InfoWorld articles from February 2003

InfoWorld archives from February 2003

Global thinking : Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's chief technologist forges IT strategy worldwide.(John Parkinson)
February 3, 2003... Pushing a global technology consulting strategy involves a lot of travel time. "I don't even have an office," jokes John Parkinson, vice president and the chief technologist at IT consulting company Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Americas Region....

Making a move from CTO to CEO : Chief technologists are moving closer to the revenue and into the halls of the enterprise as they adapt to meet corporate needs and take on the CEO's role.(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... Chief technologists are moving closer to the revenue and into the halls of the enterprise as they adapt to meet corporate needs and take on the CEO's role Chief technologists are gaining strategic influence in the enterprise as they are...

Digital data chases converged reality : Enterprises wrestle with integrated data formats.(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... The rising tide of intertwined structured and unstructured data types is threatening to engulf corporations as a multitude of computing devices flourishes in a sea of diverse file formats, protocols, and standards. Chasing user demand for...

Standards muddy 'open' waters : Proprietary technologies lurk beneath standards veneer.(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... Amid the convergence of technologies across the IT stack, a host of products emerging from the world of open source, XML, and Web services are challenging traditional notions of open solutions. IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and...

BI titans work to make data sources get along : Companies continue aggregating data sources.
February 3, 2003... BI (business intelligence) vendors this week will unleash a raft of new and upgraded products with a focus on aggregating multiple data sources to enhance insight into corporate information. Although all of the companies are pursuing...

Wireless leads network convergence revolution : Pervasive networks extend reach.(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... The seamless hand off between public, corporate, and home networks is here, erasing traditional boundaries and ushering in a time in which one pervasive network will prevail. Reflecting this change, wireless local area networks are reaching...

IBM moved toward integrated collaboration : IBM looks to tie Lotus, WebSphere.
February 3, 2003... IBM has poured the plaster into its future mold for an integrated product stack. Last week at Lotusphere in Orlando, Fla., the company detailed its J2EE-infused collaboration vision with a new low-cost e-mail system built on WebSphere and DB2,...

Blurring the lines between business and personal data : Existing barriers between business and personal data are fading.
February 3, 2003... Somewhere between customer necessity and a point of inevitability, the distribution of pervasive services is leading to a convergence of the once isolated realms of personal and business data. Vendors are architecting applications,...

Preparing for convergence : The digital convergence conundrum asks: Which technology belongs where?(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... As the line between home and office technology blurs, IT managers and chief technologists will be wise to understand the high-tech innovations launched for both markets and to factor it into their strategic thinking. Convergence is a fact...

Apple on the cusp : Senior VPs AvieTevanian, Jon Rubinstein discuss the convergence of business and consumer markets in Keynote and iLife.(Interview)
February 3, 2003... Apple made a big splash at the recent Macworld Conference & Expo with the introduction of its new PowerBook G4 notebooks. Avie Tevanian, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, and Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president of...

Microsoft puts SPOT on stage : SPOT general manager Bill Mitchell talks about the impact of digital convergence.(Interview)
February 3, 2003... Microsoft's announcement of its use of SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology), which uses FM signals to send one-way information to small devices such as watches, shows the trend toward digital convergence. Bill Mitchell, Microsoft's general...

CTO CONNECTION: Where the bugs are : No matter how well you test a new system, the bugs will get you in the real world.(Column)
February 3, 2003... As I write this column in the middle of winter, a couple of things take me back to summer camp, where all I could count on was lack of sleep, bad food, bugs, more bad food, and more bugs. As I mentioned last week, we are implementing a new...

