Computerworld articles from March 2006

Computerworld archives from March 2006

IT execs race to shore up their systems: look to boost resiliency before the next hurricane season; staff shortages continue.(information technology workers in demand)
March 6, 2006... ALONG THE storm-ravaged Gulf Coast, six months after Hurricane Katrina struck, there's a big deadline ahead for IT managers: June 1, the start of the next hurricane season. As Mardi Gras was celebrated in a still-recovering New Orleans last...

Users buying into free 'express' databases: top vendors look to block gains by open-source rivals.
March 6, 2006... Missouri State University's school of information systems and Web start-up Savvica Inc. don't have a lot in common apart from tight budgets. In the recent past, their spending limitations likely would have meant choosing open-source software...

RIM pays $612.5M to settle NTP suit.(Research in Motion Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Research In Motion Ltd. late last week agreed to pay $612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle the long-running legal fight between the two companies. RIM said the settlement includes a perpetual, fully paid license for all NTP patents. The two...

Intel issues Q1 revenue warning.(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Intel Corp. has warned that its first-quarter revenue will be lower than expected. The company said sales for the three months ending March 31 will be between $8.7 billion and $9.1 million, compared with an earlier estimate of $9.1 million to...

ACS wins $200M IT outsourcing pact.(Affiliated Computer Services Inc. contract for outsourcing from MeadWestvaco Corp)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has been awarded a five-year, $200 million IT outsourcing contract from MeadWestvaco Corp., a supplier of packaging products in Stamford, Conn. The contract calls for ACS to centralize and consolidate...

Technology loses its drive in IT innovation processes: IT execs shift focus to collaborating with users, meeting business needs.(as told by Franz Fruehwald)
March 6, 2006... LISTENING TO end users describe how they do their jobs and then watching them at work has led to some eye-opening moments for Franz Fruehwald, CIO for the Catholic Human Services unit within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Instead of just...

Debate continues on breach notification: privacy experts, lawyers differ on whether more laws would help.(NEWS)
March 6, 2006... WHILE SECURITY breach notification laws are forcing businesses to take more responsibility for their data, the debate continues over when consumers should be notified of an incident. On one side are those calling for consumers to be...

Former FTC member says data protection is inadequate.(Federal Trade Commission's Orson Swindle interviewed)(Interview)
March 6, 2006... As a federal trade commissioner between 1997 and 2005, Orson Swindle was involved in the launch of the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not Call Registry and participated in policy deliberations about information security and privacy. ...

Gateway agrees to settle HP patent suit.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Gateway Inc. has agreed to pay Hewlett-Packard Co. $47 million to end a bitter two-year patent dispute between the two PC makers. As part of the settlement, the companies said they would sign a seven-year cross-licensing agreement. The...

Oracle unveils search engine.(Oracle Secure Enterprise Search )(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Oracle Corp. unveiled a stand-alone enterprise search offering at Oracle OpenWorld Tokyo 2006 last week. Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g targets corporations seeking to ensure that only authorized staffers can access sensitive business...

Cisco closes buy of Scientific-Atlanta.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(Scientific-Atlanta Inc.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Cisco Systems Inc. last week completed its $7 billion acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta Inc. Cisco said the addition of the Lawrenceville, Ga.-based firm's offerings bolsters its goal of providing a complete data, voice, video and mobility...

HP adds peregrine app to OpenView.(Hewlett-Packard Co. combined its software OpenView Service Desk software with Peregrine Systems Inc.'s AssetCenter software after its acquisition)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Hewlett-Packard has completed a project to integrate software it gained from its December acquisition of Peregrine Systems Inc. into its own line of asset management software. Peregrine's AssetCenter has been combined with HP's OpenView Service...

Do like letterman when CRM ...(Customer relationship management software)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... ... deployment is on your agenda. That is, make a top 10 list of required features and stop there. "People try to do too much with CRM," observes John Carini, CEO of iEnterprises Inc. in Murray Hill, N.J. "Do the top 10 things people do every...

Once they're mobile, it's nice to ...(Credant Technologies Inc.'s Credant Mobile Guardian Enterprise Edition 5.1)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... ... know that you can kill them. Not end users, of course. Just their devices. You can do that and more with an update to Credant Mobile Guardian Enterprise Edition, a mobile security tool sold by Credant Technologies Inc. in Addison, Texas....

