InfoWorld articles from December 2003

InfoWorld archives from December 2003

WallBotz makes monitoring datacenters a breeze.(NetBotz WallBotz 500)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... NetBotz's Linux-based WallBotz 500 is more than worth its price -- comparable that of a high-end laptop -- when it comes to network management and datacenter monitoring. The small appliance has three components: the base station, a...

Red Hat focuses enterprise efforts with Advanced Server 3.0.
December 8, 2003... It's been quite some time since Red Hat refreshed its enterprise server line, and the Linux world has changed significantly since Red Hat released Advanced Server 2.1 nearly 18 months ago. A longer release cycle is generally seen as a...

Social networking targets the enterprise.
December 15, 2003... Leveraging advances in communication and integration, a new kind of application -- corporate social networking -- is being folded into the CRM feature set. Corporate social networking software measures, reads, and evaluates e-mails,...

Microsoft to cease host of older products.
December 15, 2003... Microsoft will stop distributing several older products this week as a result of a legal settlement with Sun Microsystems in a dispute over Java, Microsoft said. Among the products that Microsoft will cut from its distribution channels on...

Jtest promotes good Java hygiene.(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 15, 2003... Parasoft's Jtest is a combination static-code analysis tool and souped-up JUnit-style unit testing environment for Java. Its primary raison d'etre is to eliminate bugs so you don't have to chase them down with a debugger. Its secondary use is...

MailMarshal puts spam in a headlock.(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 15, 2003... NetIQ's MailMarshal fulfills the same need as the products in my recent spam-product roundup, but this anti-spam gateway will best satisfy Windows-centric organizations. MailMarshal is available in an SMTP version or a version that...

2003: The news in review.
December 22, 2003... The economy grabbed a lot of headlines in 2003, but competing for space in the IT arena were lawsuits, acquisitions, security issues, and technology upgrades. SCO vs. IBM, IT titans' on-demand initiatives, Oracle's attempt to buy...

Microsoft Already Planning Windows 2000 Retirement.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... Microsoft will gradually phase out its Windows 2000 Server family, and as of April 1, 2006, the products will no longer be available. Retirement of Windows 2000 Server will be spread out over a two-year period starting on April 1, 2004, when...

Red Hat, Fujitsu to Enhance Enterprise Linux.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... Fujitsu and Red Hat have begun working together to strengthen the capabilities of Linux for large corporations as part of a global Linux partnership between the two companies. The Joint Development Organization will serve as a base for the two...

BEA, Compuware Team to Ease Java.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... Tapping a familiar theme of late, BEA Systems and Compuware forged an alliance intended to make it easier to develop Java applications. The companies plan to integrate the Compuware OptimalJ model-driven J2EE development environment with BEA...

Wi-Fi antennas extend reach.
December 22, 2003... Wi-Fi got several boosts this month that promise to expand coverage areas offered by wireless providers and to widen corporate networks. Last week, T-Mobile teamed with iPass and MCI banded with Boingo, each in an effort to increase the...

IBM eyes greener pastures.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... IBM bought document management technology vendor Green Pasture Software for an undisclosed sum. Tailored for the financial, insurance, and automotive industries, Green Pasture's technology integrates with other applications such as Microsoft...

Cisco warns of firewall holes.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... Cisco Systems is warning customers about security holes in its PIX firewall product and firewall software that runs on the Catalyst 6500 Series and 7600 Series switches. The company issued two security advisories detailing vulnerabilities that...

Sun charts new services course.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... Taking a different tack than archrivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems plans to place stronger emphasis on technologies involving managed services and utility computing to solve a range of services-related problems. To wit, Sun has...

Kana turns to India for code warriors.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... In what looks more and more like the way of the future, Kana, a midsize CRM vendor, has introduced three separate applications for its customer care suite within six months by turning to a company in India to write the code. The latest...

Platforms.
December 22, 2003... It was a busy year for operating systems, with the release of Windows Server 2003, the long awaited upgrade to Red Hat Linux, and the threatened survival of Sun Solaris for Intel x86 systems (Solaris x86 lived), not to mention Novell's purchase...

Security.
December 22, 2003... If anything was of greater concern to IT managers in 2003 than keeping costs down, it was security. Throughout the year, IT scrambled to thwart viruses and worms, identify and patch vulnerabilities, secure remote access and protect data...

Applications.
December 22, 2003... On the applications front, the main themes continued to be integration, collaboration, and business process management in 2003. The big three collaboration platforms, Lotus Domino/Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell GroupWise, slugged it out,...

Hardware.
December 22, 2003... System hardware offered more opportunities for consolidating servers in 2003, providing faster processors, higher density, and improved manageability at lower prices. Juggernauts Dell, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard played catch-up to upstart RLX...