THE GRIPE LINE: The fate of UCITA : An open letter to the ABA's House of Delegates concerning their impending vote on UCITA.
February 3, 2003... My regular readers, who have heard far more about UCITA (Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act) than they or I like, will have to forgive my addressing this column to the members of the American Bar Association's House of Delegates. One...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Feds want enterprise IT aligned with the business of government : Managing enterprise IT the government way.(Industry Overview)
February 3, 2003... For some time, the Washington politico tide surrounding technology has risen, resulting in the "all-that's-digital-is-mine-or-monitored" proposals lofted by Congress and federal agencies in today's economically dragging security state. ...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Credit where credit is due -- Credit where it's dueAs an IT manager, one of your jobs is to see that those who deserve credit for the work they do receive it.
February 3, 2003... "... there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Waging war on business -- How do you spell extortion? BSA, RIAA, DMCA.
February 3, 2003... In Dallas , the Business Software Alliance (BSA) is running radio ads offering amnesty to businesses. Confess your companywide software piracy before the end of February, the announcer gently offers, and you'll only have to pay your overdue...

SECURITY ADVISER: Solutions to data overload.
February 3, 2003... Although there's data, data everywhere, maybe the albatross hasn't left after all When I wrote about the problems of data overload for administrators a few weeks ago, readers reminded me (sometimes constructively) that there are a number...

STORAGE INSIDER: Bridge that tape -- Remote backups can be an elegant alternative to maintaining expensive and hard-to-control graveyard shifts.
February 3, 2003... We can all agree that the cost of personnel is the most expensive item in any storage budget -- and with good reason, we may add, because no storage technology can perform well without the supervision of well-trained and motivated human beings....

WIRELESS WORLD: RFID is about to explode -- Ten-cent pieces of wireless equipment are being deployed by the billions.
February 3, 2003... To better understand the scope of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, let's take a look at The Gillette Company, based in Boston , and one of its distribution centers. The Chicago-based center is a 532,000-square-foot site with a...

WINDOW MANAGER: Trust but verify -- A patch for Windows' problems with security certificates doesn't end all of your headaches.
February 3, 2003... Using Windows to surf the Internet raises the question, "Can I trust this?" The answer too often is, "Not much." I made this point when I reported a couple of months ago that Microsoft was urging users to remove all "trusted publishers,"...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Mandrake's woes aren't users' woes -- Are the French open-source OS company's financial woes cause for panic?(Column)
February 3, 2003... Here's today's quiz: You have just installed Mandrake Linux on your desktop systems when you hear the news: "MandrakeSoft is going through the French equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy." What should you do? A. Panic. Swear off this Linux...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: An honest mistake.
February 3, 2003... I cannot help wondering if all this ado is really even worth it, the way Amber is stringing me along. OK, so I shouldn't have given her earrings in a box that looked like it housed a diamond ring. "It was an honest mistake," I told her. "I...

Converging on identity : Devices, data types, people, and channels coming together.(Column)
February 3, 2003... As with standards, the problem with convergences is that there are so many to choose from. When the subject is digital convergence we often start with devices and media, which leads to a barrage of questions: Can I watch movies on my notebook...

Should you be watching that?(digital rights management)(Column)
February 3, 2003... One of the unexpected benefits of PVRs (personal video recorders) is that parents can build private collections of child-friendly programming. With a PVR, kids can surf unsupervised through dozens of virtual channels, complete with program...

Recasting broadcasts : ReplayTV adds LAN and Internet streaming, making a case for PVRs in corporate conference rooms.(Sonicblue's ReplayTV 5040)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 3, 2003... PVRs (personal video recorders), such as Sonicblue's ReplayTV 5040, change the nature of television watching. Combining a digital TV tuner with a large hard drive, PVRs offer the capability of pausing live TV programming, as well as skipping...

Connecting with PVRs.(personal video recorders)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 3, 2003... While Sonicblue's ReplayTV 5040 is one of the newest PVRs (personal video recorders) on the market, it's by no means the only player or even the best known. TiVo's PVR has become a household name, and Zenith recently announced, but is not yet...

Zeroing in on instant networks : New approaches to zero-configuration networks provide faster, more flexible hookups for mobile devices.
February 3, 2003... It's no secret that network configuration is responsible for keeping a lot of IT people busy from one day to the next. Before rise to prominence , network devices were designed to require a minimum amount of manual intervention; protocols such...