Carrier-grade and real-time security ...(iPolicy Networks Inc.'s Arun Chandra's management)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... ... are being brought to the corporate enterprise. So promises Arun Chandra, CEO of iPolicy Networks Inc. in Fremont, Calif. He says iPolicy's line of appliances evaluates every single packet on your network in real time and applies firewall,...

Everyone knows that the trouble with ...(Colin Armitage and Adam Warshaw speak about the success in software development)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... ... software development is achieving business goals. Where people's opinions diverge is on how to ensure that you achieve your goals. Take, for example, Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software Ltd. in Basingstoke, England. Armitage says that...

Dassault agrees to purchase MatrixOne.(Dassault Systemes S.A.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... French firm Dassault Systemes SA has agreed to buy product life-cycle management software developer MatrixOne Inc. for $408 million in cash. The companies have not decided whether to create a single brand for their three product lines-Enovia,...

Federal IT worker pleads guilty to hack.(U.S. Department of Education's Kenneth Kwak prisoned for hacking)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... A former IT systems auditor at the U.S. Department of Education faces a five-year prison sentence on a computer hacking charge for secretly monitoring his supervisor's e-mail and computer use. Kenneth Kwak pleaded guilty to unauthorized access...

BEA buys BPM app maker for $87.5M.(BEA Systems Inc.)(Fuego Inc.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... BEA Systems Inc. last week said it has acquired Fuego Inc., a developer of business process management software, for $87.5 million. The Fuego portfolio of products will be folded into BEA's AquaLogic line and will be the foundation of BEA's...

PMC-Sierra buys agilent storage unit.(Agilent Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... PMC-Sierra Inc. last week completed its $425 million acquisition of the storage semiconductor business of Agilent Technologies Inc. The division makes components for Fibre Channel storage systems, including its Tachyon brand of Fibre Channel...

Satyam expands in China as costs rise.(Satyam Computer Services Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... SATYAM COMPUTER Services Ltd. last week announced plans to expand its Chinese software development operations in order to offset rising IT labor costs in India. Virender Aggarwal, director and senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific...

MySQL buys Web tools vendor, adds two execs.(Netfrastructure Inc.)(Jim Starkey )(Taneli Otala )(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... OPEN-SOURCE DATABASE developer MySQL AB announced that it has acquired Netfrastructure Inc., a small vendor of tools for building Web-based applications. The price MySQL paid for Manchester, Mass.-based Netfrastructure wasn't disclosed. ...

Ericsson sues Samsung over license dispute.(Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)(Samsung Electronics Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... LM ERICSSON Telephone Co. said it has filed lawsuits in four countries against Samsung Electronics Co. after the two vendors failed to reach a new agreement on royalty payments for Samsung's use of mobile technology covered by Ericsson patents....

India looks to attract more high-tech firms.(An International IT News Digest)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... INDIA'S GOVERNMENT plans to offer a set of financial incentives in an effort to lure more high-tech manufacturers to set up operations in the country. Indian Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram told the country's parliament last week that...

State agency begins IT integration project.(Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs contracts with International Business Machines Corp. and Informatica Corp.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... IN AN effort to streamline its IT operations, the Department of Education and Training in the Australian state of New South Wales has launched an effort to integrate a mix of mainframes and other systems. A spokesman for the NSW DET...

JBoss Inc.(acquired Object-one GmbH)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... JBoss Inc. has purchased Object-one GmbH, a Berlin-based systems integrator, in an effort to establish a stronger footing in one of Europe's fastest-growing markets for opensource software. Objectone is a JBoss partner that sells subscription...

Oracle Corp.(planning to build a facility in Pacfic Rim region)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Oracle Corp. said it plans to set up a business unit in the Asia-Pacific region that will focus on embedding the company's software in home appliances and other products. Developers assigned to the unit will work at existing design centers in...

Intel Corp.(plans to invest in building a new plant)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Intel Corp. plans to invest $300 million (U.S.) to build a chip assembly and testing plant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Construction will begin immediately on the plant, which will be the first factory of its kind built in Vietnam. It will...

