networking. The move mirrors the vendor's migration from PCs into servers in...

Microsoft seeks addition of security technology to PCs: Palladium to protect Windows systems. (News).
July 1, 2002... Microsoft Corp. last week disclosed that it's talking with semiconductor vendors about a plan to add a new security chip and related software to future PCs, although it added that a firm plan for doing so hasn't been finalized yet. The...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2002... Our Page 1 story on Microsoft's licensing in last week's issue should have stated that under the Software Assurance plan, users pay an annual fee of 25% of the license cost for server software and 29& for desktop software during the contract...

Vendors propose Web services specification. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... A group of four vendors has proposed an XML-based specification for defining how Web services should interoperate in applications. SAP AG, Sun Microsystems Inc., San Jose-based SEA Systems Inc. and San Mateo, Calif.-based Intalio Inc. said the...

Microsoft sets plan for office upgrade. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Microsoft Corp. said it plans to launch a version of Windows XP for tablet PCs in November. In addition, it said the next version of Office is due to be released in May. New features planned for the upgrade, code-named Office 11, include a...

Air Force awards storage rollout deal. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin Corp.'s systems integration unit in Bethesda, Md., a contract to install storage networking technology and network-attached storage devices at 12 bases in the U.S. The deal includes Hewlett-Packard...

Afara Websystems Inc. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SUN said it agreed to buy AFARA WEBSYSTEMS INC., a San Josebased start-up that's developing processors based on Sun's SPARC architecture...

IBM. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... IBM announced a 10-year IT outsourcing and e-business software development deal valued at $400 million with Helsinki-based airline FINNAIR OYJ.

SAP plans upgrade of apps for retailers: will enhance inventory planning, forecasting. (News).
July 1, 2002... SAP AG last week announced an upgraded version of its business applications for retailers that's designed to boost demand-forecasting accuracy and give users more flexibility when they're planning what to stock in stores. At the Retail...

IT recentralization efforts paying off--with caveats: strategy produces cost savings, but it can create internal management problems. (News).
July 1, 2002... AS COMPANIES push to recentralize their IT operations in order to reduce costs and achieve better economies of scale on technology purchases, the $64,000 question is whether those efforts are paying off. The simple answer is yes, but not...

Hosting firms pushing remote management: IBM, Agiliti offer to monitor equipment at customers' sites. (News).
July 1, 2002... Some IT services firms are taking a new tack by offering to remotely manage systems that are located in corporate data centers, instead of requiring them to be hosted elsewhere. Managed services provider (MSP) Agiliti Inc. last week said it...

The real trial. (News Opinion).(Editorial)
July 1, 2002... LET'S NOT SPECULATE about what U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar Kotelly will decide later this summer about Microsoft's fate. That's an academic exercise about a ruling that's certain to be appealed. Instead, let's look at how the...

Tools for J2EE management come of age. (News Opinion).
July 1, 2002... USING JAVA to build applications in the enterprise is popular because it lets companies broaden the usefulness of their code by reusing it in new software. And now tried-and-true Java is widely seen as a solid bet for Web services work. ...

Who pays for homeland security? (New Opinion).(Editorial)(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2002... THE MORE I hear about homeland security initiatives, the more I wonder who's going to pay for it all. The government, one might naively assume. If only it were that simple. No, I'm betting that costs will quickly trickle down until they...

Readers' letters.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2002... Steganography Is Useful DEBORAH RADCLIFF'S article on steganography [QuickLink: 30129] was somewhat dismissive of the art and science of this technology, leading one to believe that there is little use for it. This is truly misleading;...

Open source's open door. (Technology).(Editorial)
July 1, 2002... AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, much of success has to do with being in the right place at the right time. A golden opportunity is about to emerge, thanks to consumer advocates and a horde of greedy lawyers, and open source will once again be in the right...

Out of sight, in touch. (Technology).(includes case study and related information)
July 1, 2002... TECHCHECK Security Comes First for Remote Workers Lots of users do significant amounts of work away from the office, either from their homes or on the road. Getting these users set up, supported and secured is a major challenge for IT....

Enterprises eye Mac OSX. (Technology).
July 1, 2002... The Mac OSX system's stability and user interface attract server administrators, but application availability still limits business desktop appeal. THE BAD NEWS FOR Macintosh supporters is that the IT jury is still out on how Mac OS X fits...

Decision-support systems. (Quick Study).(and related artivle)
July 1, 2002... DEFINITION Decision-support systems are interactive computer-based tools used since the 1960s by decision-makers to help answer questions, solve problems and support or refute conclusions. ASK A QUESTION: get an answer. Those are the...