Pro- or convergence? : The Test Center's dueling duo duke it out over the converged future.
February 3, 2003... Convergence means many things to different people. Is IT headed toward a Nirvana where IT staff never have to configure another desktop or printer? Will digital identity provide a foundation for companies to securely manage their intellectual...

Change agent.(General Electric's Larry Biagini)(Interview)
February 10, 2003... CTO of GE must integrate technology across a diverse set of business units In an interview with InfoWorld Associate Editor Jack McCarthy, Larry Biagini, CTO of Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric, talks about driving the technology...

Streamlining storage : With the enterprise in data overload and budgets tight, many CTOs are stepping up storage strategies by turning to advanced SAN solutions.(storage area networks)
February 10, 2003... The data on hand at MasterCard International mounted up year after year as the credit and debit card giant extended its services to tens of millions of customers. "It just grew by leaps and bounds," says an amazed Jim Hull, MasterCard's vice...

Apple extends enterprise reach : Xserve RAID signal new market opportunities.
February 10, 2003... Deepening its commitment to the enterprise, Apple Computer on Monday will announce its new Xserve and the company's first storage product, Xserve RAID. Touting an aggressive combination of pricing, performance, and services, Cupertino,...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Between a desk and a pervasive place -- IBM looks to voice as the next addition to the collaborative environment, but it's a complex proposition.
February 10, 2003... Until now, voice was largely missing from the enterprise collaboration and pervasive computing discussion. But with the convergence of open standards and the wireless build out, IBM Software is attempting to wrap voice into the Lotus evolution....

CTO CONNECTION: Heaven or XM-hell? -- XML isn't a panacea, especially if the semantic integrity of data hasn't been maintained properly.
February 10, 2003... Over the past few weeks, InfoWorld has been engaged in an epic IT battle against the forces of business evil: a mountain of data combined with mutant business processes that were the result of staff molding their work habits to inflexible...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The tortoise and the hare -- In the race to build an intuitive collaborative platform, Microsoft and IBM find competition from an unlikely place.(Column)
February 10, 2003... It came at the end of a conversation with Groove Networks Chairman Ray Ozzie. We'd been talking about the disruptive technology of collaborative services -- the emerging Groove Web Services architecture and its implications for extending...

STORAGE INSIDER: Peace before the storm? -- Don't be fooled -- the storage market isn't asleep, it's just quiet.
February 10, 2003... So far, 2003 has been a pretty quiet year for the storage industry. But all that changes this week with EMC's introduction of its new Symmetrix system. Sure, a new iteration of Symmetrix is a big deal, but it's really the announcement...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Magic vs. loss.(Column)
February 10, 2003... Sometimes things just don't go as I'd hoped they would. As part of my effort to get back in Amber's good graces, I had her and her twin sister over for dinner the other night. But when I went upstairs for just a minute, my beloved pooch Apache...

THE GRIPE LINE: Anniversary bash -- As Gripe turns 10, reflections on how readers' concerns have evolved in the past decade.(Column)
February 10, 2003... After a decade of gripes, is it time to be a bit more positive? I'm taking a break from fielding gripes to mark the 10th anniversary of The Gripe Line. Yes, believe it or not, it's been 10 years since I first hung my Gripemeister shingle....

SECURITY ADVISER: Say it ain't so! -- Slammer worm exploits an old vulnerability: too many patches, too little time.(Column)
February 10, 2003... No doubt you're expecting me to be (virtually) wagging my index finger at you and saying over and over, "Shame, shame, shame." Well, I'm not. Yes, the Slammer/Sapphire worm that emerged a couple of weekends ago was a great hindrance to the...