Sony Corp, and NEC Corp.(acquisitions)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Sony Corp, and NEC Corp. have agreed to combine their optical disk drive businesses into a single company. Sony will own 55% of the new company, which will be called Sony NEC Optiarc Inc. and begin operations on April 3. * MARTYN WILLIAMS,...

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.(investing in building facilities in Tamil Nadu)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will spend $110 million to build several IT manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu state in southern India, according to Dayanidhi Maran, India's minister for communications and information technology. Taipei,...

Sun blames state department concerns for latest grid delay: says government security fears and restrictions force changes in plan.(Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Sun Grid certification being delayed)
March 6, 2006... SECURITY CONCERNS expressed by the U.S. Department of State have further delayed the rollout of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s computer grid, a Sun executive confirmed late last month. The company had planned to implement the Sun Grid initiative...

Disaster communications still lacking, panel says: hurdles remain six months after Hurricane Katrina.
March 6, 2006... Six months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the country is a bit better prepared for a major disaster--but numerous obstacles remain, a panel of communications experts said late last month. The complexity of modern communications...

Four health care workers lose jobs over data theft: Providence Home Services sets new security policies after breach.(NEWS)
March 6, 2006... PROVIDENCE HOME Services said that it fired one employee and that three others resigned in connection with the theft of backup computer tapes and disks from a parked car in Portland, Ore. The tapes and disks contained personal information...

Sonic updates Actional SOA manager: acquired tool to offer process visibility.(Sonic Software Corp. introduced Actional 6.0 and contracts with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Sonic Software Corp. last week brought out a new version of its Actional service-oriented architecture (SOA) management tool that it said will provide business users with more visibility into business processes. The Actional 6.0 software...

IBM, Novell to support identity manager tool: vendors take aim at Microsoft's planned InfoCard.(International Business Machines Corp.)
March 6, 2006... IBM and Novell Inc. last week said they plan to support an open-source project aimed at giving users more control over how information, such as pass-words and financial details, is shared across Web sites. The two companies, along with...

CTO says open-source Ingres database is ready for business.(Dave Dargo )(Interview)
March 6, 2006... Ingres Corp, was spun out of CA Inc. late last year to develop and sell the durable database technology that was released to the open-source community a year earlier. Dave Dargo, Ingres' chief technology officer, talked about the status of the...

As the timid turn.(Corel Corp. and Lenovo Group Ltd. partnership)
March 6, 2006... I HAVE little doubt that when a lot of people read the news on our Web site last week that the Canadian company Corel and the Chinese company Lenovo had inked a deal to ship Corel's WordPerfect office productivity suite on a new line of Lenovo...

Patents: where's the invention?(software patents)(Column)
March 6, 2006... HARDLY A week goes by without the controversial issue of software patenting hitting the news. Particularly controversial are the business-method software patent filings that are inundating the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent attorneys...

Do only white guys have bad bosses?(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2006... THE ARTICLE "Bad Boss: How to Survive the Monster Manager" [Jan. 23] was interesting, but it would have had more appeal if you had thought to have more diversity in the group of bad boss victims you highlighted. I'll go out on a limb here and...

The key is professionalism.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2006... IN HIS opinion article "Don't Outsource Program Management" [Jan. 16], Bart Perkins outlines important points to consider when undertaking large programs. Each point needs consideration when determining the best way to manage all opportunities....

Line manager is vital to project success.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2006... ONCE AGAIN, Computerworld has hit upon a significant aspect of project management ["Not So Fast: Rushing Projects Hurts ROI." Jan. 16]. Experience has taught me that the best way to ensure that project benefits are realized is to involve the...

Life in cube farms isn't for everyone.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2006... BOTH SIDES of the debate are missing the key point ["Private Office or Cubicle: The Debate Goes On," Jan. 9]. One size does not fit all. Some people need more privacy to work effectively, and others need more interaction. Personally, I think...

Better grade for smart switches: intelligent storage switches are maturing, but it may be another year or two before high-level intelligence is available at the heart of the SAN.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 6, 2006... FOR MANY YEARS, vendors have been promoting intelligent storage switches, particularly for virtualization projects. Initial implementations, however, relied mainly on appliances that created performance bottlenecks and were application-specific...

