Computerworld articles from October 2006

Computerworld archives from October 2006

IT risks rise on USB drives: auto-run apps add to security threats.(uiversal serial bus)
October 2, 2006... Insiders stealing relatively large amounts of data on tiny USB memory sticks have already made the ubiquitous devices a potent security threat. But the emergence of flash drives capable of storing and auto-running applications straight off the...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 2, 2006... The first name of Frank Modruson, CIO at Accenture Ltd., was listed incorrectly in a story about Computerworld's Infrastructure Management World conference that ran in the Sept. 18 News section ("Selling IT to the CEO: Keep It Simple"). In...

A note from the editor in chief.(Computerworld Inc.)(Editorial)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... We at Computerworld learned last week that "Geek's Garden," a regular feature in our Technology section, has included material that we now know to have been plagiarized. The plagiarism occurred in the "Difference Engines" section of the...

Users see HP scandal as a test for top exec: customers still back CEO Hurd but keep an eye on his handling of affair.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Mark Hurd)
October 2, 2006... When John Glaser, CIO at Partners HealthCare System Inc., had a routine business meeting with some Hewlett-Packard Co. employees recently, HP's boardroom scandal came up. The HP workers "were kind of embarrassed by it," he said, but "it's...

House, Senate bills push paper ballots.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Last week, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced a bill that would provide funds to voting jurisdictions that print paper ballots for voters who prefer not to cast their votes on touch-screen machines in elections next month. Similar legislation...

Microsoft ships beta of forefront tool.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Microsoft Corp. has released a test version of its new Forefront Security for SharePoint software, which will support upcoming versions of Microsoft's portal software. The beta code will allow IT administrators to plug as many as five antivirus...

Uwe Herold named CIO at SAP AG.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Uwe Herold has been named CIO at SAP AG, replacing Carol Wilson, who left the company to join Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. earlier this year after three years at SAP. Herold, who officially joins SAP this week, will also have a seat on the...

IBM wins $149M Australian pact.(Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs has awarded a three-year, $149 million contract to IBM to provide core technology services for the agency's Systems for People project. The contract calls for IBM to build...

Microsoft hastens IE flaw fix: widely available exploit prompts fast response.(Microsoft Internet Explorer)
October 2, 2006... MICROSOFT CORP.'S decision last week to issue an out-of-cycle patch for an Internet Explorer flaw appears to have squelched concerns about widespread system disruptions resulting from the vulnerability. The flaw occurs in the way IE...

IBM gives IT services a product makeover: shifts its focus to packaged offerings that can be repeated for different users.(NEWS)
October 2, 2006... IBM last week formally announced a major change in the way it will sell its portfolio of IT services, rolling out the first two of more than 30 "service products" that it expects to begin offering by year's end. The initiative is aimed at...

BI competency centers arise to guarantee corporate investments: aim of new groups is to bring business users into the process.(Ameritrade Holding Corp. laucnhed competency center to acquire TD Waterhouse Group Inc.)
October 2, 2006... AS PART of its preparation to acquire TD Waterhouse Group Inc., Ameritrade Holding Corp. last April launched a business intelligence competency center made up of business users whose charter is to make sure the company's BI investments yield...

Mozilla, Explorer and Safari bugs grow.(web browsers)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... In its twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report, Symantec Corp. reported that hackers found 47 bugs in Mozilla Corp.'s open-source browsers and 38 bugs in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer during the first six months of 2006. That's up...

WorldCom's Ebbers begins jail term.(Bernard Ebbers)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers reported to federal prison last week to begin serving a 25-year sentence for his role in the accounting scandal that led to the telecommunications vendor's bankruptcy. Ebbers was convicted in March 2005...

Oracle gets ready for Itanium 2.(BRIEFS)(Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. uses database software )(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Oracle Corp. will soon certify its database software to run on systems built around the Itanium 2 processor developed jointly by Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. The Itanium Solutions Alliance said at the Oracle announcement that there are...