WINDOW MANAGER: Explore, yes; print, no -- Recent patches for Windows frustrate users who want to think globally but print locally.
February 10, 2003... A TV station that broadcasts near the Microsoft campus features a popular clown whose Web site includes a page called "The Amazing History of J.P. Patches" (see www.jppatches.com). Perhaps the software giant will take notice of this and...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Linux solutions everywhere -- A walk around LinuxWorld proved that the open-source OS has made it to prime time.(Column)
February 10, 2003... January saw the return of LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, the current king of Linux business shows, to New York City . Defying the freezing temperature outside the Javits Center , large numbers of Expo attendees swarmed the aisles of the show...

WIRELESS WORLD: Handheld sales plummet -- There are several good reasons why PDAs are down (but not out).
February 10, 2003... The headline says it all: "Worldwide PDA market declined 9.1 percent in 2002." This title is from a market analysis report from Gartner. IDC numbers are even gloomier, showing a 12 percent decline in year-over-year units shipped. There are...

Building a future on storage networks (Test Center Analysis) : In today's data-intensive world, no business strategy is complete without a storage networking plan.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... Despite its dull exterior and lackluster reputation, storage is actually more exciting than any other area of IT. Imagine -- or remember -- standing in the shoes of a new CTO who's facing the technical challenges and business demands of your...

Enterprise storage strategies.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... By Mario Apicella Mario Apicella is a senior analyst at the InfoWorld Test Center. Contact him at storage_insider@infoworld.com THE BOTTOM LINE Enterprise storage Executive Summary: While the economy stalls, investing in a...

Rolling with changes : Warp 2063e appliance coordinates with Web servers, Oracle databases to cache dynamic content.
February 10, 2003... See correction below There are many Web acceleration appliances around, which perform functions from caching to SSL off-loading. The Warp Solutions 2063e Application Acceleration Appliance is a caching appliance that attempts to address...

Correction.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
February 10, 2003... In this article, we misreported the name of the product reviewed. It is Warp 2063. THE BOTTOM LINE: CONSIDER Warp 2063e Application Acceleration Appliance BUSINESS CASE: Caching can provide considerable improvements in the number...

Putting Liberty to work : Sun ONE Identity Server 6.0 builds powerful cross-domain authentication on LibertyAlliance spec.
February 10, 2003... Online consumers and corporate end-users burdened with dozens of online identities, as well as the IT administrators who must manage all of their passwords and access privileges on the back end, may soon see relief in the form of...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Sun's sweet talk : Sun's CTO rolls out some old news, but with an urgent spin and some interesting new twists.
February 10, 2003... Sun's Greg Papadopoulos shook hands and answered questions in front of the wall-sized panel of white boards he had filled with his charts and diagrams. By the end of his two-hour chat with analysts, he had put a fresh coat of paint on Sun's...

Zone Labs simplifies personal-firewall management : Integrity 2.0 delivers flexible, centralized control of end-users' firewalls.(Zone Labs Integrity 2.0)
February 10, 2003... The hardware firewall that stands between the enterprise and the savaging hordes on the Internet fulfills an obvious need. But companies also need internal firewalls, both to protect against the accidentally induced virus or worm and against...

Data: For now and evermore? (Point/Counterpoint).
February 10, 2003... Users want speedy retrieval, execs want expenses cut -- can archiving meet both needs? IT users' desires and business executives' priorities are often at odds. A corporate storage strategy traditionally emphasizes data protection (backup)...

Empowering human capital : Companies bank on services-enabling technology.
February 10, 2003... Two months ago, IBM dropped the quiet bombshell that it would invest $1 billion over the next three years on research and development in services technology. At the time, this seemed like a drop in the bucket of IBM's total planned $17 billion...

A new kind of backup (Test Center Analysis).(Microsoft Windows Server 2003)
February 10, 2003... Windows Server 2003 introduces impressive storage innovations We've come to depend on applications that can undo everything they do. In Microsoft Word, for example, you can reverse a series of edits by leaning on Control-Z, and you can...