Border patrol: network-based monitoring systems detect and block outbound traffic containing sensitive data.(TECHNOLOGY)
March 6, 2006... IT'S NOT what's coming into the corporate network that concerns Gene Fredriksen. It's what's going out. For the chief security officer at securities brokerage Raymond James Financial Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla., leakage of sensitive customer...

Learn how to achieve storage networking success.
March 6, 2006... See and Hear: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JERRY BARTLETT Chief Information Officer, TD Ameritrade [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GREG BRANDEAU Vice President of Computer Operations, Pixar Animation...

Supercomputing turns toward productivity: clusters of commodity processors have come to dominate supercomputing, but some users are beginning to push back.(FUTURE WATCH)(Column)
March 6, 2006... To IT managers, high-stakes supercomputing may seem like the land-speed record: a freak show, amusing but hardly relevant, Oh, a car broke Mach 1? And a defense lab has a 280 TFLOPS computer? Cool. Now let's get back to work. However,...

Job interview raises plenty of questions: our manager thinks about changing jobs but finds that the applicant is sometimes the better-prepared party.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)(Column)
March 6, 2006... EVEN THOUGH I had promised myself I was going to settle down and be happy in my current job, I interviewed for a security manager position at a large medical center. It was closer to home and offered better pay, and the gung-ho recruiter made...

Movie review.(Firewall)(Movie review)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Firewall, starring Harrison Ford Indiana Jones as an infosec action hero? I had to see that. The question was, would I be rolling my eyes at every implausibility on the screen? Surprisingly, the technical security aspects were pretty accurate...

IPolicy centralizes firewall controls.(iPolicy Networks Inc.'s iPolicy Security Manager and Intrusion Prevention Firewalls 2.5)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... IPolicy Networks Inc. today announced the general availability of Version 2.5 of its iPolicy Security Manager and Intrusion Prevention Firewalls for enterprises and service providers. The product allows central management of up to 600 firewalls...

Virus is a mystery.(virus from computer to mobile device)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... A mystery is deepening around a virus that can pass from a PC to a mobile device. The Mobile Antivirus Researchers Association said last week that it anonymously received the code, named "Crossover." Antivirus vendors, however, said they...

Parasoft rolls out new testing tool.(Parasoft SOAtest 4.5)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... Parasoft Corp. has released Parasoft SOAtest 4.5, an automated Web services testing product. The application features enhanced service-oriented architecture governance controls for development, broader test management support and automated...

PeopleCube updates resource application.(introduces Resource Scheduler software)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... PeopleCube in Waltham, Mass., has unveiled the latest version of its Resource Scheduler software, which is available now as a hosted application or through a standard software licensing agreement. Resource Scheduler, a Web-based meeting-room...

LSI logic launches new line of HBAs.(host bus adapters )(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... LSI Logic Corp. in Milpitas, Calif., has introduced a family of serial-attached SCSI host bus adapters for internal and external storage. The new line includes one four-port controller and three new eight-port controllers, as well as...

A broadband primer for telecommuters.(digital subscriber line and cable internet access comparision)(Column)
March 6, 2006... ONE GENERALIZATION we can make about computing is that over time, most technology items become cheaper, while at the same time, they become faster. This is true of broadband in its most common forms. Both Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and...

Jump-start innovation: great ideas don't just happen. Here's how to light up your IT group.
March 6, 2006... ABOUT A year and a half ago, a group of IT directors at Partners HealthCare System Inc. took a look at their 1,200-strong organization and made a bold admission: They weren't as creative as they used to be. Despite pioneering technology efforts...

The sweet smell of success: skunk works can help you develop a promising project with less danger that the plug will be pulled prematurely.(MANAGEMENT)
March 6, 2006... IF NECESSITY is the mother of invention, then a skunk works is her creative big sister. And if you follow the logic of that family tree, necessity is also the mother of skunk works. James Dallas, former CIO at Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific...