AOL is sued over release of records.(America Online Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Three people have jointly sued AOL LLC over its controversial release of search engine records. The three AOL members charged the Time Warner Inc. subsidiary with privacy violations and false advertising. The suit seeks monetary relief for U.S....

Flash turns e-mail client into ...(Pronto of CommuniGate Systems)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ... desktop communications hub. Jon Doyle says that rival e-mail vendors should stop mimicking Microsoft Corp. "It's about time we started to think about messaging differently than just copying Outlook," argues Doyle, vice president of business...

But advocates of AJAX aren't just ...(General Interface 3.2 from TIBCO Software Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ... throwing in the towel. AJAX supporters will get a boost in the coming weeks when Tibco Software Inc. releases General Interface (GI) 3.2, an upgrade of its tool for developing Web applications, as open-source software. Kevin Hakman,...

Application code needs a boost ...(PeakStream Inc. developing PeakStream Platform code-optimization tool)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ... for multicore CPUs. With multicore processors becoming standard in everything from servers to laptops, app developers are confronting the complexity of writing code that can take advantage of parallel processing technology. As Matthew...

'Next generation of Ethernet' holds ...(NetEffect NE010 ethernet adapter)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ... promise for unseating other communications fabrics. If you're like a lot of data center managers, you have Ethernet for your LAN and Fibre Channel for your SAN, and your server clusters probably are linked via InfiniBand. And you're...

Watch your online shoppers scamper ...(TeaLeaf Technologies Inc.'s CX software)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ... to other sites after Web errors. In a Harris Interactive Inc. poll of 2,790 adults that was conducted in late August for San Francisco-based Web analytics vendor TeaLeaf Technology Inc., 88% of the respondents said they had encountered...

IBM, Lenovo recall 526,000 laptops.(BRIEFS)(International Business Machines Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... IBM and Lenovo Group Ltd. are recalling 526,000 Sony Corp. batteries for ThinkPad notebooks. The companies said they are responding to reports of a ThinkPad emitting smoke and catching fire as a user was boarding a plane at Los Angeles...

Sun to purchase ID management firm.(BRIEFS)(Sun Microsystems Inc., identity, Neogent Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Sun Microsystems Inc. has agreed to buy Neogent Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Neogent develops automated software tools designed to speed the implementation of identity management systems. The tools are based on Sun's Java System Identity...

Ambient, utility sign BPL agreement.(BRIEFS)(Duke Energy Corp., broadband-over-power-lines)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Ambient Corp. a provider of broadband-over-power-lines systems, has signed an expanded deployment agreement with utility Duke Energy Corp. Ambient will offer connectivity to about 6,000 homes in Charlotte, N.C., providing high-speed...

IBM opens Dublin venture center.(BRIEFS)(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... IBM has launched a venture capital center in Europe. The Dublin-based operation will link European start-up companies with venture capital firms. The center is IBM's first VC office outside of the U.S. IBM said it doesn't intend to invest in...

Audit finds DOE still lacks strong cybersecurity protection: cites 22% increase in 'significant' data compromises.(NEWS)
October 2, 2006... THE U.S. Department of Energy still hasn't done enough to strengthen its cybersecurity protections, exposing critical systems to compromise and putting data at risk, according to a report issued last month by the agency's inspector general. ...

3Com unveils 24-port switch for small, midsize businesses.(3Com Unified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24 )
October 2, 2006... 3Com Corp. today is set to introduce a 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that combines Power Over Ethernet technology and wireless network control. The 3Com Unified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24 costs $2,750 and is designed for small and...

Colorado e-voting OK'd despite flaws: judge rules that election certification process must be fixed over long term.(NEWS)
October 2, 2006... A STATE JUDGE in Colorado last month found the procedures used by the state to test and certify e-voting gear to be wanting--but nevertheless ruled that the machines can be used in the November general election. Although Judge Lawrence...

E-voting critic recounts Maryland primary woes.(Avi Rubin )(Interview)
October 2, 2006... Avi Rubin is at the forefront of the e-voting issue. He is a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University specializing in e-voting security issues and an elections judge in Maryland's Baltimore County. Rubin also wrote Brave New...