STRATEGIC DEVELOPER: Refactoring the business.
February 17, 2003... Last week's column[1] provoked quite a few thoughtful reactions, including most notably this one from Ward Cunningham: "There is a huge opportunity lurking up ahead. The enterprise guys don't know it because they think scripting is for...

Demo to showcase tech innovatorsDemo to showcase tech innovators : Web services, wireless, collaboration steer technology agenda.
February 17, 2003... Despite continued economic pressures, 61 technology innovators will unveil a host of products at IDG Executive Forum's annual Demo conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., this week. Included are technologies in the Web services, wireless, and...

The IT lab evolution : CTOs protect innovation and testing amid budget slashes.
February 17, 2003... The image of laboratory technicians dressed in white coats conducting performance tests and monitoring arcane experiments is antiquated at best. The traditional testing and experimenting functions of an enterprise IT lab have been supplanted by...

Microsoft pursues hosted CRM agenda : Hosted CRM rivals unfazed by software giant.
February 17, 2003... If both hosted and packaged CRM software are destined to live side by side, Microsoft is determined to bolster its current weakness in delivering the software as a service. Hot on the heels of the packaged version of MS CRM that went to...

Disaster recovery finds prominence : More IT leaders are fortifying their business recovery strategies with thoughtful design and advanced storage technologies.
February 17, 2003... If there's one trend highlighted in the 2003 InfoWorld Storage Survey that everyone should take to heart, it is this: Business continuity, taking adequate measures to recover storage equipment from a disaster, has become part of a CTO's daily...

Uniting under Groove.(Groove Workspace 2.5)
February 17, 2003... Groove founder Ray Ozzie and his teams have always pretended to build application software. But what they have actually delivered are the operating systems of the future -- years ahead of schedule. The XML business Web is only now achieving...

WINDOW MANAGER: Windows tips for free -- WinFind, a new, specialized search engine, helps you locate fixes that have a seal of approval.
February 17, 2003... I can't tell you how many times I've searched the Web to study a Windows problem and then found pages saying something such as, "Start the Registry Editor and delete anything you think you don't need." Don't get me wrong. Today's...

MS CRM a good start, but just a start : Microsoft marries rich functionality with a splendid UI.(Customer Relationship Management Professional Suite Edition )
February 17, 2003... After months of rumblings out of Redmond , Microsoft finally released Version 1.0 of its Customer Relationship Management (MS CRM) Professional Suite Edition late last month. The wait has paid off: There is little doubt in our mind that the new...

Where security belongs : Protection from application exploits should be written into operating systems.
February 17, 2003... A hacker, thief, or spy looking to break into (or just disrupt) one of your systems has a big bag of tools at his disposal. The more he knows about your operation, the more specific and sophisticated his intrusion techniques can become. The...

The next big thing? : Serial ATA promises to slash the cost of server- attached storage, but only if you're willing to accept some risks and can wait a few months.
February 17, 2003... IT leaders confront the same capacity/cost balancing act every year, but this year's InfoWorld Storage Survey has particular significance. Today IT administrators face the decidedly tough prospect of having to boost storage capacity and slash...

Linux creeps into storage management space : Upstart OS can help consolidate resources and reduce costs, but vendors must come through with the tools.
February 17, 2003... When thinking about enterprise storage, most people think of mainframes and large Unix systems. But storage software vendors are building a future for storage that takes into account a relative newcomer in the field, Linux. A few years ago,...

iSCSI struggling to live up to its promise.
February 17, 2003... The storage networking protocol may finally find enterprise popularity with the coming of a standard and brand name products When it arrived, iSCSI (Internet SCSI) sounded not only exciting but irresistibly logical. Everything else has been...

Securing the supply chain.
February 24, 2003... Seeking to shore up security weaknesses, feds have changed reporting requirements for goods headed toU.S.ports. Now chief technologists must extend supply-chain functionality to better account for cargo integrity Seeking to shore up...