Bringing homegrown IT to market: Procter & Gamble's initiative to sell some of its in-house IT is full of challenges, but the returns are more than monetary.(information technology)
March 6, 2006... WITH NEARLY 300 brand-name products sold around the world, The Procter & Gamble Co. is renowned for its innovation. Throughout its 169-year history, the consumer products giant has applied its technological know-how to everything from...

Talent management.(sponsored by The Conference Board Inc.)
March 6, 2006... March 21-22, New York Sponsor: The Conference Board Topics at Integrating Talent and Business Strategies include how to become a magnet for talent, rotational assignments, why great succession management systems fail, human capital metrics...

Content management.(EVENTS)(Brief article)
March 6, 2006... April 3-5, San Francisco Sponsor: The Center for Information Development Management Topics at Content Management Strategies 2006 include rolling out an enterprise content management system in a global environment, strategizing for reusable...

IT innovation.(EVENTS)
March 6, 2006... April 3-6, Las Vegas Sponsor: Forrester Research Inc. GigaWorld: Achieving Business Flexibility Through IT Innovation includes tracks on the future of IT, how to implement digital business architecture, the information workplace, IT...

Service-oriented architecture.(EVENTS)
March 6, 2006... April 19-20, Chicago Sponsor: Brainstorm Group Inc. Topics at Strategies for Developing, Managing and Governing Service-Oriented Architectures include adoption rates, case studies and lessons learned; 12 steps to SOA; patterns of SOA;...

What's an MBA good for--really?(Master of business administration degree)(Column)
March 6, 2006... IT SEEMS that I get more questions about the MBA degree than any other career development topic. It appears to hold a uniquely prominent space in the minds of ambitious managers and would-be managers among the IT ranks. But the questions...

Cisco, Avaya back standards on unified communications: network rivals expand their support for SIP, boosting VoIP interoperability.(Session Initiation Protocol)(Cisco Systems Inc.)
March 6, 2006... AT THE VoiceCon Spring 2006 conference this week, rivals such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Avaya Inc. are poised to announce support for each other's IP communications technologies under the banner of the Session Initiation Protocol and other open...

Innovate big.(in information technology services industry)(Column)
March 6, 2006... HERE'S a secret of successful innovation: Change big, not small. No, that doesn't just mean you should think big when it comes to innovations. It means literally that you should only make big changes. Leave small things the same, and you'll be...

I did it myyyyy way.(information technology workers)(Column)
March 6, 2006... A user calls IT and asks to have some reports reprinted. "These lists are printed once a quarter and consist of 10,000 pages, with an average of two pages per client," says pilot fish who fields the call and orders the reprinting. "The lists...

Four steps to SOA: migrating to service-oriented architecture can be daunting. Here are some guidelines to help.(IT MENTOR)
March 13, 2006... THE LATEST architectural revolution to strike IT is service-oriented architecture. IT managers are not only excited about the promise of SOA, but also fearful of this new paradigm and the impact it will have on the organization. Here are four...

How to talk business: every IT project is a business project. Here's how to make that clear.(MANAGEMENT)
March 13, 2006... "THERE ARE NO IT PROJECTS" at Kaiser Permanente, says CIO Cliff Dodd. Instead, he says, "some business projects have a significant IT component. And like any other project, they have to be rationalized with a business case; every [regional] CFO...

Mission: education: the Australian Defence Organisation deploys first-class online training to troops.(MANAGEMENT)
March 13, 2006... THE Australian Defence Organisation believes that education advances its mission. And, like other executives, Australian defense officials knew they had to find the most effective, cohesive way to deliver courses to the ADO's nearly...

Career watch.(Matt Sullivan)(Interview)
March 13, 2006... Skills Bookshelf The best-selling technology titles on Amazon.com during January: 1. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop by Tim Ormsby, et al. (ESRI Press, 2004) 2. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by...

Health care standards on the table: physician CIO heads interoperability panel.(Q&A)(Interview)
March 13, 2006... IN ADDITION to being CIO for CareGroup Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Clinical Research Institute Inc., John Halamka is chairman of the New England Health Electronic Data Interchange Network--when he's not working as an...

Outsourcing: out of sight, out of mind?(MANAGEMENT)
March 13, 2006... IS YOUR OUTSOURCER out of control? Mine is, and the failure is my fault. Guilty, guilty, guilty! Last year, my wife and I outsourced our yard care to a local gardener. We agreed that he would mow the lawn, kill weeds, sweep walkways and rake...