Got questions about application performance? Computerworld's IT Executive Summit has the answers.
October 2, 2006... October 19, 2006 * Denver, Colorado Hyatt Regency Tech Center 8:00am to Noon Ahead of the Curve: Optimizing Application and Business Performance 8:00am to 8:30am Registration and Networking Breakfast 8:30am to 8:40am ...

Digital X-ray systems spreading in the U.K.(Picture Archiving and Communications System )(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... THE TROUBLED effort to modernize IT at the U.K. National Health Service is finally finding some success, according to the agency, which said last week that digital X-ray systems are now being used by half of the "trusts" that manage local NHS...

Unpaid bill prompts Internet service cuts.(by Intelsat Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... INTERNET ACCESS for users in Zimbabwe has been slowed for about a month because a government-owned telecommunications company hasn't paid a bill from broadband network operator Intelsat Ltd. Intelsat has cut the bandwidth it makes available...

Intel to invest $40M in software vendor.(Neusoft Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... INTEL CORP. plans to invest $40 million (U.S.) in Neusoft Group Ltd. as part of a deal that calls for the Shenyang-based software vendor to optimize its products for systems with Intel microprocessors. Intel said the agreement, which was...

Jailed Chinese reporter to sue Yahoo in U.S.(An International IT News Digest)(Shi Tao)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... A JOURNALIST JAILED in China last year in part because of e-mail evidence that was provided to the Chinese government by a Yahoo Inc. subsidiary plans to file a lawsuit against the company in the U.S. A civil suit against Yahoo on behalf of...

U.S. outsourcer opens third Philippine facility.(An International IT News Digest)(ICT Group Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... ICT GROUP INC. in Newtown, Pa., last month opened its third business process outsourcing call center in the Philippines and disclosed plans to set up at least two more BPO facilities in the country next year. ICT's new facility in Marikina...

AOL LLC.(Briefly Noted)(Neuf Cegetel SA)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... AOL LLC last week announced the sale of its Internet access unit in France to Neuf Cegetel SA for [euro]288 million ($366 million U.S.). The addition of AOL France SNC gives about 500,000 new customers to Neuf Cegetel, a broadband network...

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.(Briefly Noted)(appoints Chua Sock Koong)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. last week named Chua Sock Koong to succeed outgoing group CEO Lee Hsien Yang, effective next April. Chua currently is CEO of SingTel's international operations and group chief financial officer. Lee, who has...

The U.S. Department of Justice.(Briefly Noted)(cases)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... The U.S. Department of Justice said that a Samsung Electronics Co. executive agreed to plead guilty and serve jail time for participating in a global price-fixing conspiracy on memory chips. U.S. resident Thomas Quinn admitted that he...

IBM.(Briefly Noted)(sets a facility in Kolkata, India)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... IBM has set up an application services facility in Kolkata, India, that can support 3,000 workers. But an IBM spokeswoman said late last month that she couldn't disclose a schedule for staffing the facility. The company announced in June that...

EPAM Systems Inc.(Briefly Noted)(merges with Vested Development Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... EPAM Systems Inc. and Vested Development Inc., a pair of software development outsourcing firms in Lawrenceville, N.J., and Moscow, respectively, have agreed to merge. The combined company will operate under the EPAM Systems name, with a...

IBM, Sun add encryption to tape drives: both products add long-sought capability to high-end offerings.(International Business Machines Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc.)
October 2, 2006... IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc. last month each brought out tape drives that can encrypt data, a capability that should help safeguard information on lost or stolen tapes. Both vendors are adding the capability to high-end tape drives. The...

EMC, NetApp unveil data classification tools.(Network Appliance Inc.)
October 2, 2006... EMC Corp. last month brought out software designed to help users manage unstructured files and comply with government regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Windows-based...

Dribs, drabs and dysfunction.(Hewlett-Packard Co.'s web page missing)(Editorial)
October 2, 2006... SHORTLY before Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd began reading a prepared statement at his press briefing on Sept. 22, a page suddenly disappeared from HP's Web site. The page was entitled "Hewlett-Packard Company Corporate Governance Guidelines."...