Web services drive BI evolution - Integrated J2EE, .Net stack aggregates real-time data.
February 24, 2003... Faced with growing enterprise demand for seamless, real-time access to transactional data, BI (business intelligence) vendors are increasingly turning to Web services technologies. Accenture and Information Builders are two players making...

IBM builds content management momentum - Tarian beta products expected in March.
February 24, 2003... IBM is turning up the heat on its CM (content management) strategy, preparing a scaled-down version of its Content Manager product aimed at midsize companies. Big Blue is also moving quickly to integrate technology designed to bolster...

Microsoft's unified app goals comes into view - XML drives development of tools, InfoPath.
February 24, 2003... Through its fervent adoption of XML, Microsoft is edging closer to crystallizing its long-held dream of building bridges that foster seamless transport of data between its suite of desktop applications and back-end applications. With the...

Supply-chain apps go vertical - As supply chains become competitive advantages, enterprises and vendors alike seek specialized solutions that address their vertical market's particular quirks.
February 24, 2003... In search of the real-time information exchange and collaboration required by complex supply chains, manufacturers are finding prespecialized solutions may offer the boost they've been seeking. Lessons learned from past supply-chain...

Putting a new face on the helpdesk - CA, HP,Tivoli, BMC pursue the virtues of Web services.(Industry Overview)
February 24, 2003... Dictated by the expectations brought about by tightly knit systems management and business process serviceability, organizations are redefining the service desk. Although vendors have not yet delivered final products to that end, Computer...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Nothing to snort at - Security company Sourcefire has built a profitable business around open-source Snort technology.
February 24, 2003... A common question raised about open source is, "How can you make money from free software?" It's a good question, but as Martin Roesch can attest, it does have a good answer. If you happen to work in the security field, you might know...

SECURITY ADVISER: Does your network leak? Holes in your security network could be dripping valuable data into the wrong people's hands.
February 24, 2003... I was sitting in an undistinguished meeting room in the middle of nowhere, talking about leaking networks. Well, to be more precise, I was talking to Bill Cheswick, and we were at the Foxwoods casino in the middle of the Pequot Indian...

STORAGE INSIDER: iSCSI's big backer - Network Appliance regroups on its iSCSI efforts and joins the partnership party.
February 24, 2003... As we write this, word is in that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has officially approved the iSCSI specification as a "proposed standard." And already the standard has its first big-name supporter. Even before that news though,...

Exploring XML in Office 11 - XML capabilities in store for Word and Excel pack a learning curve.(Microsoft Office 11.0)(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 24, 2003... This year's upcoming debut of Microsoft Office 11 will mark the start of a long process of education and adaptation. Our previous look at the Office 11 beta (see "XML for the rest of us") painted the big picture. We described how and why...

eEye EVA focuses in on network security - Solution makes vulnerability assessment manageable.(eEye Digital Security's Enterprise Vulnerability Assessment)(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 24, 2003... To say that keeping on top of your OS updates is a pain is to vastly understate the nature of the problem. If you're responsible for an enterprise with even a few dozen servers, plus a few appliances, some routers and switches, and a firewall...

The ultimate protection - DecruDataFort E440 brings strong encryption to networked storage.(data security device)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 24, 2003... Encryption is the ultimate protection for sensitive business data, leaving intruders empty-handed even when they manage to skirt firewalls and authentication systems. Fortunately, encryption is supported in just about every OS. Unfortunately,...

Offering vertical options - Getting the vertical expertise into a supply-chain app means taking business processes into account.(Industry Overview)
February 24, 2003... The supply chain is a critical battleground for software vendors these days, as it begins to overlap with ERP and CRM and gains a greater share of otherwise shrinking enterprise software expenditures. So it's no surprise that a lot of money and...

Altio makes front-end integration smarter - AltioLive 3.0 hits new heights for Web-based applications built on Web services and data- centric resources.(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 24, 2003... EAI has a reputation as a necessary evil for the costly task of integrating years of legacy applications and valuable data. As enterprises seek to expose these old resources via new technology, including Web services, the rift between...