A new kind of roadshow. (Hands on Reviews).(Plus Vision of America Corp.'s Plus Visioin V-807 projector and Margi Systems Presenter-to-Go)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2002... When you want to travel light and still show your PowerPoint presentation, the combination of a nifty PDA accessory and a 2-lb. projector makes a compelling package. JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, taking a PowerPoint presentation on the road...

Staff resignations put security ops in triage. (Security Manager's Journal).
July 1, 2002... The departure of two key staffers leaves Mathias scrambling to keep his security infrastructure online. TWO MEMBERS of my security team gave their two-weeks' notice this week. Each departed for different reasons. Our most technical...

Check Point embraces wireless. (Security Log).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. in Redwood City, Calif., has certified a handful of new wireless networking products as complying with its OPSEC (Open Platform for Security) standard. The company says it will allow those devices to be...

Goodbye, VPN. (Security Log).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Start-ups such as Neoteris Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., offer Secure Sockets Layer-based remote access hardware that's easier to manage than Ipsec-based systems, said analyst Galen Schreck in a recent report from Forrester Research Inc. in...

CISSP changes. (Security Log).(Certified Information Systems Security Proffesional)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Last month, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) club became a bit more exclusive. In addition to passing the CISSP exam, candidates must receive a written endorsement form a CISSP attesting to their experience and...

Misleading metric. (Management).(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2002... WE ROUTINELY read elaborate tabulations of average IT-spending-to-corporate-revenue percentages by industry. For instance, last year's benchmark for the banking industry; according to Meta Group, was 5.16%; from Gartner, 4.1%; and from...

Rules of engagement: how and when to use contractors to your strategic advantage. (Management).(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2002... BEFORE THE ECONOMY TANKED, when hot skills were at a premium, a Houston oil company's IT department brought in quite a few high-priced contractors to get some key projects done. Talent was hard to come by, and IT couldn't be too choosy. Some of...

Saving with SANs: calculating costs may be tricky, but experts say quick savings are all but guaranteed. (ROI).
July 1, 2002... BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD of Tennessee Inc. has spent between $3 million and $3.5 million over the past three years on a storage-area network (SAN) that includes 40TB of storage. That may seem like a hefty capital investment, especially in...

Good intentions: IT volunteers gain new skills and experience but rarely score a new job. (Management).
July 1, 2002... WHEN Catherine Bohill and her fiance, Jason Long, volunteered to work in Cuba for a year, they weren't shooting for typical IT work--and they didn't get it. What they got to do, including buying computers for Cuban orphanages and managing sonar...

Wanted; CTOs who can follow the money: knowing numbers is right up there with knowing networks. (Management).
July 1, 2002... HOW QUICKLY THE TIDE CHANGES. Just a few years ago, technology projects seemed to be getting all the attention, and chief financial officers were under pressure to increase their technical know-how. Now CFOs are leaning on technology chiefs to...

Summer reading: Tom Clancy novels they're not. But here are eight new titles to boost your IT and business knowledge. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2002... * Total Access: Giving Customers What They Want in an Anytime, Anywhere World, by Regis McKenna (Harvard Business School Press; 226 pages; $2750). This is a must-read for CIOs and CIO wannabes. McKenna, the Silicon Valley marketing guru who has...

Dear career adviser. (Management Careers).
July 1, 2002... "Dear Career Adviser: I am a programmer/systems administrator with a broad background and want to stay positioned for changes in technology and skills. I have been reading a lot about Linux and mainframes being used in combination. Is this...

Innovation drives borg warner IT. (Workstyles).
July 1, 2002... IT innovation is recognized as crucial to the continuing success of drivetrain manufacturer Borg Warner Inc., says Paul Barry, director of IT network systems at the Chicago-based company. The problem is finding enough "think time" to come up...

Don't shrug off bugs. (Frankly Speaking).(U.S. government's National Institute of Standards and Technology's study on the costs)
July 1, 2002... HOW MUCH DO BUGS COST US? This week we have an estimate. The U.S. government's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a study that says software errors cost U.S. users $59.5 billion each year (see story, Page One)....

This PC's trouble ticket says, "Get the bugs out," so support pilot fish pops the case off, powers it up and starts looking for incompatible hardware. (Shark Tank).
July 1, 2002... THIS PC'S trouble ticket says, "Get the bugs out," so support pilot fish pops the case off, powers it up and starts looking for incompatible hardware. "Then I noticed some movement inside the PC," says fish. 'The hard drive began to warm up,...