Has history caught up with Dell?(Column)
October 2, 2006... THE RECENT burst of bad news from the once all-conquering Dell--disappointing earnings, executive departures, customer service problems, battery recalls, MP3 market withdrawal, SEC inquiries--calls to mind the huge cyclical swings that have...

SOA predictable.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... THE BUSINESS benefits of SOA remain unclear ["Proving SOA Worth Is a Big Challenge for IT," News, Aug. 7]. While building more modularity into applications is appealing, one wonders what benefits will ensue. SOA reminds me a bit of...

Best companies don't need H-1Bs.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... I SEVERELY DISAGREE with the two letter writers of Aug. 14 concerning the lack of qualified computer professionals ["In Defense of H-1Bs"]. Having worked for many corporations, I know that they will word a job advertisement so no one can...

Why big pharma lags in integration.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... COLUMNIST Charles Firneno has hit the nail on the head: IT silos and departmental and functional area IT solutions represent some progress away from archaic, paper-based information management but do not really point by themselves to an...

No more downtime.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... I HATE THE assumption that it is only CIOs whose private time is infringed upon ["The Elusive Summer Getaway," Management, Aug. 7]. Most of the IT people I know work more than 55 hours a week and can't get through a vacation without being paged...

Shrink rap.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... IN HIS July 31 letter to the editor, Joseph Scheible wrote, "I am the only psychologist in IT that I know of." Actually, System Development Corp. was founded in the 1950s as a spinoff from Rand Corp. primarily as a mixture of psychologists,...

Duplicate that data.(Letter to the editor)
October 2, 2006... THE ARTICLE "Fires Prompt Users to Hasten Hunt for Backup Alternatives" [News, July 31] indicated that users were hastening to go to electronic archiving and backup "over the wire." But over the wire to what? Instead of having paper records or...

Now we're talking: speech technologies are moving far beyond call centers and into critical corporate applications such as search and security.
October 2, 2006... IN THIS ERA OF HIGH-TECH medicine, computers can be found everywhere from the medication trolley to the operating room, but busy practitioners are often not in a position to use keyboards and mice. Sometimes the better option is to use a...

New spin on power: some data centers are adopting UPSs that use flywheels instead of batteries as the power source. Here's why.(Active Power Flywheel UPS)(Uninterruptible power supply)(Product/service evaluation)
October 2, 2006... WHEN Freescale Semiconductor Inc. installed a new UPS system in its Austin data center, batteries weren't included--and they weren't needed. The semiconductor manufacturer uses an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) powered by a flywheel. A...

Deconstructing complexity: a family of related concepts may help companies make sense of the murky.(Interview)
October 2, 2006... Eric Bonabeau, CEO of Icosystem Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., has devoted his career to the unraveling of complex systems. Bonabeau, who holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Paris-Sud University in France and was once a research fellow at the...

Spam fight escalates: wily hucksters use clever ruses to bypass corporate defenses.
October 2, 2006... COMPUTER SECURITY analysts who fight spam face the same thankless task as goalkeepers: They don't get much credit for the unsolicited e-mail they stop, only demerits for the ones that get through. But those few messages that wriggle past...

Measuring the value of metrics: our security manager used to hate metrics, but now he's the one telling his staff to collect and report them.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)
October 2, 2006... ONE TOPIC most information security professionals hate is metrics. When I was working as a security analyst and later as a security engineer, I always hated when my boss asked me to pull logs or query the remedy ticketing system and then use...

Sophos offers app blocking.(new features in Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... U.K.-based Sophos PLC has integrated new features in Sophos Anti-Virus Version 6 that allow systems administrators to selectively block unauthorized voice-over-IP, peer-to-peer and instant messaging applications. The new features, known as...

Web apps remain security weak link.(SECURITY LOG)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp.'s latest Internet Security Threat Report, covering the first half of 2006, breaks down easily exploitable vulnerabilities according to the type of affected application. Web applications continue to lead,...