Keynote comments spark debate over VoIP: users weigh cost savings against business improvements.(voice over internet protocol)
March 13, 2006... Avaya Inc. CEO Don Peterson surprised some IT managers at VoiceCon Spring 2006 by declaring that managers should not deploy IP telephony to lower communications costs. Instead, he said, they should look to improve their business operations. ...

Disasters proving mettle of IP communications.(internet protocol used for making vehicles to be used in disasters)
March 13, 2006... AN IP-BASED communications system built into a rescue vehicle supplied by Anne Arundel County in Maryland is credited with helping to improve communications in New Orleans during the dark days after Hurricane Katrina. The county designed...

IT sees more promise than peril in AT&T-BellSouth deal: emerging telecom technologies will keep competition alive, users say.(information technology)
March 13, 2006... Several IT managers said last week that they will keep a close watch on AT&T Inc.'s planned acquisition of BellSouth Corp. But they added that overall, the accelerating consolidation within the telecommunications industry appears to hold more...

IT puts its house in order, for the sake of business: tech managers streamline ongoing initiatives, prioritize projects with corporate execs.(information technology)
March 13, 2006... AS IT executives seek to transform their operations into true corporate assets that can help grow the business at their companies, many are finding that first they must impose much tighter controls over their often vast and unwieldy portfolios...

New steps taken to boost IT's efficiency.(Hewlett-Packard Co. manages information technology)
March 13, 2006... PALM DESERT, CALIF. RANDALL MOTT, Hewlett-Packard's CIO, said one of the goals of his broad revamping of the company's IT operations is to enable HP to focus 80% of its IT workers on development activities and just 20% on managing...

Execs look to dim data center lights.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)
March 13, 2006... PALM DESERT, CALIF. HEWLETT-PACKARD CIO Randall Mott's belief that "lights-out" data centers are possible was generally accepted by other IT managers at the Premier 100 conference, even if they disagreed over whether the necessary tools...

Mott promises an open-door policy on data centers: CIO says HP will be 'very forthcoming' on the status of its consolidation move.(Randall Mott of Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Interview)
March 13, 2006... PALM DESERT, CALIF. After his keynote speech at the Premier 100 conference, Hewlett-Packard CIO Randall Mott spoke with Computerworld about his makeover plans for HP's IT operations. Mott's strategy includes consolidating HP's data center...

Great IT leaders have to be made, execs say.(information technology workers)
March 13, 2006... TO Kay Palmer, promoting techies into management jobs solely because they have a neat appearance and some people skills isn't the best way to pick the IT leaders of tomorrow. "Often, you lose your best technician and only get a so-so manager,"...

IT managers grasp for global reach.(Bausch & Lomb's Steven Silverman speaks at Premier 100 conference)
March 13, 2006... FOR MANY COMPANIES, going global with IT isn't a serene experience of hands-across-the-water teaming. Take Bausch & Lomb Inc., for example. Historically, Bausch & Lomb's worldwide operations have been "very diverse," according to Steven...

Nortel again forced to restate results.(Nortel Networks Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... Nortel Networks Ltd., still smarting from earlier accounting scandals, must again restate its financial results to fix fiscal missteps. The restatement will force the company to delay the distribution of its 2005 annual report. Nortel, which is...

EU plans to consider RFID legislation.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... The European Commission has initiated a public inquiry to determine whether to call for new legislation to regulate the use of radio frequency identification tags. As part of the inquiry, the EC will work with worldwide government and industry...

Microsoft to issue two patch updates.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... Microsoft Corp. will issue updates for its Office suite and Windows in its monthly patch release tomorrow. The Office patch was called "critical" and will include updates that may require that systems be restarted, the company said. The Windows...

Novell hires Lucent exec to head unit.(Roger Levy)(Lucent Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
March 13, 2006... Novell Inc. has named former Lucent Technologies Inc. vice president Roger Levy as general manager of its Open Platform Solutions business unit. Levy replaces David Patrick, who Novell said is leaving to pursue other interests. Levy will report...