Spotting a long trail of ants leading to a PC--"coming in the far window. (Shark Tank).
July 1, 2002... SPOTTING a long trail of ants leading to a PC--"coming in the far window, wandering along the wall, onto a partition, down to the floor, up a table leg, across the table and into a desktop"--programmer pilot fish is about to use anti-ant goo...

User at a remote site reports a dead mouse to the help desk. (Shark Tank).
July 1, 2002... USER AT a remote site reports a dead mouse to the help desk. "I asked the standard questions: What happens when you move it? Is it connected to the computer?" says pilot fish, "The user got more and more agitated and eventually blurted out,...

Professor's computer won't start, so university IT pilot fish has him bring it in--and spots the problem right away. (Shark Tank).
July 1, 2002... PROFESSOR'S computer won't start, so university IT pilot fish has him bring it in--and spots the problem right away: "There were dead honeybees protruding from the power supply, and equally dead bees all over the bottom of the case and tucked...

Grocer's digital receipts pay off: project yields improved back-office integration. (Data Integration).(Smart & Final Stores)
July 8, 2002... Smart & Final Stores Corp.'s IT department last night went live with the final systems in a trailblazing one-year project to bring digital receipts to its small-business customers. But the Commerce, Calif.-based warehouse grocery chain's I...

UPS, Fedex pick Euro standard: package carriers snub U.S. wireless approach.
July 8, 2002... Ignoring the CDMA standard being pushed by U.S. vendors, two giant U.S. package carriers have adopted a European-developed approach for new global wireless services. United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp., wireless pioneers and two of...

Feds' lot is cast with WorldCom: move to new provider would incur huge costs.
July 8, 2002... The U.S. government may be the world's largest user of WorldCom Inc. services, paying the company $462 million a year for a vital telecommunications infrastructure to support the Department of Defense, the Justice Department and other key...

California disbands IT oversight agency. (At Deadline).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... The agency that had oversight responsibility for the California state government's IT spending was shut down, as expected [QuickLink: 29291]. Gov. Gray Davis ordered individual agencies to take back the duties that had been handled by the...

Linux vendor passes on UnitedLinux effort. (At Deadline).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... MandrakeSoft SA, a Paris-based Linux operating system vendor, announced that it won't join the UnitedLinux initiative launched in late May by four rivals [QuickLink: 30239]. MandrakeSoft said it wouldn't gain anything by joining UnitedLinux,...

Compuware says Q1 results to miss target. (At Deadline).(2002)(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... Compuware Corp. warned that financial results for its first quarter ended June 30 will be below expectations, the second straight quarter in which the Farmington Hills, Mich.-based company has fallen short of projections. Other software vendors...

Microsoft judge OKs settlement process. (At Deadline).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... The judge reviewing the proposed antitrust settlement between Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. Department of Justice said both sides complied with a federal statute that governs such deals. Critics had charged that Microsoft didn't disclose all its...

IBM to host Linux Virtual Servers' on its mainframes: partitioning technology built into zSeries isolates applications run by different users. (News).
July 8, 2002... IBM LAST WEEK announced a plan to create "virtual servers" for corporate users connected to mainframes running in its data centers, provided that the users are willing to run applications on a Linux operating system. The Linux Virtual...

Intel readines Itanium 2 chip for high end: new processor runs up to three times faster than original. (News).
July 8, 2002... Intel Corp. today plans to release the second version of its 64-bit Itanium processor, in another attempt to break into the market for high-end servers and workstations. Brian Cox, worldwide product line manager for Itanium products at...

Visual J# .Net tool expected to have limited impact: lacks support for key Java technologies. (News).
July 8, 2002... The Visual J# .Net tool that Microsoft Corp. launched last week isn't expected to have a huge impact on corporate IT departments using Java, analysts said. Visual J# (pronounced "J-sharp") will allow developers to write applications using...

Online aggregation failing to deliver ROI for banks: privacy a top customer concern, study finds. (News).(according to Forrester Research)
July 8, 2002... Most financial services firms with online aggregation services should cut their losses and shut them down, because customers' privacy concerns have resulted in slow adoption rates and, in turn, a lack of ROT, industry analysts say. ...

Experts predict major cyberattack coming: corporate icons could be targets; trillions of dollars worth of damage possible. (News).(and related article)(Industry Overview)
July 8, 2002... A TERRORIST-sponsored cyberattack against major U.S. networks and businesses is no longer a question of if, but when and to what extent, according to former senior intelligence and security officials. Although the laundry list of warnings...

Microsoft fixes bug in Windows patch. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... Microsoft Corp. warned that a software patch issued last month to fix a security flaw in the Remote Access Service dial-up feature in several versions of Windows includes a bug that could prevent end users from making virtual private network...