'Instant shredding' feature available.(LogMeln Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... LogMeln Inc., a provider of remote connectivity and support services in Woburn, Mass., has introduced an "instant shredding" feature. With it, users can set files, folders or an entire hard drive to be wiped clean the first time the computer...

Kace management appliance updated.(BRIEFS)(Kace Networks Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Mountain View, Calif.-based Kace Networks Inc. has released the latest version of its system management appliances aimed at small to midsize businesses running Mac, Windows and Linux desktops and servers. The new KBox 1000 Series is an upgrade...

DYS upgrades IM collaboration app.(BRIEFS)(DYS Analytics Inc., instant messaging)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... DYS Analytics Inc. has upgraded its Collaboration Control e-meetings and instant messaging application to make it compatible with IBM's recently unveiled Lotus Sametime 7.5 enterprise IM and webconferencing collaboration application. Version...

Citrix announces NetScaler 7.0.(BRIEFS)(Citrix Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Citrix Systems Inc. has announced Version 7.0 of its NetScaler Web application delivery software. NetScaler 7.0 can support up to 15,000 servers in a single application system and has new security features, according to the vendor. It's...

Second look at Linux proves persuasive.(TECHNOLOGY)
October 2, 2006... BACK IN 1991, a brilliant and determined 21-year-old computer science student at the University of Helsinki had an idea. From what I understand, Linus Torvalds was unhappy with MS-DOS, and since he was already familiar with Unix, he decided to...

Lessons in leadership: five top CIOs share what their careers have taught them.(chief information officers)
October 2, 2006... The best leaders take their lessons wherever they find them--whether in the hard knocks of experience, the generosity of mentors or the clear gaze of their employees. We asked CIOs of five major organizations to share their most important...

The ten commandments of project management: they'll lead your company to the promised land of project-based culture.(IT MENTOR)
October 2, 2006... In our increasingly project-centric world, the productivity to be gained by good project management is far too promising to ignore. But for most companies, shifting to a project-oriented management structure represents great change, and people...

IT: the next generation.(Career Watch)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... More than 1,400 CIOs at U.S. companies with 100 or more employees were asked if they are taking steps to identify and prepare IT staffers to move into managerial roles. NO 49% DON'T KNOW 1% YES 50% Note: Table...

You sank my supply chain!(education of information technology professionals)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... IT AND BUSINESS LEADERS alike stress how important it is for IT workers to grasp basic economic concepts and to fully understand an organization's charter in order to effectively apply IT to business strategies. Part of the challenge, according...

John Sullivan.(ASK A PREMIER 100 IT LEADER)(Interview)
October 2, 2006... John Sullivan TITLE: CIO ORGANIZATION: American Chemical Society, Washington [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sullivan is this month's guest Premier 100 IT Leader, answering readers' questions about becoming a leader, getting started...

74%.(it professionals say thet are happy with the jobs)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... 74% Percentage of IT workers who said in July that they were happy with their jobs, according to Hudson Talent Management's monthly survey of about 9,000 workers (the IT sample is smaller). That contrasts sharply with survey results from...

Why wait? Authors Esther Derby and Diana Larsen suggest conducting project retrospectives midstream--before it's too late.(MANAGEMENT)(Interview)
October 2, 2006... Project management experts like to tout the benefits of conducting postmortem reviews to determine whether projects met their goals and to learn lessons that can be applied to future efforts. Although postmortems are useful, they don't...

Service-oriented Architecture.(EVENTS)
October 2, 2006... Oct. 11-13, Calgary Sponsor: ZapThink LLC Implementing Service-oriented Architecture includes sessions on evolving the business ecosystem, service-oriented strategies for survival, managing and integrating SOA, the agile SOA life...

Consumer forum.(EVENTS)
October 2, 2006... Oct. 24-25, Chicago Sponsor: Forrester Research Inc. Humanizing the Digital Experience includes tracks on experience-based differentiation, best practices for the mobile environment, social computing, and next-generation branding and...

Leadership.(EVENTS)
October 2, 2006... Nov. 3, Arlington, Va. Sponsor: JAA Consultants The Leadership Best Practices Conference includes presentations on topics such as leadership decision-making in changing environments, diversity and change management competency,...

Content management.(Gilbane Group Inc.'s conference)(Brief article)
October 2, 2006... Nov. 28-30, Boston Sponsor: Gilbane Group Inc. The Third Annual Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies includes tracks on automated publishing, enterprise blogs and wikis, Web content management and case studies. Session topics...

How indispensable should you be?(MANAGEMENT)(Column)
October 2, 2006... AFTER World War II, the vacuum cleaner began its meteoric rise as an American household appliance. It was sold as an amazing labor-saving device to liberate women from the dreary chore of rug beating. And with that promise, it quickly became a...

Cisco launches digital media tools.(NEWS)(Cisco Systems Inc.)
October 2, 2006... Cisco Systems Inc. last week unveiled three digital media offerings that are designed to help businesses create, manage and deliver live and on-demand video and other media to wired or wireless devices. The products, which are bundled into...

Sorry security.(computer hackers using wireless technology to hack the systems)(Column)
October 2, 2006... IOWE David Maynor and Jon Ellch an apology. Several weeks ago, in a column titled "Quack Hackers," I described their presentation at this year's Black Hat USA security conference as one of a pair of "hoax hacks" and "rigged demos of...

Monday, Monday.(laptop was stolen from the company)(Column)
October 2, 2006... After a series of thefts, users at this company are required to lock up laptops every night. But when this pilot fish unlocks his desk drawer one Monday morning, his heart sinks: no laptop. "I must have left the laptop out, and now it was a...

Vista users to face new piracy tests: Microsoft seeks to tighten controls on license keys; IT execs see added work.(Microsoft Windows Vista)
October 9, 2006... Microsoft Corp. last week confirmed that it is overhauling its antipiracy technology for Windows Vista in an effort to plug a potential software license security hole among corporate users and avoid the problems associated with Windows XP's...

Google catches flak for its hiring procedures: lengthy process turns off some IT pros, developers.(NEWS)
October 9, 2006... Bolstered by the $4.2 billion it raised in a second stock offering in September 2005, Google Inc. has been on a hiring spree and is still looking to fill more than 1,000 positions. But for some software developers and other IT workers, Google's...

Mass. CIO to resign over impasse on funding bill.(Louis Gutierrez, Massachusetts)
October 9, 2006... Massachusetts CIO Louis Gutierrez last week submitted his resignation, saying a lack of legislative action on a bond bill needed to fund planned projects has left him to preside over "the dismantling" of the state's IT investment program. ...

Windows XP SP1 support to end.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Microsoft Corp. recommends that customers still running Windows XP SP1 immediately upgrade to SP2 because the company's support for the older service pack ends this week. Microsoft had extended the support deadline from Sept. 17 until tomorrow....

Schwarzenegger vetoes RFID proposal.(Arnold Schwarzenegger, radio frequency identification technology, Identity Information Protection Act )(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation that would have created a security framework for radio frequency identification technology used in state documents and identification cards. The Identity Information Protection Act...

AMD offers $1.7M package to ATI chief.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc., David Orten of ATI Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has made a job offer that includes $1.7 million in salary and bonuses to David Orten, CEO of ATI Technologies Inc., a maker of graphic cards that AMD has agreed to buy for $5.4 billion. It expects to close the deal...

Microsoft to issue 11 patches this week.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Microsoft Corp. this week plans to issue 11 security updates for its Windows and Office software and the .Net Framework. Some of the updates will be for critical flaws that could be exploited by attackers with no action on the part of users....

Small SOA projects can show immediate ROI.(service-oriented architectures, return on investment)
October 9, 2006... MANY COMPANIES that have achieved early success with service-oriented architectures (SOA) focused first on small, incremental projects that show immediate returns to the business. At the same time, some companies are struggling to gain a...