Network Associates tries again on buyout. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... Network Associates Inc. launched a third bid to buy full ownership of its McAfee.com Corp. subsidiary in Sunnyvale, Calif., after dropping the first two offers because of accounting issues at Network Associates. McAfee.com's board said it would...

CERT warns of DNS software flaws. (Briefs).
July 8, 2002... The CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh said a buffer-overflow flaw in software that translates text-based Web addresses to numeric IP addresses could let attackers control systems. The flaw affects two versions...

Hewlett-Packard Co. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. said it will close a computer assembly plant in Swedesboro, N.J., that has about 300 workers. HP bought the plant as part of its acquisition of COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP.

Technologies Inc. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 8, 2002... Dallas-based software vendor i2 TECHNOLOGIES INC. warned that it expects to report a second-quarter pretax loss of more than $85 million on revenue of about $120 million.

IT broadens approach to asset management: technology used to track plant floor devices and facilities as well as systems. (News).
July 8, 2002... A NEW enterprise-wide approach to asset management is emerging in which IT organizations will be asked to look beyond their hardware and software to track plant floor equipment, facilities, real estate and other properties. Although few...

Indus replaces CEO, plans cuts in new turnaround bid. (News).(Thomas Madison replaces Kent Hudson)
July 8, 2002... Facing a drop-off in its sales, asset management software vendor Indus International Inc. last week announced the resignations of its CEO and chief operating officer and said it plans to follow with layoffs and other cost-cutting moves. ...

Social security number usage law raises IT uniformity issues: Calif. legislation could prompt federal laws. (News).
July 8, 2002... A CALIFORNIA law that took effect last week limits the disclosure of Social Security numbers, forcing businesses to remove this ubiquitous identifier from forms sent to customers and from correspondence and ID cards. The law, which applies...

EDS abandons outsourcing talks with Procter & Gamble: deal 'didn't make financial sense'. (News).
July 8, 2002... Electronic Data Systems Corp. last week took itself out of the running for an IT and business process outsourcing deal with Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), leaving Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) as the only current contender. EDS said...

Carlson blends IP and Fibre Channel in data center SAN: travel company cites savings from hardware, plans global expansion. (News).
July 8, 2002... CARLSON Companies Inc., a $6.8 billion conglomerate that operates hotels, restaurants and travel agencies, this month is due to deploy what analysts said may be the largest storage-area network (SAN) that translates data between Fibre Channel...

IBM looks to accelerate mainframe data backups: Fibre Channel links to tie systems to virtual tape devices. (News).
July 8, 2002... IBM last week announced that its line of virtual tape storage devices will soon be able to connect disks used in data backup applications to mainframes via Fibre Channel links, potentially increasing data transfer rates by up to 75%. The...

Knowledge management users pick smaller vendors: Lotus, Microsoft suites off to slow starts. (News).(and related article)
July 8, 2002... Deployment of the collaborative knowledge management suites that Microsoft Corp. and IBM's Lotus unit began promoting two years ago has been relatively slow, analysts said. That's giving smaller vendors a chance to develop knowledge management...

Would Cup network stays on its feet during tournament: FIFA's converged net moved 12TB of data. (News).
July 8, 2002... While much of the world was watching soccer during the month of June, Gerard Gouillou was monitoring data; Gouillou, CIO at the Zurichbased Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which runs the World Cup soccer...

Independence Day. (News Opinion).(Editorial)(Industry Overview)
July 8, 2002... IT WASN'T THE BEST OF Independence Days. Crappy weather, crummy ethics, a creaking economy and fears of cowardly terrorists combined to cast a pall over our nation's annual celebration of freedom and democratic values. IT users have been...

Hardware/software split helps e-mail. (News Opinion).(Good Technology)
July 8, 2002... EVER SINCE Research In Motion's (RIM) Black-Berry e-mail pagers hit the enterprise, they've been badges--and handy tools--for executives who want continuous access to e-mail. They've also been ongoing IT headaches. RIM, the pioneer in the...

Scandals don't bode well for IT. (News Opinion).(Industry Overview)
July 8, 2002... HERE IN LONDON, the dominant reaction to the Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and now Xerox scandals and the subsequent decline in the dollar has been one of almost unrestrained gloating. I guess this is understandable enough. For nearly a decade, the...

Readers' letters.(Letter to the Editor)
July 8, 2002... Cobol Won't Bite STEVE RESNICK'S comment m the article "Warning: Go Slowly With Web Services" [Quick-Link: 30603J about legacy data, that information in legacy back-end systems "is still hard to get at with Web services," seems pretty...